The history of Call of Duty in official dates, from 2003 to 2026

Call of Duty has now passed two decades of releases, and it is easy to get lost among so many numbers, subtitles and reboots. This article, written by the SequeLariCOD team, tells the story of the series using dates we checked one by one in official sources: Activision's investor press releases and the official Call of Duty blog. When a date has no official confirmation, the game is left out, and at the end we explain which cases those are. That way, everything here also appears on our timeline, with a link to the source.

How we read the dates

Before we start, an important note: each date is the one the official source gives, and sometimes it only applies to one region or one platform. The first Call of Duty, for example, uses the date Activision announced for the PC launch in the United States. Other releases talk about a worldwide launch, and some only mention North America. Whenever there is a difference like that, the site's timeline shows a short note next to the game. So if you remember buying a game on a different day where you live, both dates may well be right.

The early years

The series started on PC. Activision's press release set the launch of Call of Duty for October 29, 2003 in the United States. Two years later came Call of Duty 2, launching on PC in the US on October 25, 2005, with the Xbox 360 version following soon after. These two games open what we call the early games on the site: the foundation for everything that came next, focused on war campaigns and team matches.

In the meantime, the series also reached consoles. Call of Duty: Finest Hour, for PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube, was already in US stores on November 16, 2004, according to Activision's press release from that day. A year later, on November 1, 2005, another press release announced Call of Duty 2: Big Red One in American stores, for the same three consoles. That is why, on the site, the early games family has four names: two that started on PC and two made for the consoles of the time.

Even in those first years you can see a habit that never left the series: launching at the end of the year, between October and November. We will come back to this later, because it explains a lot about today's calendar.

The Modern Warfare turn

On November 6, 2007, the official press release announced that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was available. It was the debut of the Modern Warfare name, which became a family of its own within the series. It continued with Modern Warfare 2, which hit stores on November 10, 2009, and Modern Warfare 3, released on November 8, 2011.

Years later, the family returned with a different numbering. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare came out on October 25, 2019 with no number in its name, which still confuses many players; on the site it appears as Modern Warfare (2019). Then came Modern Warfare II on October 28, 2022, and Modern Warfare III, which the official blog declared live worldwide on November 10, 2023. The latest chapter is Modern Warfare 4, launched on October 23, 2026 according to the official blog. Along the way, on November 4, 2016, came Modern Warfare Remastered, the remade version of Call of Duty 4, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, included in the Legacy and Digital Deluxe editions of Infinite Warfare; players who pre-ordered those editions could already play the campaign on PlayStation 4 from October 5. In total, there are eight games with the Modern Warfare name on our timeline.

The Black Ops family

The series' other big family began with Call of Duty: Black Ops, which the official press release said launched worldwide on November 9, 2010. Black Ops II arrived on November 13, 2012, and the Wii U version reached North America a few days later, on November 18. Black Ops III came out on November 6, 2015, and Black Ops 4 moved the calendar up to October 12, 2018.

The family continued with Black Ops Cold War, available worldwide on November 13, 2020, Black Ops 6 on October 25, 2024, and Black Ops 7, which the official blog announced as live on November 14, 2025. Black Ops adds up to seven games on the timeline, one fewer than Modern Warfare. Black Ops 7 weapons and operators still appear on the site because they are also in Warzone.

Back to World War II

Even with the arrival of Modern Warfare, the series went back to World War II a few times. Call of Duty: World at War reached North American stores on November 11, 2008. Almost ten years later, Call of Duty: WWII launched worldwide on November 3, 2017, and Call of Duty: Vanguard followed the same path on November 5, 2021. On the site, these three games form the World War II family.

Other paths

Between one family and another, the series also tried different ideas. Call of Duty: Ghosts began a new era on November 5, 2013, and the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions arrived in the same month, alongside each console's launch. Advanced Warfare carries the date of November 4, 2014, announced by Activision before launch; the site says so to make clear where the date comes from. And Infinite Warfare came out worldwide on November 4, 2016. These three games appear in the Other games family.

Free to play: Mobile and Warzone

From 2019 on, the series gained free games that keep getting new seasons. Call of Duty: Mobile arrived on October 1, 2019, free on Android and iOS. A few months later, on March 10, 2020, Activision launched Call of Duty: Warzone, the free battle royale. It was the first game on our timeline released outside the end of the year.

On November 16, 2022, the official blog announced Warzone 2.0, the new free Warzone, launched together with Modern Warfare II Season 1. Since then, Warzone has followed the seasons of each year's main game. Today it is in Modern Warfare 4 Season 1, with the Hajin and Zodiac maps, and we have our own guide about it on the blog.

Warzone also got a phone version. The official blog announced that Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile would launch worldwide on March 21, 2024, on iOS and Android. On the site it sits in the Mobile family, next to Call of Duty: Mobile, and it is the second game on the timeline released in March.

The series' rhythm in numbers

Counting the 29 games on the timeline, 27 came out in October or November; the two exceptions came out in March: the 2020 Warzone and Warzone Mobile, in 2024. By family, the count looks like this:

• Modern Warfare: 8 games, from 2007 to 2026, counting Modern Warfare Remastered.
• Black Ops: 7 games, from 2010 to 2025.
• World War II: 3 games (World at War, WWII and Vanguard).
• Other games: 3 games (Ghosts, Advanced Warfare and Infinite Warfare).
• Early games: 4 games (Call of Duty, Finest Hour, Call of Duty 2 and Big Red One).
• Warzone: 2 launches (the 2020 Warzone and Warzone 2.0).
• Mobile: 2 games (Call of Duty: Mobile and Warzone Mobile).

The team counted these numbers using the site's own data, and they change when a new game joins the timeline. You can see similar charts on our Statistics page.

Who is missing, for now

Some well-known games are not on the timeline yet because we could not find their date in an official source we could check. That is the case for Call of Duty 3, United Offensive (the expansion for the first PC game) and the handheld versions. We would rather leave these games out than show a date that might be wrong. When an official press release turns up, they will join with their source, as happened with Finest Hour, Big Red One, Modern Warfare Remastered and Warzone Mobile, which were added after the first version of this article.

Getting the most out of the site's timeline

In the Timeline section you can filter by family and see, for each game, the date, the note about region or platform and the link to the official source. It is worth going through the list in order: it becomes easy to notice when each family returns and how much time passes between one chapter and the next. If you find a different date somewhere else, remember to compare the region and platform, and check the official links we left at the end of this article.

Call of Duty, Warzone, Modern Warfare and Black Ops are trademarks of Activision. SequeLariCOD is an unofficial fan site, and this text was written in our own words based on the sources listed below.