- Activision has complained about a “Call of Duty tax” affecting the franchise’s reception.
- The studio believes reviewers and players sometimes underestimate the amount of work and passion behind each entry.
- Despite Call of Duty’s commercial success year after year, the series rarely receives much praise from the media.
It’s no secret that Call of Duty’s quality has deteriorated over the years, especially with recent releases like Black Ops 7.
Not only was this entry not the best received among critics, but it also received criticism from the players. According to Activision, the series faces a “Call of Duty tax” from the media today.
Why it matters: Call of Duty continues to sell millions of units each year, but it seldom receives much attention from the media.
As per Activision’s Tyler Bahl, Activision appears to believe Call of Duty faces harsher treatment because of its yearly cadence and long-running dominance in the shooter market.
This statement coming ahead of Modern Warfare 4’s release is interesting, particularly since it suggests Activision is preparing for less-than-ideal reception for the upcoming entry.
As per Bahl, the media tends to forget the work that goes into each Call of Duty entry. He also noted that Call of Duty’s success has sort of become the status quo, so the larger passion and effort behind the series sometimes goes unappreciated.
We get coverage, but we call it the Call of Duty tax. Call of Duty has been here for a very long time. And with that, people sometimes forget that there’s so much work that goes into making these games.
Of course, one could argue that the supposed “Call of Duty tax” is Activision’s own fault due to consistent annual releases for nearly two full decades. It will be interesting to see how the media reacts to Modern Warfare 4 later this month, especially in the wake of competition from upcoming titles like GTA 6.
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Sajjad Hussain is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Tech4Gamers.com. Apart from the Tech and Gaming scene, Sajjad is a Seasonal banker who has delivered multi-million dollar projects as an IT Project Manager and works as a freelancer to provide professional services to corporate giants and emerging startups in the IT space.
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