Call of Duty. The series, which is synonymous with blockbuster first-person shooting games, has reached the milestone of turning 15 years old today. Yes, Infinity Ward's very first and special game launched (as a timed-exclusive) on October 29, 2003 for PC. Interestingly enough, this groundbreaking title was released a day after another classic, Ubisoft Montreal’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
As a reminder, the first Call of Duty was developed by the 22 original team members of Infinity Ward who came from the team that had worked on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. Back in 2003, Call of Duty won 90 Game of the Year awards and 50 Editor's Choice Awards and the exerts from the NPD Group named it the eighth-best-selling computer game of that year. In the US alone, COD sold 790,000 copies.
Activision has expressed their gratitude for the Call of Duty community's support in today’s Tweet, and there are many reasons to be grateful, as the first Call of Duty not only spawned numerous spin-offs and sequels, but became a worldwide phenomenon that has sold over 250 million copies. This year's Call of Duty, Black Ops IIII, surpassed $500 million in global sales during its launch weekend on its own.