Regarding *Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4*, scheduled for release on October 23, Activision’s Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Tyler Bahl, stated that the company is “subject to the Call of Duty tax (CoD tax).”
Is the “CoD tax” an inevitable consequence of being a long-running series?
In an episode of “The Game Business” released on October 15, titled “How to Regain Fan Trust in ‘CoD’: Behind the Scenes of the ‘CoD: MW4’ Revival Plan,” Bahl appeared as a guest. The term “CoD tax” mentioned at the beginning of this article is a phrase Bahl used during the interview.
When asked by the host—in essence—whether traditional gaming media had stopped covering “CoD” as much as before, and whether influencers were now covering the new title more extensively, Bahl replied, “Of course, there is still attention and coverage from traditional media. However, when it comes to reviews and reactions, we refer to it as the ‘Call of Duty tax.’”
More than 20 years have passed since the release of the first “CoD” in 2003, and while the series has long been beloved, Bahl noted, “It’s taken for granted that'CoD' experience, and the fact that 4,500 staff members are involved, along with the immense effort, technology, and the team’s dedicated work poured into development, is taken for granted.”
On Steam, new titles are released almost daily, and passionate indie games are gaining momentum.Amid this landscape, the media imposes high expectations from the outset—assuming that the “CoD” series and “MW4” are naturally large-scale projects and guaranteed commercial successes—which results in them not garnering as much attention as they might otherwise. Mr. Bahl refers to this situation as the “CoD tax.”
In addition, Bahl touched on the future of *CoD: MW4* and the series as a whole. In the interview, he discussed the game’s role as the concluding chapter of the *Modern Warfare* series and the series’ return to Nintendo platforms.
*Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4* is scheduled for release on October 23 for PC (Steam, Battle.net, Microsoft Store), PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2. Those who pre-order or pre-purchase the Standard Digital Edition or Collector’s Edition will be able to play the campaign early starting October 17.
Game*Spark has also published beta test play reports and a report on the joint interview, so be sure to check those out as well.
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