Call of Duty fatigue: is COD dying, or just repeating itself?

Why does Call of Duty feel the same every year?

Since the first Call of Duty game came out in 2003, we’ve had a new game in the franchise every year. In the beginning, the games felt very different, with each title focusing on different elements at stake in a war: from psychological torture to actual gun action. However, at some point, the games started blending together. Most fans seem to agree that it started to change somewhere between Modern Warfare 2 and 3. These games are the first that come to mind when fans think of the first instance of COD games feeling alike.

Is COD suffering from fatigue?

This feeling of all the Call of Duty games blending into one is often referred to as COD fatigue. This term is used to describe the overall complaints players have with this franchise. They not only point to similarities between the games but also to microtransactions, the games’ price tag, the implementation of features popular in free-to-play games like Fortnite, and an overall drop in quality.

The Call of Duty release schedule also gets its fair share of criticism. Especially from 2022 onwards, when Activision first released two Modern Warfare titles back-to-back, then two Black Ops titles. This differs greatly from their usual release schedule, which rotated among the titles to give players variety in gameplay each time.

Is COD actually dying?

All these concerns leave gamers feeling tired. However, although there are many complaints about the games online, this isn’t reflected in sales. Even their worst-selling games (often the newer ones) sell millions of copies. So if Activision is still making money from the franchise, how likely are they to change up the formula?

We’ve heard very little from the gaming company regarding this concern over the years, but in 2025, a senior COD developer opened up. Treyarch’s Senior Director of Production, Yale Miller, was asked if he’s concerned about the similarity between BO6 and BO7 in an interview with CharlieIntel. His answer: “I think the honest answer is yes. I worry about that. Obviously, there was a plan with the two MW games and then this. We’ll see what the franchise does in the future. We’re excited about the opportunities it gave us, but we’d all be dead lying if we said we weren’t worried about that.”

Will there ever be a brand-new Call of Duty?

Now, of course, the question is: will we ever see a new Call of Duty title that brings something fresh to the table? Based on the games we’ve seen in recent years and the fact that the new COD title is again a Modern Warfare one, it doesn’t seem likely that Activision will change up the formula. However, with COD fatigue growing online and Treyarch’s Senior Director of Production acknowledging concerns about similarity, it seems this franchise is bound to shake things up eventually. We’ll just have to wait and see when it eventually happens.

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