There have been many Call of Duty games over the years, and the series shows no signs of stopping. Since 2005, Activision has been releasing a new entry every year, ranging from World War 2 shooters to a spacefaring sci-fi adventure. Along the way there have also been a couple subseries within the greater Call of Duty franchise that focus on different story arcs, and there needs to be a better way to access some of its older titles.
The lifecycle of a Call of Duty game lasts until the next entry releases, and that means a game usually lasts about a year before being left to gather dust. However, these games do not deserve that fate. One of the best ways to let them shine would be to adopt the model established by Halo: The Master Chief Collection, which breathed new life into the entire franchise, and served as a love letter to what came before. That needs to happen for Call of Duty.
The Call of Duty Subseries Should Be Bundled Together
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In the greater Call of Duty franchise, there are two major subseries. Treyarch is in charge of the Black Ops series, and Infinity Ward has been making games under the Modern Warfare label. Both have become the focal point of the Call of Duty franchise, with a new entry in each coming out almost every other year. Some of the best Call of Duty titles are contained in each, and fans deserve a better way to experience them.
The Black Ops series has told a loosely connected story covering the events of World War 2, the Cold War, the near future, and the far future. The series began in 2008 with World At War and has continued through 2020 with Black Ops Cold War. Almost every entry feels vastly different from the one before, and has diversified a lot of its mechanics. Black Ops 4 was perhaps the biggest departure from the rest of the series as it chose to do away with the story altogether.
The Modern Warfare series brought the FPS gameplay to the modern era. It started in 2007 with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and is currently being revamped by Infinity Ward with a reboot series that started in 2019. This has created some of the most iconic Call of Duty characters like Captain Price and Soap, and it has some of the most popular multiplayer maps. Currently, this series is the only one in the franchise to receive both remastered campaigns and a reboot.
Both of these subseries include some of the most popular Call of Duty titles, but currently the only way to purchase all of them is to get the Call of Duty franchise bundle that costs over $900 on Steam. Even if players choose to purchase the games individually, there is a significant paywall to experience an entire storyline.
Halo: The Master Chief Collectiontook the entire Halo series up to Halo 5: Guardians and bundled it into one easy-to-access package. The story of each game was present, and Halo 2 got completely remastered. On top of that, the collection has multiplayer offerings made up of the individual entries from every game. It is a great example of how to do a series bundle, and Call of Duty needs to emulate that with its subseries.
A Black Ops or Modern Warfare collection could bundle the five different games in both the Black Ops and Modern Warfare subseries. This would be one less than the amount of games that Halo: The Master Chief Collection features, as throwing in the stories and the multiplayer for each could create a great celebration of the different Call of Duty series.
Other Call of Duty Games Could Also Have Bundles
Call of Duty is not just made up of Modern Warfare or Black Ops, as there have been many standalone titles that also deserve the bundle treatment. While Treyarch and Infinity Ward continue working, Sledgehammer Games has been focusing on projects like Advanced Warfare, WW2, and Vanguard. It is not the only studio that has made standalone projects, as Infinity Ward also worked on Ghosts and Infinite Warfare. These titles are not a part of a broader series, but a Halo-inspired collection that includes them could also be pretty great.
On top of that, there is a set of classic Call of Duty games that have not gotten any love since before Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare took the series in a new direction. There were three different titles set during World War 2 that started it all. These games are nowhere near the level of the newer Call of Duty games, but without these original titles the Call of Duty series would not exist, so they should be honored with a bundle.
There are a lot of different Call of Duty games with the potential to be bundled. Halo: The Master Chief Collection showed that giant bundles of multiplayer shooters work, and Call of Duty should follow suit. No one wants to pay over $900 to play some old games, but that is the only option for those who want to experience the franchise as it stands. A Call of Duty collection would change all that, and now is the time for Activision to deliver.