Call of Duty games are developed on three year cycles with different sub-franchises and settings rotating every year to keep gamers engaged.

For the first time in the franchise's history, they were sticking with Modern Warfare and releasing an immediate sequel to the previous year’s blockbuster success, Modern Warfare II.

Gamers were skeptical, immediately assuming that MWIII would be an expansion and a disappointing entry to the MW franchise.

However, this game was built entirely with the passionate Call of Duty fanbase in mind. It was remastering and retooling the most iconic multiplayer maps, bringing back an iconic COD villain and for the first time, and bringing a zombies mode to a Modern Warfare title for the first time.

We needed to show that this game was greater than any expectation and was built to create the best fan experience with friends of any COD game in recent years.

We recreated the Call of Duty Lobby, bringing to life the energy, camaraderie and surprises that are found there everyday.

Scored with a bespoke musical anthem by COD fans: producer Ryan Tedder (One Direction), writer D4vd, and rapper 21 Savage, our launch film is a party packed with COD game characters, zombies, celebrity fans, social influencers, and a host of real COD fans we cast to bring the party to life – proving COD was the place to be.

We were able to capture this year’s unique fan-first offering wrapped in the inviting narrative of a gamer entering our Lobby for the first time and finding a welcoming home in our community.

All of it was designed to show how this game would be the most fun and engaging yet.

To win at launch, we had to win active and lapsed Modern Warfare gamers – individuals that were questioning the quality and value of a follow-up title that many felt was just an expansion pack.

One of the biggest contributors to sales success are recommendations by the ring leaders in the gaming friend groups. We had to win the core, active COD gamer, and get them so excited about all that was in this game that they would bring their lapsed friends with them.

We had to convince those skeptical gamers that this was more than just an expansion and was just as worthy of their time and money as any other year.

We needed a hit for our film – something that wouldn’t get us laughed at by our fans.

We partnered Ryan Tedder, a COD fan and producer of major beats like “Halo” by Beyoncé,, with one of the hottest rappers at the time, 21 Savage. We worked with Ryan in the studio to create the vibe we wanted with the instrumental and wrote out themes 21 Savage could use to inform his bars.

Then, on set with our 60 extras and COD gamers, we blasted the song to get them pumped before rolling, which helped create the natural fever and energy we needed to make it feel like the Lobby was buzzing as our protagonist tried to find his place.

The energy in the film was spurred on by an anthem our fans loved on set and gave us naturally effortless performances across a ton of actors.

Highest player engagement in Call of Duty history at a game’s launch. Higher, more consistent daily active users in the first weeks post launch than any other COD title.

“Call Me Revenge” by 21 Savage ft. D4vd received over 25M streams on Spotify

30M organic views across all campaign assets on Instagram Reels and TikTok

99% COD community sentiment, the highest of all time