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Call of Duty’s Biggest Stakeholders Are Killing The Franchise, But Creators And Pros Are Finally Starting To Speak Up

Just two months ago, Call of Duty exceeded half a billion copies sold, and Black Ops 6 became the biggest release in franchise history. I’m not sure how the dozens of millions of Xbox Game Pass subscribers factor into these numbers, but all signs seem to point towards the biggest franchise in gaming – and one of the most popular franchises in entertainment history – being alive and well.

That is, until you actually try to play the game, or listen to the fans, pros, and creators who keep the Call of Duty world turning.

Well… Shit, that ain’t good.

But hey! The sales numbers are still gonna skyrocket annually, so I’m sure none of this matters to Activision’s executives.

Game Pass tie-ins probably guarantee a good amount of money from Big Daddy Microsoft annually too, so that’ll provide a nice financial cushion just in case anyone actually votes with their wallets (and they won’t). Care packages are still gonna go out the door to big creators, streamers, and pros – so I can only imagine that Activision’s marketing team is banking on this public griping quieting down as the year goes on. After all, the next title’s marketing cycle is just a few months away – and the same people complaining now will soon begin to hail the next Call of Duty installment as the series’ savior, just like they did this past year with Black Ops 6.

And, in addition to all that – the Call of Duty League is starting up again! So SURELY the pro scene must be doing alright, and CoD’s best players and most respected orgs have gotta be helping to stem this tide of negativity, right?

Huh.

Alright, well… Uhhh… I got nothing.

We are once again reaching that point, folks, except it’s way earlier than it’s ever been. Fans, creators, and pros alike are fed up with the current Call of Duty title already. I dubbed this the “Call of Duty Circle of Life” many, many moons ago, but it’s more likely that you’ve seen it on some other bigger creators’ accounts who have plagiarized it from the original blog.

The simple gist is this – Call of Duty simply cannot get out of its own way long enough to actually improve or innovate in any meaningful or sustainable ways. This goes for the stability of the multiplayer, the state of the pro scene, and the way that marketing blunders (like releasing all new $30 Squid Game cosmetic packs while the game is more or less unplayable) undercut developer efforts to fix the game’s perception.

Oh, and don’t count on the creators speaking out about the state of CoD being joined by smaller creators, because you already know they’ll start to miss out on opportunities if they bite the hand that literally feeds them. Big events like CoD NEXT, CDL Majors, and others are always going to exist, so you already know that the majority of the press and influencers who focus on Call of Duty at the end of the day are still gonna take those invites and maybe keep their voices to a comfortable volume, because they don’t want to miss out on exclusive looks and sneak peeks if they criticize the game too much. Since most of these creators focus (mainly) on Call of Duty, Activision can damage their viewership – and in turn, their income and livelihood – by blackballing them from exclusive opportunities if they get too loud. We have no evidence of this happening in the past, but best believe it’s an all-too-real possibility.

Boy oh boy I hope I get one of these in the mail this year!

So what happens next? My guess, is that we can stay tuned for an inevitable white text on black background statement from Treyarch about how “we hear you, and we’re listening” regarding the game’s technical and cheating issues, but that’ll be the long and short of it. The Call of Duty League will continue to be the most deeply unserious professional scene in esports, and as long as they continue to ignore their second tier division (Challengers, remember them?) and continue to let pros pick apart the game with Gentleman’s Agreements until the game is unrecognizable, nothing is going to change with any pillar of the game.

We’re doomed to do this shit again next year too, by the way. And until pros, creators, and even team owners start voting with their wallets, their streams, and their plane tickets – I can’t see Activision giving a single shred of a shit about any of this.

But hey! If you want to buy the Squid Game 2 Tracer Pack, it’s available now for like 30 bucks.

By the way, Splitgate 2 is due to release in 2025.

Papa Dom

Co-founder, lead blogger, graphic designer, and manager of WGG's writing team - Dom has been writing about video games for over ten years. Dom's work has been featured on some of the world's biggest gaming news outlets - including Dexerto, GameInformer, and IGN.

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