Call of Duty games in order: By release date and timeline

CALL of Duty is one of the planet's biggest gaming franchises, bringing together millions of players every year.

Altogether, the series boasts 24 entries, some of which are linked by overarching stories with characters who appear in multiple games.


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Timelines within the franchise stretch back from World War II through the Vietnam War all the way to fictional conflicts set in the distant future.

Any gamer looking to play through the entire collection (you'll need a lot of spare time on your hands) has two ways to go about it.

They could play the games in order of their release, or for a truly immersive experience, by following the franchise in timeline order.

We've put together a guide to completing the series one way or the other below.

Call of Duty franchise release order

Here are the Call of Duty games in release order, alongside their launch dates.

To make things concise, we've not included the mobile games or various DLC (downloadable content) packs that have come out down the years.

  • Call of Duty (2003)
  • Call of Duty: Finest Hour (2004)
  • Call of Duty 2 (2005)
  • Call of Duty 2: Big Red One (2005)
  • Call of Duty 3 (2006)
  • Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)
  • Call of Duty: World at War (2008)
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010)
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012)
  • Call of Duty: Ghosts (2013)
  • Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2014)
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops III (2015)
  • Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (2016)
  • Call of Duty: WWII (2017)
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018)
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020)

Call of Duty franchise timeline order

You can also play the games in order of when they were set.

A lot of the games jump around across time, so we've taken the earliest date that the campaign takes place in.

  • Call of Duty: WW2 (1940)
  • Call of Duty: Finest Hour (1942)
  • Call of Duty: World at War (1942)
  • Call of Duty 2 (1942)
  • Call of Duty (1942)
  • Call of Duty 3 (1944)
  • Call of Duty: Big Red One (1944)
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops (1961)
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (1960s)
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (1980s)
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (1999)
  • Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2011)
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2016)
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2016)
  • Call of Duty: Ghosts (2017)
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2043)
  • Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2054)
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (2065)
  • Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (2080)

Call of Duty: Vanguard– what to expect

This year's entry in the series is Call of Duty: Vanguard, developed by Sledgehammer.

That name will be familiar to long-time fans of the franchise.

The studio is wholly owned by Activision, and is responsible for some of the most iconic Call of Duty games.

Sledgehammer developed, co-developed or assisted with:

  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
  • Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
  • Call of Duty: WWII
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

The title will take players back to WWII with a solo campaign following the birth of special forces units.

Multiplayer is introducing new features to the franchise, like destructible environments.

It'll also be integrated with Warzone, which is getting a new Pacific map for the occasion.

Call of Duty: Vanguard releases on Friday, November 5 so make sure you pre-order if you want to pre-load early and dive in at launch.

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Which CoD is your favourite? Let us know in the comments!

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