Call of Duty’s exodus among my friends has me dropping solo these days, but I’m probably not alone
Back in my heyday, Call of Duty was a huge part of my social life. Now, it's a ghost town. Yeah, I said "heyday". I'm old. At 36, I feel as though I am at least double that age in the gaming community. This is just one of the reasons that CoD has felt real lonely for me over the past few years, though, but I'm also pretty sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. Image via Activision I used to play CoD with friends every night. I formed many friendships in CoD through the years, first while playing the game and then while writing about the game from all angles, including esports. Gradually, though, over the last few years, there has been a mass exodus when it comes to people I know. I personally don't really know anyone who still plays CoD anymore, which is interesting because the game sells millions of copies year in and year out, so plenty of gamers are buying it. Maybe it's an age thing, maybe it's the series' general direction, maybe it's a combination of things, but CoD is no longer my playground and meeting place. Just days ago, one of my former CoD-player friend shared a viral clip of BO6's wild collab characters like Beavis, a Ninja Turtle, and the Terminator. Years ago, this sort of thing would've been nonsensical, but it's a regular occurrence as CoD continues to pump out live service content every month or so. "It’s kinda wild that CoD has gone more Fortnite than Fortnite has," they said, to which another friend in the group chat replied "What the fuck is this lol," and I couldn't help but shrug and agree. Maybe it's another reason we have grown out of the series. Gather 'round, kids. As you get older, you sometimes drift apart from friends. It's just a natural part of life as everyone starts their own families, or games less, or make other friends, or all of the above, so CoD no longer being what it once was exacerbates the situation. That just sucks for when it comes to me to cover CoD and play it enough to write about it, and yet I can't blame them one bit. I believe the last time I had friends to play a CoD with was 2021 in Black Ops Cold War. Since then, through CoD Vanguard, MWII, MWIII, Black Ops 6, and soon Black Ops 7, I've been a solo gamer and I've been miserable about 97 percent of that time. Image via Activision The game just isn't fun to me anymore, and I end up having a positive experience on CoD very, very rarely. But I still hold out hope. And so I can't help but wonder how many other gamers there are like me, hanging on in CoD (I know my situation is different since I play it for my job) while their friends have all moved on. I also wonder aloud if CoD, similarly to the Jurassic Park franchise in the movies, is "bulletproof" and will continue making money no matter how bad the product is. With how many people I hear from whose CoD days are behind them, it certainly feels that way. But none of that money is coming from the people I once played with, and that stinks for me specifically. Anyway, when's that BO7 pre-order info dropping? The post Call of Duty’s exodus among my friends has me dropping solo these days, but I’m probably not alone appeared first on Destructoid.
Back in my heyday, Call of Duty was a huge part of my social life. Now, it's a ghost town.
Yeah, I said "heyday". I'm old. At 36, I feel as though I am at least double that age in the gaming community. This is just one of the reasons that CoD has felt real lonely for me over the past few years, though, but I'm also pretty sure I'm not the only one who feels this way.
I used to play CoD with friends every night. I formed many friendships in CoD through the years, first while playing the game and then while writing about the game from all angles, including esports. Gradually, though, over the last few years, there has been a mass exodus when it comes to people I know.
I personally don't really know anyone who still plays CoD anymore, which is interesting because the game sells millions of copies year in and year out, so plenty of gamers are buying it. Maybe it's an age thing, maybe it's the series' general direction, maybe it's a combination of things, but CoD is no longer my playground and meeting place.
Just days ago, one of my former CoD-player friend shared a viral clip of BO6's wild collab characters like Beavis, a Ninja Turtle, and the Terminator. Years ago, this sort of thing would've been nonsensical, but it's a regular occurrence as CoD continues to pump out live service content every month or so.
"It’s kinda wild that CoD has gone more Fortnite than Fortnite has," they said, to which another friend in the group chat replied "What the fuck is this lol," and I couldn't help but shrug and agree. Maybe it's another reason we have grown out of the series.
Gather 'round, kids. As you get older, you sometimes drift apart from friends. It's just a natural part of life as everyone starts their own families, or games less, or make other friends, or all of the above, so CoD no longer being what it once was exacerbates the situation. That just sucks for when it comes to me to cover CoD and play it enough to write about it, and yet I can't blame them one bit.
I believe the last time I had friends to play a CoD with was 2021 in Black Ops Cold War. Since then, through CoD Vanguard, MWII, MWIII, Black Ops 6, and soon Black Ops 7, I've been a solo gamer and I've been miserable about 97 percent of that time.
The game just isn't fun to me anymore, and I end up having a positive experience on CoD very, very rarely. But I still hold out hope. And so I can't help but wonder how many other gamers there are like me, hanging on in CoD (I know my situation is different since I play it for my job) while their friends have all moved on.
I also wonder aloud if CoD, similarly to the Jurassic Park franchise in the movies, is "bulletproof" and will continue making money no matter how bad the product is. With how many people I hear from whose CoD days are behind them, it certainly feels that way. But none of that money is coming from the people I once played with, and that stinks for me specifically.
Anyway, when's that BO7 pre-order info dropping?
The post Call of Duty’s exodus among my friends has me dropping solo these days, but I’m probably not alone appeared first on Destructoid.
