Call of Duty
GameBy Infinity Ward · Released Oct 29, 2003
Documents about Call of Duty
The Song Remains the Same
The gaming industry is currently grappling with concerns regarding market stagnation, specifically following the release of Circana data showing that the five most-played PlayStation games in 2025 were identical to those in 2024.
- The five most-played PlayStation games in 2025 were identical to 2024: Fortnite, Call of Duty, GTAV, Roblox, and Minecraft, reflecting a persistent dominance of established live-service titles.
- Despite the dominance of legacy titles, new games on Steam showed growth in 2025, with 31 of the top 50 grossing games being less than two years old, compared to 24 in 2024.
- Xbox experienced its worst year on record in the UK in 2025, with console sales slumping 39% compared to a 19% decline for PlayStation.
Top Esports Tournaments of December 2025
The competitive gaming landscape concluded 2025 with significant momentum, characterized by record-breaking viewership milestones and a robust expansion of regional influence.
- Three major esports tournaments surpassed the one-million peak concurrent viewer threshold in December 2025.
- The StarLadder Budapest Major established itself as the leading tournament for both global and English-language viewership, highlighting the continued dominance of tactical shooters.
- Arena of Valor achieved an all-time viewership record driven by the SEA Games, while the PUBG Mobile Global Championship reached a five-year peak.
The Year in Kojima, Silent Hill Exclusives, and Haute Couture Gaming
This year-end review reflects on the evolution of gaming journalism throughout 2025, emphasizing the importance of agile, independent reporting in an industry defined by cyclical release schedules.
- CD Projekt Red successfully ported Cyberpunk 2077 to Apple silicon Macs, achieving high efficiency and lower power consumption after a two-year development cycle.
- The three-year contract saga for Call of Duty workers reached a formal resolution in 2025.
- Gaming journalism in 2025 shifted toward covering the intersection of gaming with fashion, beauty, and broader cultural trends.
Shooter Monthly #3 Marathon vs the Market, Valorant Goes Massive, Marvel Rivals Misreads Progression
The shooter genre is currently navigating a period of significant strategic recalibration as developers struggle to balance live-service retention with evolving player expectations.
- Valorant Mobile has doubled the franchise's total monthly active users, proving that mobile-first design paired with established IP is the most effective strategy for international expansion.
- Bungie has delayed the launch of Marathon to March 2026, reflecting the industry-wide challenge of timing high-stakes releases against established extraction shooter benchmarks.
- Call of Duty is shifting its strategy away from rapid-fire sequel releases to combat player fatigue and prioritize long-term engagement over iterative product cycles.
Call of Duty Co-Creator, Respawn Founder and Battlefield Boss Vince Zampella Has Died
Vince Zampella, a prominent figure in the global video game industry, passed away at the age of 55 following a car accident in Los Angeles.
- Vince Zampella, the co-creator of Call of Duty and founder of Respawn Entertainment, has died at age 55 following a car crash in Los Angeles.
- Zampella rose to prominence as the development director for 2002's Medal of Honor: Allied Assault before co-founding Infinity Ward, where he helped launch the Call of Duty franchise in 2003.
- After being fired from Activision in 2010 due to a contract and royalty dispute, Zampella co-founded Respawn Entertainment, which created the Titanfall series and Apex Legends.
A Nightmare November for Video Game Console Sales: The Big Three Drop in the U.S.
The video game console market in the United States experienced a significant downturn in November 2025, with all three major manufacturers—Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo—reporting declines in unit sales compared to the same period in 2024.
- U.S. video game console sales suffered a significant downturn in November 2025, with hardware spending falling 27% year-over-year to $695 million, the lowest November total since 2005.
- Total unit sales reached 1.6 million, the lowest volume recorded by Circana for a November since 1995.
- Console performance across the major manufacturers was universally down: Xbox Series unit sales dropped over 70%, PS5 sales fell over 40%, and combined Switch and Switch 2 sales declined more than 10% compared to the previous year.
