5 Worst Call Of Duty Games Of All Time, Ranked

When it comes to popular first-person shooters, "Call of Duty" stands as one of the biggest franchises in the entire video game industry. After starting in 2003, "Call of Duty" transformed from a "Medal of Honor" clone to a yearly success for Activision, evolving and adapting with the times. Starting out as a World War II shooter series, the franchise has since explored other major global conflicts as well as shifting to modern warfare and even science fiction. But not all "Call of Duty" games are created equal, and while everyone has their own favorites, a handful of titles consistently stand as the series' most forgettable.

We've already listed the best "Call of Duty" games of all time, so now it's time to get stuck into the franchise's low points. We're looking at the games in the series that failed to impress at launch or just didn't have the same staying power as their more popular counterparts. Some of these games were improved with post-launch support, but their reputations remain lackluster and a far cry from when the series is firing on all cylinders. We've ranked the five biggest "Call of Duty" duds of all time from bad to worst.

The first game in the series to introduce overt sci-fi elements is the 2013 installment "Call of Duty: Ghosts." The game features a regime of Latin American countries attacking the United States in the near-future during a global energy crisis. This leads to a prolonged and devastating war, with siblings Logan and Hesh Walker joining a clandestine special forces unit, the Ghosts, for the United States. Embarking on missions throughout the conflict, the Ghosts move to dismantle the enemy coalition's space-based weapons.

The best thing about "Call of Duty: Ghosts" is that the game tried something fresh and original as the franchise began to fall back into a clear formula. What holds the game back is that the multiplayer maps are poorly designed and the single-player campaign is one of the series' most forgettable. For its part, the sci-fi elements hinted at in "Ghosts" would be significantly improved upon by "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" as the series continued to bend genres. "Call of Duty: Ghosts" broke new creative ground for the franchise but, on its own merits, doesn't measure up to the more successful entries in the series.

2011's "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3," which capped a trilogy that began in 2007, was the weakest title in that set of games. Activision had the chance to improve upon that lackluster reputation with its 2023 remake, but it dropped the ball big time. "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III" has a campaign that feels just as short and unfulfilling while the multiplayer modes and maps are a cheap rehash of earlier "Modern Warfare" experiences.

Worse still, the game is loaded with microtransactions that somehow make the overall experience worse than the 2011 source material. In our own review of the game, we remarked that "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III" felt like the franchise was running on empty. That criticism largely holds up today, with the entire game still feeling rushed and uninspired in its execution. Expectations had already been lowered from a middling remake of "Modern Warfare 2," but the 2023 game somehow limbos under that low bar.

After the franchise made the full-on leap to futuristic sci-fi with 2014's "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare," the franchise doubled down on this direction with "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare." Released in 2016, the game is set in a distant future where humanity has colonized much of the solar system after Earth's resources are depleted. The game's story has the United Nations Space Alliance fight a hostile paramilitary group threatening the delicate balance of power throughout the solar system. The game also features a cameo appearance by controversial UFC fighter Conor McGregor, which automatically earns it a spot on this list.

Fans were already hating on "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" before the game even launched, unimpressed by the series continuing its sci-fi direction. Unfortunately, it did not exceed even these low expectations, straying too far from the series' roots with an uninspired premise and weak single-player campaign to boot. Some of the futuristic weapons and gadgets are interesting but not enough to make the overall experience worth it. At the end of the day, the gimmick of the franchise's sci-fi detour had worn out and Activision wisely refrained from trying to revisit the concept as thoroughly moving forward.

After 2017's "Call of Duty: WWII" brought the series back to its period piece roots, the franchise tried to revisit this pivotal global conflict with 2021's "Call of Duty: Vanguard." The game's story revolves around the birth of what will eventually become modern special forces units during World War II. This includes a squad of Allied fighters from around the world as they take on vital missions to topple the Axis Powers' war machine. The gameplay places a greater emphasis on environmental destruction along with attempts to make multiplayer progression more intuitive and customized to individual players.

Upon its debut, critics agreed that "Call of Duty: Vanguard" had some noticeable flaws, particularly around its single-player campaign. The story just feels more visibly contrived in its attempt to bring together a global super-squad. The game itself provides an uninspired multiplayer experience while the technical presentation similarly doesn't live up to the series' standards. "Call of Duty: Vanguard" feels like a title rushed out in between installments of the "Modern Warfare" remake trilogy and it's become a barely-remembered footnote in the franchise's history. But it's not quite the worst of the worst.

The most recent game in the franchise at the time of this writing also holds the dubious distinction of being its worst. 2025's "Call of Duty: Black Ops 7" completely undid the goodwill that "Black Ops 6" earned with a rushed, buggy mess of a follow-up. Set in the near-future, the game is actually a sequel to "Black Ops 2," with David Mason out to stop a resurgent terrorist organization. Leading his team around the globe, David learns that the true culprits are linked to a megacorporation ready to determine the course of humanity's future.

With its poor technical performance at launch and uninspired single-player campaign, "Call of Duty: Black Ops 7" has essentially killed off the "Black Ops" games. The sub-series feels played out at this point and the superior game "Battlefield 6" should have "Call of Duty" worried about its perception among tactical FPS fans. The number of bugs at launch for the game was almost impressive in its volume and even after post-release patches, that public perception surrounding the game never really improved. Activision is going to have to do some serious soul-searching regarding the future of its "Call of Duty" franchise, because "Black Ops 7" feels like its biggest disappointment to date.