Call of Duty Games in Order: Play the Series Chronologically and by Release Date

Whether you plan to play the Call of Duty games in order of release date or dive into the various subseries titles and play chronologically, there are plenty of titles to dive into. The franchise has a long and storied history, so it can be confusing to know where to start. You’ll tackle everything from the Axis in the various World Wars to a global conspiracy in the Black Ops series; here’s everything you need to know about the wide variety of Call of Duty games.

While the annual release of a new Call of Duty game is always an event, with players diving into the next game each passing year, making your way through all Call of Duty games in order of release or chronologically is challenging. However, we’ve got all of the Call of Duty games here below.

List of Call of Duty Games in Order of Release Date

Call of Duty Games in Chronological Order

While this is the Call of Duty games in chronological order, the storylines between different subseries’ of entries and unlinked entries like Infinite Warfare make it difficult to follow the CoD timeline. Instead, we recommend playing through subseries entries together, like playing all Black Ops games in chronological order, then Modern Warfare, etc.

Full List of Call of Duty Games in Detail

Call of Duty (2003)

The start of the series, the first Call of Duty game was released on Windows and Mac back in 2003. Set during events of World War 2, Call of Duty sees you fighting enemies during various battles of the historic war, narrowly surviving the Axis forces that are descending upon you, as you play as three different soldiers from the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union.

Based on the Quake 3 engine, Call of Duty is still available to purchase on Steam today, including the expansion ‘United Offensive’. A version of the game, Call of Duty: Finest Hour, was also available on home consoles at the time.

Call of Duty 2 (2005)

Not much changed with the release of Call of Duty 2 back in 2005, including the setting of World War 2. However, the story took different perspectives on the events of the first game, as you play as four soldiers this time around: one from North America, one from the Soviet Union, and two from Great Britain.

The ‘Big Red One’ version of Call of Duty 2 saw Treyarch take the reins of the series for an expansion pack of the second game. However, BRO also focused on a squad setting as opposed to various soldiers from different countries.

Call of Duty 3 (2006)

The first main title developed by Treyarch (as opposed to expansions), Call of Duty 3, unsurprisingly, goes to World War 2 again. The story follows various events in the Second World War, as you play as different armies fighting the Nazi forces in Chambois, France, during the Battle of Normandy.

Unfortunately, this is the only game not available on PC, meaning it’s harder to play than the other titles on this list. It was available on Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and PS2, and you’ll need to find a second-hand copy and break out the older console to play it.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was innovative in a few ways. For one, it was the first game in the franchise to move away from the Second World War settings to a contemporary one, delivering a more fictional story than before. It was also the last numbered ‘Call of Duty’ game, with other entries having numbered subseries titles.

Set in 2011, the events follow a squad of soldiers commanded by Captain Price as they attempt to stop an international crisis following the assassination of a fictional country’s president.

The original Modern Warfare was one of the most impactful FPS games at the time, delivering a strong campaign alongside fun multiplayer that completely revolutionized the franchise. Systems like the prestige mechanic and the custom load-outs over classes are still used in modern CoD games to this day, and the move to smaller teams and quicker matches is one that made the 2007 game successful.

Call of Duty: World at War (2008)

After a brief interval in the modern era, 2008’s World at War takes you back to the events of World War 2, with Treyarch once again developing the Call of Duty game for this year. The campaign saw you play as a Soviet Union and a North American soldier, with a hard-hitting story that shows some terrifying scenes during historic events.

Of course, the solid multiplayer carried over from Modern Warfare’s success, but World at War was the first game in the franchise to introduce Nazi Zombies, later renamed to simply Zombies, a wave-based horde mode that is still a main selling point of the franchise to this day, with its own intriguing and timeline-bending story.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 continued the subseries’ success, selling over 25 million units and turning the franchise into the monolith it is today. It was the first game in the series to deliver a direct sequel to an earlier entry, continuing the story of the Captain Price-led squad from the 2007 entry.

The story of MW2 tasks you with finding and eliminating Vladimir Makarov, the leader of an extremist party that has taken over Russia and is now committing terrorist attacks in the United States. The 2009 game also further innovated on the multiplayer, with great feeling gunplay and impressive map design.

Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010)

While the success of the last entry in 2009 gave Black Ops a huge chance at being equally impressive, the impressive launch of 2010’s Call of Duty title was proof that the franchise was on a great path. The game launched Treyarch into being a household name, with an intriguing story of conspiracy and fan-favorite characters, solid multiplayer that stuck with the formula but tightened the gameplay, and a stronger Zombies mode.

Set during the events of the Vietnam War and the Cold War, you play as Alex Mason, a CIA agent and someone who is forced to remember events of the past in order to find Soviet Union sleeper agents who are planning to release a chemical weapon in the US.

