Activision believes in the so-called "Call of Duty tax" from gaming media

Allegedly, the press is somewhat unenthusiastic about covering Modern Warfare 4.

Activision believes that the gaming press has started to take Call of Duty for granted, which may lead journalists and reviewers to underestimate the scale of work involved in the series. This was stated by the company's marketing director, Tyler Bahl, in an interview with The Game Business.

According to Bahl, traditional gaming media still pay attention to Call of Duty, but the franchise's long history may have led journalists to no longer fully notice the developers' efforts. Activision calls this phenomenon the "Call of Duty tax."

Bahl also emphasized that about 4,500 employees work on the series' games, striving to provide players with the highest quality experience.

According to Bahl, the scale of the franchise's audience has also gradually ceased to be perceived as something outstanding. He reminded that Call of Duty has about 100 million players in free-to-play projects, and the total sales of the series' games have reached 500 million copies. In addition, the franchise's mobile game has been downloaded over a billion times and is particularly popular in international markets.

Activision intends to draw attention to the developers' work through a marketing campaign. Instead of another large-scale commercial, the company decided to show how the series' games are created and talk about the teams' dedication to their craft.