With well over a decade of yearly releases, Call of Duty has been able to stay as relevant in the video game medium as it was when the very influential Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare released in 2007. While many fans of the franchise have their sub-series they idolize, every Call of Duty games manages to be one of the most sold games of their respective year. Over the course of the past decade, Activision has created some of the most popular industry standards with its famous first-person-shooter franchise, however, Call of Duty has also been known to take things that have worked for other companies and incorporate them into their titles.
10 Influential: Modern Setting for a First-Person-Shooter
During the early 2000s, many first-person-shooters were based on the great battles of World War II. As this trend continued, however, gamers slowly became fatigued of the setting. When Activision released Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, it was instantly loved by fans for being something new. While many games today are set in a fictional modern setting, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is the sole reason that trend became so popular.
9 Influenced By: Regenerating Health (Halo: Combat Evolved)
In the early days of Call of Duty, the health system was far different than what fans are used to today. While many people are used to regenerating health, the first Call of Duty, which released in 2003, had players scavenge for health packs. While the later games would make regenerating health synonymous with their multiplayer, the idea for this came from Xbox's flagship series, Halo.
Although Halo: Combat Evolved actually had regenerated armor, the concept of waiting a few seconds to regain strength is the same.
8 Influential: Popularized Killstreaks
While there are many reasons Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is regarded as one of the most influential multiplayer games ever released, arguably the biggest is the addition of killstreaks. Although Call of Duty's game style can be traced back to games like Quake, the addition of killstreaks made the game far different than anything that came before.
By rewarding players for the number of kills they could get without dying, Call of Duty instantly became the must-have series.
7 Influenced By: EA Sports Titles (Annual Releases)
One thing fans of Activision's most acclaimed first-person shooter series have come to expect is that a new title will be released each year. The way the publisher is able to keep this cycle is by having different teams working on different Call of Duty titles. While Call of Duty and several other games are known for annual releases, Electronic Arts' several sports titles first introduced this idea to the industry.
6 Influential: Multiplayer First Approach In A Console Game
For many Call of Duty players, multiplayer is the most important part of the series. Although there is a campaign in almost every title, Call of Duty fans tend to spend several more hours playing through matches online than the campaign. While many games before Call of Duty had a multiplayer component, most console games focused heavily on the development of the single-player portion of the titles. When Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was released, however, it was clear that Infinity Ward spent a large portion of their time making sure the multiplayer was perfect.
5 Influenced By: Fortnite (Free To Play Model)
While Blackout was a successful attempt at the battle royale genre, there is no arguing that Call of Duty's second battle royale, Warzone, has been commercially superior to its predecessor. One of the major differences between the titles is the fact that Warzone has no cost to start playing. Instead of locking the mode within a full-priced game, like Blackout in Black Ops 4, Activision took the idea from Fortnite to incorporate small cosmetic based microtransactions into their game so players begin playing at no cost.
4 Influential: Standardized FPS Controls
Before the first Call of Duty, each first-person-shooter seemed to have their own layout and controls. While some games still try to stray from the status quo, the control layout Call of Duty introduced to console gamers is what many games use today. With the Call of Duty franchise being one of the biggest intellectual properties in video games, many studios began replicating its controls so that players would not have to learn a new skill set in order to pick up their games.
3 Influenced By: LA Noire (Season Pass)
Ever since Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Activision has incorporated a form of a season pass. While traditionally the Call of Duty season pass granted players access to content throughout the year, like new maps and weapons, recent installments in the franchise have used the season pass model to entice players to unlock in-game cosmetics.
Although Call of Duty helped popularize the Season Pass business model, they were not the pioneers of it. The most notable game that started the season pass was 2011's LA Noire.
2 Influential: Popularized Aim-Down-Sights
Although it may seem strange to gamers that have never played early first-person-shooters, aiming down iron sights has not always been something players could do. Halo, Doom, GoldenEye, and several other titles never gave players the ability to aim down the sight of every gun. While many players now take it for granted, when Call of Duty introduced the mechanic into their titles, it instantly became something every game needed.
1 Influenced By: Quake (Online ArenaCompetitive FPS)
Although almost every Call of Duty releases with a full campaign, the franchise's greatest assets is its online competitive multiplayer. Although the series has changed over the decades, its multiplayer concept has stayed relatively the same. While Call of Duty can be credited for popularizing the arena shooter on consoles, it is not the first game to introduce gamers to the close quarters' style of gunfights in an online competition. In 1996, six years before the first Call of Duty, Activision released a different online shooter, Quake.