Call of Duty has 22 mainline games, and Modern Warfare 4 will be the 23rd when it launches on 23 October 2026. They don’t tell one story. They tell three: the original Modern Warfare trilogy, the Black Ops saga, and the rebooted Modern Warfare series, plus a shelf of one-off games that connect to nothing. Two of those three sagas have been linked since 2020, which is the part most “in order” lists get wrong.
The short verdict: the five games worth buying today are Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare 2 (2009), Black Ops, Modern Warfare (2019) and Black Ops 6. Below you get the full release order, the story lines, and the reasons those five beat the other seventeen.
Verified on 11 October 2026. PC Metascores, Steam prices and player counts are snapshots from that day and will move. Modern Warfare 4 is unreleased, so it has no score yet.
Quick Start: What to Play, in Seven Steps
- Want the best-reviewed Call of Duty on PC? Buy Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Metascore 92, $19.99 on Steam).
- Want the rest of that story? Follow it with Modern Warfare 2 (2009) (86, $19.99).
- Want Black Ops? Start with the original Black Ops (81, $39.99). Cold War (76) is the optional middle chapter.
- Want one current game with a big player base? Black Ops 6 (83, $69.99).
- Playing Modern Warfare 4 on 23 October? Play Modern Warfare (2019) ($59.99) and Modern Warfare II first, and watch a recap of Modern Warfare III.
- Don’t pay full price for Modern Warfare III (58) or Black Ops 7 (65). Call of Duty 3 never came out on PC at all.
- Want a Call of Duty for free? Warzone costs nothing. Our Warzone PC settings guide covers the setup.
Every Call of Duty Game in Release Order (2003–2026)
Release order is the right default: 22 games in 23 years, and one a year, every October or November, since 2005. The table gives each mainline game its lead studio, its story line and its PC Metascore from Metacritic. “Mainline” here follows Wikipedia’s numbered main-series list, so spin-offs and remasters are excluded.
One naming trap first. The 2009 and 2011 games are Modern Warfare 2 and 3. The 2022 and 2023 reboot sequels are Modern Warfare II and III. This guide keeps those spellings so you can tell the pairs apart.
| Release | Game | Lead studio | Story line | PC Metascore |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2003 | Call of Duty | Infinity Ward | WWII one-off | 91 |
| Oct 2005 | Call of Duty 2 | Infinity Ward | WWII one-off | 86 |
| Nov 2006 | Call of Duty 3 | Treyarch | WWII one-off | 82* |
| Nov 2007 | Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare | Infinity Ward | Original Modern Warfare | 92 |
| Nov 2008 | Call of Duty: World at War | Treyarch | WWII; leads into Black Ops | 83 |
| Nov 2009 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | Infinity Ward | Original Modern Warfare | 86 |
| Nov 2010 | Call of Duty: Black Ops | Treyarch | Black Ops | 81 |
| Nov 2011 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 | Infinity Ward + Sledgehammer | Original Modern Warfare | 78 |
| Nov 2012 | Call of Duty: Black Ops II | Treyarch | Black Ops | 74 |
| Nov 2013 | Call of Duty: Ghosts | Infinity Ward | One-off | 68 |
| Nov 2014 | Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare | Sledgehammer | One-off | 78 |
| Nov 2015 | Call of Duty: Black Ops III | Treyarch | Black Ops | 73 |
| Nov 2016 | Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare | Infinity Ward | One-off | 73 |
| Nov 2017 | Call of Duty: WWII | Sledgehammer | WWII one-off | 73 |
| Oct 2018 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 | Treyarch | Black Ops | 83 |
| Oct 2019 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) | Infinity Ward | Rebooted Modern Warfare | 81 |
| Nov 2020 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | Treyarch + Raven | Black Ops | 76 |
| Nov 2021 | Call of Duty: Vanguard | Sledgehammer | WWII; Zombies leads into Cold War | 72 |
| Oct 2022 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II | Infinity Ward | Rebooted Modern Warfare | 79 |
| Nov 2023 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III | Sledgehammer | Rebooted Modern Warfare | 58 |
| Oct 2024 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 | Treyarch + Raven | Black Ops | 83 |
| Nov 2025 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 | Treyarch + Raven | Black Ops | 65 |
| 23 Oct 2026 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 | Infinity Ward | Rebooted Modern Warfare | Not released |
* Call of Duty 3 was never released on PC, so Metacritic’s page shows its Xbox 360 score (82).
