Call of Duty is a series of war-themed first-person shooter computer games, published by the American company Activision. Initially, the games in the series were focused on World War II, but since 2007 they have been set in contemporary reality. The Call of Duty series has been acclaimed by critics and gamers alike, becoming a spectacular commercial success with over 100 million copies sold by November 2011; as of January 2012, 40 million gamers were using games from the series for multiplayer gaming. ¹⁾

Modern Warfare 3 grossed $775 million in its first five days. That's more than Avatar, the all-time highest-grossing film. In reality, the Call of Duty franchise is worth more than the combined valuation of Avatar, Titanic, and The Avengers. ²⁾

In a North Korean propaganda video, footage of a devastated, war-torn New York City was shown. The video was originally a Modern Warfare 3 cutscene. ³⁾

Call Of Duty Online is a China-exclusive version of the game. Microtransactions allow players to customize their avatar's look, but the game is otherwise free to play. Cyborg Rising is the game's own version of the zombies mode. ⁴⁾

Many well-known celebrities have lent their voices to the characters of the franchise. Brandon Routh, Michael Keaton, Gary Oldman, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey and even Ice Cube have all voiced characters in the franchise, but not all at the same time. ⁵⁾