Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 breaks post-pandemic record, despite backlash

As likely as it would be to see the likes of Mariah Carey or Michael Bublé emerge from their Christmas caves, we can expect to see the next Call of Duty entry providing its annual release.

Whether you like the Call of Duty series or not, it can’t be denied that it’s one of the most popular video game franchises of all time since its inception in 2003. I for one have been a fan of the series, eagerly awaiting its next release. It doesn't matter which entry in the series we get, fans can expect a high-octane single-player campaign and a robust multiplayer offering. Depending on the game, we may also be treated to the fun Zombies mode.

Check out our interview with the Modern Warfare III developers below!

Unfortunately, when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III was released this year, it’s fair to say that it did not meet everyone’s expectations. In my review of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (campaign), I said: “ Call of Duty deserved much better than this churned-out disappointment.”

It seems that my review thoughts reflected much of what the community was thinking when Modern Warfare III became the worst-rated Call of Duty in history. At the time of writing the initial article, Modern Warfare III earned a Metacritic score of just 53. At the time of writing this article, the Metacritic score has improved to 56, but the user score is as low as 1.9.

However, despite the dividing thoughts of Modern Warfare III, commercially it proved to be a massive success for Activision once more and the developers thanked fans for the great response, puzzling some. It should come as no surprise that even at its lowest quality, the Call of Duty series will always likely remain a commercial success.

In the days that followed its launch, the multiplayer side of Modern Warfare III also faced issues of players being spawned in locations in which opposing players could camp and easily kill players on the spot. This resulted in the developers removing some of the maps from rotation before bringing them back. As a result of its launch woes, the developers rewarded players with some freebies including Battle Pass skips.

Continuing the commercial success of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, the latest entry in the series has now broken a post-pandemic record despite the backlash. The news was revealed via the official Call of Duty Twitter account announcing record numbers since 2019.

“Y’all grinded more than a full plate on Thanksgiving holiday,” it tweeted. “MWIII players racked up the most hours per player for a new premium Call of Duty release during the holiday weekend since 2019. Now let’s beat it, Shipment gets added to the playlist this Thursday.”

This means that despite the controversy, Modern Warfare III has bested Call of Duty: Vanguard, Black Ops Cold War and Modern Warfare II. To be fair, despite what I may think of the MWIII campaign, I’m still enjoying my time with its multiplayer, especially with those remastered MW2 (2009) maps.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is out now on PC, PlayStation and Xbox.