The table’s biggest takeaway: the series’ best-reviewed PC games are old and its worst are recent. The six PC games from 2003–2010 average a Metascore of 86.5, while the 15 from 2011–2025 average 74.3 (our calculation). The three lowest scores, Modern Warfare III (58), Black Ops 7 (65) and Ghosts (68), are all from 2013 or later. Metacritic scoring habits have shifted over two decades, so read that gap as a direction, not a verdict.
Three studios share the work. By our count of lead credits, Treyarch led nine games, Infinity Ward eight and Sledgehammer Games four. Modern Warfare 3 was split between Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer after Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella were fired in a legal dispute with Activision, and Infinite Warfare (2016) was the first game made under Activision’s three-year, three-studio cycle. Raven Software co-develops the recent Black Ops games, and Infinity Ward leads Modern Warfare 4 with help from ten other studios.
The Three Story Lines, and the Bridge Between Two of Them
Call of Duty is three sagas plus one-offs, and the sagas don’t need each other. Pick the one you want and play it in release order.
| Story line | Games | How they connect | Mean PC Metascore | Start here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original Modern Warfare trilogy | Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare 2 (2009), Modern Warfare 3 (2011) | Modern Warfare 2 is set five years after Call of Duty 4, and Modern Warfare 3 picks up where it ends | 85.3 | Call of Duty 4 |
| Black Ops | Black Ops, II, III, 4, Cold War, 6 and 7 (World at War is the prologue) | Cold War sits between Black Ops and Black Ops II; Black Ops 6 follows Cold War; Black Ops 7 follows Black Ops 6 and reuses Black Ops II characters | 76.4 | Black Ops (2010) |
| Rebooted Modern Warfare | Modern Warfare (2019), II, III and Modern Warfare 4 | Each is a direct sequel to the one before; the 2019 game resets the original trilogy | 72.7 (three scored) | Modern Warfare (2019) |
The original trilogy is the best-reviewed saga, Black Ops sits in the middle, and the reboot trails, with Modern Warfare 4 still to be scored. (Means are our calculation from the table above; the Black Ops figure leaves out World at War.)
The reboot reuses the names but not the history. Wikipedia quotes narrative director Taylor Kurosaki saying Captain Price would feature in a retconned narrative “where the events in the previous Modern Warfare timeline have not occurred.” Price and the villain Imran Zakhaev appear in both versions, but what happens to them differs, so don’t treat the 2019 trilogy as a remake you can swap in for the original.
The 2020 Bridge Most Lists Miss
Before 2020, the Black Ops and Modern Warfare teams ran separate universes. Then GameSpot’s Phil Hornshaw noticed that Black Ops Cold War “makes a bridge between the Black Ops games and Infinity Ward’s rebooted Modern Warfare storyline.” The link is Zakhaev, who appears briefly as a Soviet officer in a 1981 mission at KGB headquarters. Hornshaw concluded that the reboot “takes place in the same timeline as Black Ops 1, 2, and Cold War.”
He also flagged the seams. The reboot is set in 2019, while Black Ops II’s future storyline is set in 2025, and the cameo could be a one-off Easter egg. Our reading is a shared universe with loose seams, not one clean timeline, and that rests on one journalist’s inference from one cameo, so hold it loosely. What it does settle is the practical question: Black Ops and the rebooted Modern Warfare can be played separately, but they are no longer strangers.
Black Ops in Story Order vs Release Order
Black Ops is the saga where order matters most, because its games jump around the calendar. The table sorts them by in-universe date.
| Story order | Game | In-universe setting | Released |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | World at War | 1942–1945 | 2008 |
| 2 | Black Ops | The 1960s | 2010 |
| 3 | Black Ops Cold War | 1981 | 2020 |
| 4 | Black Ops II (Mason flashbacks) | July 1986 to December 1989 | 2012 |
| 5 | Black Ops 6 | Early 1990s, start of Operation Desert Storm | 2024 |
| 6 | Black Ops II (David Mason storyline) | 2025 | 2012 |
| 7 | Black Ops 7 | 2035 | 2025 |
| 8 | Black Ops 4 | The 2040s, set between Black Ops II and III | 2018 |
| 9 | Black Ops III | 2065 | 2015 |
Release order and story order disagree in only a few places: Cold War (2020) fills a 1981 gap between two games from 2010 and 2012, Black Ops 4 is a prequel to Black Ops III, and Black Ops II straddles two eras. Play the saga in release order anyway. Each later game assumes you know the earlier ones, and the one entry you can safely skip is Black Ops 4, which has no campaign. Our Black Ops 7 guide covers where the saga stands now.
