5 Reasons Call Of Duty Could Soon Die

By Reggie Fells / July 11, 2013

In 2007, I became hooked on Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. As a game, it marked a series of firsts for me - it was the first shooter I've ever played what wasn't set in the past (before it was released, I'd only ever played Resistance: Fall of Man, and previous CoD titles), it was the first game I'd played that offered in depth stat progression, and it was also the first time I legitimately discovered online play - I was merely 16 at the time, and before that, gaming wasn't the time-sucking habit that it is for me now - but I digress. Call of Duty 4 will always be fondly remembered as a wholesome experience by many fans of the series.

That being said, with the possible exception of Modern Warfare 2, the series in my (and although the sales don't show it, several other consumers') opinion, has steadily declined in quality.

Call of Duty: World at War wasn't bad, per se, but it was just another (admittedly good) WW II shooter in a market saturated with them. Modern Warfare 2, I liked, as it greatly expanded on the original and made standard many of the features we use today. Call of Duty: Black Ops had a good campaign and I absolutely LOVE the expanded Zombie mode, but I loathed it's buggy multi-player. Modern Warfare 2.5, uh, I mean Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, wasn't exactly a bad game, but other than some different weapons and Killstreak flexibility, it seemed identical to its predecessor. Call of Duty: Black Ops II... oh boy. The redesigned campaign, I liked. The new twist on Zombie mode (minus the lack of graphical polish in certain areas), I liked. Multi-player on the other hand is a complete crapshoot in terms of connection stability and thus, enjoyability. Now granted, Activision has ran franchises into the ground before - it isn't like the dilution of a series would be anything new. However, I've purchased and played every game on this list. As such, I can tell that I've gotten burned out of the games sooner and sooner and sooner - I barely even touch Black Ops II anymore, God of War: Ascension, BioShock Infinite and The Last of Us having stolen my time away from it. With that being said however, there's more than a few dissenting voices who do not approve of the steady decline in quality of the games that Activision keeps feeding us. So although I would like to say that Call of Duty: Ghosts looks promising, there's quite a few reasons why this could spell the end of the franchise, if it doesn't do well - even if it will inevitably sell millions.