Black Ops Zombies also pushed the map design of the iconic horde mode, alongside expanding the storyline with a heavy focus on players completing ‘Easter Eggs’—strange and admittedly unintuitive challenges that progressed the storyline of each Zombie map, culminating in the excellent Moon that saw the end of Earth itself.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)

The finale of the original Modern Warfare trilogy sees players return to the modern era for a globe-trotting adventure as Task Force 141 continues its pursuit of Makarov. Makarov now has access to nuclear warheads, making him a global threat.

While the events of the campaign gave players an intense race around the world, the multiplayer mode offered a spiritual continuation of the prior two Modern Warfare games, with the addition of reworked perks, more levels, weapon proficiencies, and more.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (2012)

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 was the first game to enter a pseudo-futuristic timeline, with the main campaign delivering a story told over two different periods of time. It’s one of the most popular Call of Duty games for good reason.

The events in 1986 follow Alex Mason, several years after stopping the chemical weapons, tasked with finding Frank Woods, who has gone missing in Cuando Cubango, Angola. In 2025, David Mason, Alex’s son, is looking for Raul Menendez, the leader of a terrorist group who started the second Cold War. It was the first Call of Duty to put a focus on non-linear missions, allowing players to have a more sandbox-style campaign.

Black Ops 2’s multiplayer was set in the 2025 timeline, delivering gadgets that are more advanced than our own (at least, at the time). The multiplayer also continues to be an absolute treat, with Treyarch tightening the leveling system from previous CoD games, and bringing some incredible maps, too.

The Zombies mode returned in Black Ops 2, delivering a modern story that was divisive. The first few maps released range from mediocre and bad, like Die Rise and Tranzit, to incredible, such as Origins. However, each map delivered innovations on the long-running game mode, introducing exciting gimmicks to each location that make it more interesting than before.

Call of Duty: Ghosts (2013)

One of the Call of Duty games with very little connection to other entries, Call of Duty Ghosts follows a special forces team aptly titled Ghosts as you stop a South American force called the Federation of the Americas, which is led by the former leader of the Ghosts.

Ghosts was the first Call of Duty game on the PS4 and Xbox One generation of consoles. While it was created by the Modern Warfare developers Infinity Ward, Ghosts remains one of the most controversial entries in the long-running franchise. It delivered some changes to the multiplayer formula and remains a solid FPS, but Ghosts is one that many CoD fans forget about.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2014)

Advanced Warfare is arguably one of the most distinct entries in the series, taking to the low-down skies with ‘jetpack’ combat over ‘boots-on-the-ground’ combat. Boosting allowed players to dash forward, backward, left, and right quickly, making for intense and competitive gunplay.

The campaign follows Jack Mitchell, a marine who suffered injuries in an accident and later joins a private military corporation called Atlas. Advanced Warfare’s jetpack-style combat led to an interesting, albeit love-or-hate-it multiplayer, alongside introducing futuristic weapons. The game is set in the 2050s. It also introduced loot boxes and Exo Zombies, a game mode separate from the Black Ops Zombies storyline and gameplay.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (2015)

Continuing the path of innovation that Advanced Warfare brought, Black Ops 3 introduced specialists in multiplayer – unique characters with abilities that granted passive or aggressive advantages over your enemies. The Treyarch-developed Black Ops 3 stuck with the jetpack-style gunplay, tightening it up and making it slower while allowing for wall-running a la Titanfall.

The campaign, one of the longest in the franchise, puts you in the boots of an unnamed soldier as you attempt to investigate a strange event in Singapore and stop a criminal organization called 54 Immortals.

Finally, Black Ops 3 Zombies further expanded the game mode, introducing small advantages such as Gobblegums to make matches more interesting each time while expanding the story greatly.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (2016)

The most futuristic Call of Duty game, Infinite Warfare, was set in the 2180s, featuring a war between humans on Earth and Mars. Space combat and a terrific robot companion made Infinite Warfare’s campaign a standout, despite the unique premise in the franchise, but the 2016 game’s multiplayer was disappointing, to say the least.

After player complaints about the jetpack gameplay, the next title took things back to basics, and while other games in the series may have gone to the future at some point, none went as far as Infinite Warfare. At least, not yet.

Call of Duty: WWII (2017)

After almost a decade of modern and future settings, Call of Duty went back to World War 2 with the release of the aptly titled WWII. The campaign follows just one character, the only game in the series to do so, as you control Ronald “Red” Daniels fighting Nazi forces.

The main point of WWII’s multiplayer was delivering a solid boots-to-the-ground experience that many players were missing from the futuristic titles, alongside a range of incredible maps set during the Second World War. However, it was also the only game to introduce a social hub where players could interact with others in a 3D space.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018)

The only Call of Duty game without a campaign, Black Ops 4 brought a focus on specialists once again while keeping it boots-to-the-ground, a balance between Black Ops 3 and the classic CoD. However, while there’s no campaign, hints of lore put the game’s timeline as a prequel to BO3.