Everything Else Is a One-Off
Call of Duty, 2, 3 and WWII are World War II games with no shared cast. World at War is the exception: characters carry over into Black Ops, and its Zombies backstory continues there. Vanguard’s Zombies mode serves as a prologue to Cold War’s Dark Aether story, while its campaign is a separate WWII tale. Ghosts, Advanced Warfare and Infinite Warfare were each described by GameSpot in 2020 as their own franchise, and Wikipedia calls Ghosts a “standalone installment.”
The 5 Worth Playing Today
Five games clear three tests: a PC Metascore of 81 or higher, a clear role as the entry point to a saga, and a way to buy and run them on PC today. A sixth, Call of Duty 2 (86, $19.99), is the pick if you want a World War II game, and World at War (83) is the one to try for Zombies history.
| Game | PC Metascore | Steam price | Play it for | Think twice if |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare | 92 | $19.99 | The blueprint: perks, killstreaks, prestige | You want a long campaign |
| Modern Warfare 2 (2009) | 86 | $19.99 | The direct sequel, set five years later | You want upgraded visuals |
| Black Ops | 81 | $39.99 | The start of the Black Ops saga | You want a current-looking game |
| Modern Warfare (2019) | 81 | $59.99 | The reboot’s starting point and the road to Modern Warfare 4 | $59.99 feels steep for a 2019 game |
| Black Ops 6 | 83 | $69.99 | The best-reviewed recent game | You’d rather wait for a sale |
Prices are Steam’s list prices on 11 October 2026, before any sale. The takeaway: the two cheapest picks are also the two highest-scoring, so $39.98 buys Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2, the original saga’s strongest pair.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007). Its Metascore of 92 is the series’ best, and its multiplayer introduced the XP leveling, Prestige, create-a-class, perks and killstreaks that later shooters copied, according to Wikipedia’s account of its legacy. Reviewers described the campaign as brief and linear, so you’re buying a tight afternoon of single-player and a piece of shooter history, not a long story.
Modern Warfare 2 (2009). It scored 86 on PC and sold over 22 million copies by 2013. If you only want the story, Campaign Remastered (2020) is the shinier route: it runs on a modified Advanced Warfare engine with remade cutscenes, but it drops multiplayer and Spec Ops, and its Metascore is 71.
Black Ops (2010). It sold more than 5.6 million copies in 24 hours, a record at the time, and it is the first Black Ops story: a CIA operative recalling memories to find a numbers station, a plot Wikipedia notes is shaped by brainwashing and hallucinations. PlayStation 4 and 5 ports of Black Ops and Black Ops II from Iron Galaxy arrived on 9 July 2026; on PC, the Steam version is the way to play.
Modern Warfare (2019). This is the on-ramp to Modern Warfare 4 and a sensible first game for a newcomer. It reached Steam only on 8 March 2023 and still lists at $59.99, so this is the pick to wait on for a discount.
Black Ops 6 (2024). It follows Cold War, starts during Operation Desert Storm, and brings Frank Woods back. It scored 83 on PC, had the largest launch weekend in franchise history, and was the best-selling US game of 2024, per Wikipedia. You don’t need Cold War’s campaign to enjoy the shooting, but you’ll catch more of the story if you’ve played it.
A caution on multiplayer. On 11 October 2026 Steam showed 372 players in Call of Duty 4, 531 in Modern Warfare 2 (2009) and 537 in Black Ops, against 4,592 in Black Ops III. The shared Call of Duty entry on Steam, which hosts Warzone, showed about 34,900. That is a single afternoon’s snapshot, but it fits the advice: buy the classics for their campaigns, and buy the newer games if online lobbies are the point.
The 5 You Can Skip, and What Skipping Costs
The same play-or-skip test we used on Assassin’s Creed applies here: a skip is only honest if you say what it costs you. Four of these five cost you very little. One costs you a recap video before Modern Warfare 4.
| Game | PC Metascore | Why skip it | What skipping costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Call of Duty 3 | None (82 on Xbox 360) | The only mainline game never released on PC; retrospective reviews are mostly negative | Nothing, it ties to no later game |
| Ghosts | 68 | Mixed reviews, a campaign critics called derivative | Nothing, it’s a standalone story |
| Vanguard | 72 | Critics faulted the writing and Zombies; sales missed Activision’s targets | The Zombies prologue to Cold War’s Dark Aether story |
| Modern Warfare III | 58 | The lowest score in the series; IGN gave its campaign 4/10 | Context for Modern Warfare 4; watch a recap |
| Black Ops 7 | 65 | Mixed reviews, and a user score that hit 1.5 during review-bombing | The next chapter after Black Ops 6, plus returning Black Ops II characters |
Modern Warfare III is the interesting case. It began as an expansion pack for Modern Warfare II and was rebuilt into a full game by summer 2022, and critics singled out its open-world “Open Combat Missions” as the weak spot. Black Ops 7 is the opposite call: it is a weak score attached to a story you may still want, so wait for a discount rather than skipping it outright.