🚨📢 BREAKING NEWS: Netflix heartbroken after WB, Disney AI fun, Meta losing $70B 🤯
This analysis covers major developments in the global entertainment and gaming sectors as of early December, focusing on corporate consolidation, artificial intelligence integration, and shifting market strategies.
- Disney has secured a $1 billion equity agreement with OpenAI, granting the AI firm access to 200 iconic characters for generative content development.
- Meta is pivoting away from its Metaverse division, Reality Labs, after accumulating approximately $70 billion in losses to focus resources on AI.
- Paramount has submitted a $108 billion all-cash offer for Warner Bros., creating significant competition for Netflix, which is also pursuing the acquisition.
TWIG #361 WB Games’ Fate, CoD’s Apology Tour & the UA Financing Trap
The global gaming industry is currently navigating a period of intense structural realignment, characterized by aggressive media consolidation, shifting advertising paradigms, and evolving hardware strategies.
- Large-scale media consolidation, exemplified by potential sales of Warner Bros. Discovery and PIF interest in Electronic Arts, is treating gaming assets as secondary to broader streaming and sports ecosystems, threatening the stability of studios like Avalanche and TT Games.
- The mobile gaming user acquisition landscape is shifting as e-commerce brands increasingly outbid game studios for ad inventory, forcing developers to contend with higher costs and more complex financial leverage.
- Platforms like AppLovin are fundamentally altering mobile monetization by displacing rival game studios in ad space, which paradoxically helps developers by reducing player cannibalization while simultaneously driving up acquisition costs.
PS5, EA Sports FC 26 and Hogwarts Legacy Top Europe’s Black Friday Sales
The European video game market experienced a significant surge in activity during the 2025 Black Friday sales week, characterized by strong hardware performance and consistent software demand despite a lack of new releases.
- During the Black Friday week in the UK, console revenue increased by 14% and unit sales by 7% compared to the previous year.
- The PS5 was the primary market driver with a 62% market share, achieving a 16% year-over-year increase in unit sales.
- Aggressive discounting fueled PS5 performance, with the PS5 Pro reaching an all-time low price of £586 and the average price of all PS5 models dropping to £340.
November 2025's Top New Steam Games Revealed
This analysis examines the performance of new video game releases on Steam and major console platforms during November 2025.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is underperforming significantly, with sales metrics showing a decline of more than 50% compared to its predecessor.
- The shooter genre is experiencing intense competition, as titles like ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6 draw player counts away from established franchises.
- November 2025 saw a cooling market trend characterized by a lack of high-volume breakout hits compared to the performance levels seen in October.
November's Best-Selling Steam Games
The November 2025 market analysis identifies the top-performing titles on Steam, highlighting a significant trend toward independent game dominance.
- ARC Raiders was the top-selling Steam game in November, moving 3.5 million copies and reaching 7.7 million total units sold across all platforms to date.
- The indie title RV There Yet? sold 1.1 million copies in November, bringing its total sales to over 4 million units, driven largely by streamer engagement and a low $7.99 price point.
- Escape from Duckov outperformed the Steam release of Escape from Tarkov, selling 3 million copies and generating $38 million in revenue in 17 days, compared to Tarkov's 400,000 units and $14 million in revenue over the same period.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Market Performance: Europe
The market performance of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 in Europe indicates a challenging launch period, as the title fell to the number two position in unit sales during its second week on the market.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 dropped to No. 2 in European unit sales during its second week, signaling a disappointing launch performance.
- EA Sports FC 26 reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the European market for the week ending November 23, 2025.
- Battlefield 6 moved up to No. 3 in unit sales, contributing to a strong showing for Electronic Arts in the top three.
Companies behind it
- Activisionpublisher, developer521
Microsoftpublisher, developer, owner1,092
Activision Blizzarddeveloper, owner, publisher418- Xbox Game Studiospublisher13
Valvepublisher385
Overwolfowner25
Nintendoowner1,404
As the documents state it.