Black Ops 4 was the first game to launch exclusively on Activision’s Battle.Net, as opposed to Steam, and was the first game to introduce a battle royale mode called Blackout. Black Ops Zombies returns, with the maps finishing the storyline of the Aether Saga.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)

Commonly called Modern Warfare (2019), to avoid confusion with the original, the 2019 entry delivered a reboot of the 2007 game and follows a new version of events using classic characters like Captain Price in a new story. Considering all the Call of Duty games before it, MW 2019 acts as a good jumping-on point for series newcomers.

The first Modern Warfare game in this new trilogy, MW 2019, brought a tactical element to both the multiplayer and campaign while keeping the arcade-style core that CoD is best known for in the FPS space. It also led to the release of Warzone, Call of Duty’s official battle royale, and a more polished version of Blackout.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020)

A direct sequel to the first Black Ops game and set before the events of Black Ops 2, Cold War follows ‘Bell’, a character you can further customize by selecting the real name, gender, and dialogue, while also teaming up with iconic Black Ops characters like Alex Mason. The campaign follows a team hunting down a Soviet figure called ‘Perseus’ at the peak of the Cold War.

Not only did the multiplayer continue Treyarch’s solid arcade-like style for gunplay, but the campaign introduced several changes, like different mission endings and a more open-ended approach to objectives. Cold War Zombies also focused on loadouts and made it easier to complete story-related objectives following the new Dark Aether storyline.

Call of Duty: Vanguard (2021)

Call of Duty: Vanguard is arguably one of the most middling entries in the long-running franchise, delivering another World War 2 game that Activision admitted didn’t sell well. The Sledgehammer Games-led Vanguard saw a variety of interesting maps, and solid quality-of-life innovations, with a story that follows different soldiers near the end of the war.

Vanguard, however, was plagued with technical issues and a lack of content at launch, causing it to be one of the most disappointing games in the series. However, Vanguard Zombies did break the tradition for the game mode, continuing Cold War’s Dark Aether Saga into a non-Black Ops game.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022)

A direct sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare and a pseudo-reboot of 2009’s Modern Warfare 2, the latest game by Infinity Ward takes players back into the story of Task Force 141 as they attempt to stop a terrorist organization that plans to take revenge for the assassination of an Iranian Forces leader.

Modern Warfare 2 is one of the best-selling Call of Duty games in recent memory, selling over $1 billion in copies in 10 days. The release of Modern Warfare 2 also saw the launch of a new Warzone, dubbed Warzone 2.0 (and later Warzone again, for added confusion), and the release of the now-dead DMZ extraction mode.

2022’s entry kept the solid gameplay of MW 2019 while introducing the Gunsmith system – a mechanic that allows you to further customize your weapons in multiplayer to suit your loadout.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)

Another game-breaking long-running tradition, Modern Warfare 3 (2023), is the first sequel in the series to launch a year after the previous entry in a subseries. It continues the story of Task Force 141 in an admittedly disappointing campaign. The Russian terrorist Makarov returns in the reboot trilogy, as an intense chase across the globe leads to devastating events.

Modern Warfare 3’s multiplayer brought a huge number of quality-of-life changes that many players complained about in MW2, as well as allowing people to use guns and cosmetics earned from the previous entry. However, rumors suggest that Sledgehammer Games had only 16 months to develop the title, despite the developer stating this is not true.

MW3 is the only Modern Warfare game to introduce Zombies, with Modern Warfare Zombies bringing an open-world experience that continues the Dark Aether Saga once again. MWZ takes away the round-based zombies mode for an extraction shooter, which grows in intensity the closer you get to the center of the map.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (2024)

The Call of Duty Black Ops 6 release date isn’t here just yet, but the story takes place during the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. It’s the first game to use the new ‘Omnimovement’ mechanic, allowing players to sprint, dive, and move in any direction.

Black Ops 6 continues with the Zombies game mode, too. The Dark Aether Saga sees the return of round-based zombies, Gobblegums, and more to the iconic game mode.

Call of Duty Games with Zombies

Both Advanced Warfare and Infinite Warfare have their own twists on the Call of Duty Zombies formula. However, neither is connected to the storyline that started in World at War. World at War, Vanguard, and MW3 (2023) are the only non-Black Ops games with a standard Zombie experience.

The Bottom Line

The Call of Duty series has over 50 games since its origins back in 2003, and while many aren’t required to enjoy the long-running franchise, it’s impressive how many there are. Fortunately, there are only 21 mainline games to enjoy, all of which are available on PC, except for Call of Duty 3.

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