Rotating CoD franchises is not enough – the entire series needs a sabbatical

Call of Duty is putting an end to back-to-back releases of games in the same subfranchise. However, it might be high time for the whole series to stop its annual launches, because the fatigue is getting severe.

Call of Duty has followed a yearly release structure basically since its inception. Initially, it’d launch a game, then an expansion pack the next year, but that quickly turned into annual title releases, alternating between Treyarch and Infinity Ward (and later other studios like Sledgehammer). Essentially, there hasn’t been a single year since around 2005 that we haven’t had a Call of Duty game in the schedule.

We’d get a reveal every spring, and a release every fall, and that’s how it’s been for almost two decades now.

Though initially subfranchises in the series kept apart, releasing two or three years between each other, Activision eventually started doing back-to-back releases, thus giving us two Modern Warfare games in a row, as well as two Black Ops entries. That’s being put to a stop, as we covered yesterday, but it might be time for the whole series to take a step back and assess the situation.

Releasing every single year with incremental improvements over the previous entry has taken a toll on CoD‘s players. Sure, the series sold well every year since it became a thing, but even that is starting to slip away. Lack of innovation, the use of AI, and an overall bad reputation have ripped up CoD‘s sails bit by bit, chipping away at what was once one of the most exciting and fun first-person shooter franchises.

In 2025, CoD faced another issue: Battlefield 6, itself the product of EA realizing that things had gone south and slamming the brakes, allowing DICE to reconfigure over a three-year period and put out a game that almost everyone loved. In fact, it’s outselling (thanks Metro UK) Black Ops 7, which, if you look at CoD‘s average numbers, is really something.

Call of Duty has lost its spark and the creative drive that made the series into what it is today. Just in 2019, the rebooted Modern Warfare proved that Infinity Ward still had it and was not afraid to deal with serious topics, show graphic content, and shock the audience like its old games did. It was bold, daring, and it worked on all levels. Both the multiplayer and singleplayer were praised by the players, and Warzone became a cultural phenomenon as soon as it appeared.

MW2019 was the pinnacle of contemporary CoD, but sadly, it remains the only such title in the last decade. Modern Warfare 2 diluted the experience, with Activision seemingly keen on putting it out as fast as possible, culminating in Modern Warfare 3 that was completely watered down and in no way comparable to the first game. The same happened with these new Black Ops titles, as Black Ops 7 is now the worst-rated CoD of all time.

Call of Duty has been around year in, year out for 20 whole years, for almost as long as I have been alive. It is beyond past its prime in terms of quality and creativity, and Activision needs to look in the mirror, like EA did, and think twice about its future.

Shooters all around it are springing up that are better, more innovative, and, what’s key, more fun, what with ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6 releasing within a month of each other. Sure, Black Ops 7 probably sold fine, but it’s nowhere near what CoD is used to.

Someone needs to hit the pause button, take a long, hard break, and come back clear-minded and with some fresh ideas, reviving the franchise that used to dare do things no one else would. And, as we all know: he who dares—wins.