17 years later, players are asking for Call of Duty 5
Call of Duty fans are asking what happened to Call of Duty 5 and why the series ditched its numbered entries from World at War onward.
24th Jan 2024 14:29
Images via Infinity Ward | Treyarch
17 years later, players are asking for Call of Duty 5
Call of Duty fans are asking what happened to Call of Duty 5 and why the series ditched its numbered entries from World at War onward.
24th Jan 2024 14:29
Images via Infinity Ward | Treyarch
After 21 years, it's fair to say the Call of Duty series has come a long way. There are currently 23 mainline games, as well as Warzone, Mobile, and Treyarch's rumoured Gulf War-set game coming in 2024. The CoDverse shows no sign of slowing down, and as one of the best-selling franchises of all time, why would it?
Picture the scene. It's 2003 and you come home from school, stick The Fairly OddParents on in the background and chug down some SunnyD full of E-numbers. You load up Call of Duty on your PC and enter the trenches alongside Captain Price (no, not that one) without knowing history was about to be made.
What happened to Call of Duty 5?
While early CoD saw us fighting in World War II, Infinity Ward broke from tradition and brought us screaming into the present day with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. This was the refresh the series needed, and while Infinity Ward has since become synonymous with the MW name, players are wondering what happened to CoD 5.
After the original Modern Warfare, development on the next game switched back to Treyarch. This was back before Sledgehammer had joined the party, meaning we flipped between Infinity Ward and Treyarch. It's true that Call of Duty 5 (obviously) exists, just not quite in that form.
The fifth mainline release was the beloved Call of Duty: World at War, which introduced Zombies and returned to the World War II setting. There haven't been any numbered entries since Call of Duty 4, although it's become increasingly hard to keep track of the various Modern Warfare and Black Ops sequels and remakes.
Players demand Call of Duty 5
Over on Reddit, fans were questioning what happened to Call of Duty 5 and jokingly asked Activision to deliver on it. After all, we imagine 17 years is more than long enough in development hell. When one fan said we deserve a sequel to CoD 4, another joked, "This is the real reason COD is failing. Give the fans what they want."
Someone else chuckled, "Call of Duty 5 was never created. People keep assuming it was World at War, but that's incorrect," and a fourth concluded, "Us fans must unite and revolt against Activision until we get our call of duty 5 it's only right."
Realistically, it's not a Call of Duty issue. Games and movie titles frequently ditch numbers - presumably to make something feel fresh instead of a sequel. BioShock Infinite wasn't called BioShock 3, 2016's Doom wasn't called Doom 4, and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning isn't called Mission: Impossible 7.
Also, dropping the numbers makes things easier to revamp without having to shackle something to the past. This becomes a bit confusing with 2022's Scream 5 being called Scream and its 2023 sequel being called Scream VI. Somehow, MW3 being called Call of Duty 23 doesn't quite have the same ring to it.
About The Author
Tom Chapman
Tom is Trending News Editor at GGRecon, with an NCTJ qualification in Broadcast Journalism and over seven years of experience writing about film, gaming, and television. With bylines at IGN, Digital Spy, Den of Geek, and more, Tom’s love of horror means he's well-versed in all things Resident Evil, with aspirations to be the next Chris Redfield.