Two special cases. Black Ops 4 scored 83, but it is the first mainline game with no single-player campaign, so buy it only for multiplayer or Zombies. Infinite Warfare scored 73 at launch, though retrospective reviewers have often praised its campaign.
Which Path Fits You?
| If you are… | Play this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A first-time player | Black Ops 6, or Modern Warfare (2019) if you want Modern Warfare 4 context | Modern engines, active lobbies, and no homework needed for the shooting |
| On a budget | Call of Duty 4, then Modern Warfare 2 (2009) | Two top-scoring games for $39.98 at list price |
| Story-first | One saga in release order | Black Ops: Black Ops, Cold War, Black Ops 6, Black Ops 7. Original: Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare 2, then a Modern Warfare 3 recap |
| Multiplayer-first | The current games, not the classics | Classic PC lobbies are thin; recent games share one big player pool |
| A completionist | Release order, one saga at a time | Finish a saga before starting the next, then clear the one-offs last |
If you prefer a branching rule, use this:
- Playing Modern Warfare 4 on day one? Play Modern Warfare (2019) and Modern Warfare II, then watch a Modern Warfare III recap.
- Not playing Modern Warfare 4? Do you want a single current game? Buy Black Ops 6.
- Want classics instead? Buy Call of Duty 4 first, and Black Ops if you want the other saga.
- Want World War II? Call of Duty 2 is the pick; skip Vanguard.
- Want no spend at all? Warzone is free.
Before Modern Warfare 4 Arrives on 23 October
Modern Warfare 4 launches on 23 October 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2, and it skips PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, according to the official announcement. Infinity Ward’s campaign opens with a North Korean invasion of South Korea, seen through a young South Korean soldier, while a vengeful Captain Price works outside the system he once served. Wikipedia notes that the game builds on events shown in Modern Warfare III, that digital pre-orders unlock campaign early access from 16 October, and that Game Pass access will come at least a year after launch, unlike Black Ops 6 and 7.
The game is unreleased, so judge nothing by its Metascore yet. If you’re deciding where to spend your shooter time this autumn, our Battlefield 6 complete guide covers its main rival.
Call of Duty Games in Order: FAQ
Do you need to play Call of Duty games in order?
No, except inside a saga. The original Modern Warfare trilogy, the Black Ops line and the rebooted Modern Warfare series each follow on from their own earlier games, but you can start any of the three without the others.
Are Black Ops and Modern Warfare in the same universe?
Partly, since 2020. Black Ops Cold War includes Imran Zakhaev, and GameSpot read that cameo as placing the rebooted Modern Warfare in the Black Ops timeline. The original 2007–2011 trilogy stays separate.
Is Modern Warfare 4 a sequel to Modern Warfare III?
It is the fourth game in the rebooted series, and Wikipedia says it builds on events shown in Modern Warfare III. It is unreleased until 23 October 2026, so how much recap it gives new players is not yet known.
Which Call of Duty has the best campaign?
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has the highest PC Metascore (92), though that score covers the whole game, not just the campaign. Among recent games, Black Ops 6 leads at 83.
Is Black Ops 7 worth buying?
Not at $69.99, in our view. It holds a 65 Metascore and was review-bombed to a user score of 1.5 at its lowest, so wait for a sale unless you’re following the Black Ops story.
Sources
- Activision. Announcing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 (28 May 2026). Call of Duty Blog. Linked in the text above.
- Hornshaw, P. How Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Connects To Modern Warfare (16 November 2020). GameSpot. Not linked because GameSpot blocks automated link checks; search the title on gamespot.com.
- Metacritic. PC critic reviews pages for all 22 mainline games, retrieved 11 October 2026. Each Metascore in the tables above links to its page.
- Valve. Steam store listings and current-player counts for the games above, retrieved 11 October 2026. Prices in the tables link to the listings.
- Wikipedia. Call of Duty (franchise). Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikipedia. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. Wikimedia Foundation
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- Wikipedia. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019). Wikimedia Foundation
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- Wikipedia. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Wikimedia Foundation
I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.