Instead of each Call of Duty game servicing the fans’ demands and their own ambitions, they now must also service Warzone’s particular demands, too-namely in how it’s used to sell microtransactions, but also on a gameplay level. It’s hard to imagine this release strategy not impacting the developers’ creative decisions in some capacity. Nowhere is this more obvious with Call of Duty: Vanguard than on the main menu screen, which is divided into equal fourths: one sliver reserved for Vanguard, one for Warzone, one for Black Ops Cold War, and one for Modern Warfare. The rise of Warzone from 2019’s Modern Warfare reboot has necessitated that each annual Call of Duty game no longer function as a standalone product, but as the next appendage of a complex, overarching platform. In the last four years since Sledgehammer Games released Call of Duty: WWII, Activision’s perennial shooter series has undergone its most massive transformation since 2007’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Call of duty world at war wallpaper