Over 3,000 people are working on Call of Duty, says Activision

Call of Duty Warzone
(Image credit: Activision)

The Call of Duty series has more than 3,000 people working on it.

With two new Call of Duty titles on the way, you would expect a sizeable number of people to be working on the franchise right now. But the colossal figure revealed in a recent Activision Blizzard report still comes as a surprise. 

As reported by Tweak Town, Activision's annual 2021 report states that the Call of Duty series now has more than 3,000 people working on it. This represents 31% of the company's total employees, which currently stands at 9,800. Making up almost a third of Activision's entire workforce, this vast number shows just how important Call of Duty is to the publisher.

“We are working on the most ambitious plan in Call of Duty history, with over 3,000 people now working on the franchise and a return to the Modern Warfare setting that delivered our most successful Call of Duty title ever,” says Activision’s 2021 annual report.

In comparison, Embracer Group's employee count will only raised by 1,100 following its acquisition of three Square Enix-owned studios, Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal and Square Enix Montréal. That count includes developers working across several major franchises, and presumably also counts the large numbers of support staff not directly working on the games, offering some insight into just how huge Activision's undertaking is.

The series' next main entry, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, was unveiled last week with a brief teaser showing the game's logo. A sequel to Warzone is also on the way, which Activision says will feature "groundbreaking innovations". The company will undoubtedly be hoping to attract players back to the series after its first-quarter financial results revealed Call of Duty's player base has declined by 50 million users over the past year. 

The Call of Duty series has some stellar entries. Find out which one we like most as we rank the 10 best Call of Duty games.

Anne-Marie Ostler
Freelance Writer

Originally from Ireland, I moved to the UK in 2014 to pursue a Games Journalism and PR degree at Staffordshire University. Following that, I've freelanced for GamesMaster, Games TM, Official PlayStation Magazine and, more recently, Play and GamesRadar+. My love of gaming sprang from successfully defeating that first Goomba in Super Mario Bros on the NES. These days, PlayStation is my jam. When not gaming or writing, I can usually be found scouring the internet for anything Tomb Raider related to add to my out of control memorabilia collection.