Best Call of Duty Multiplayer Games

Key Takeaways

• Call of Duty multiplayer retains core appeal over the years, attracting new and veteran players.
• Blackout battle royale in Black Ops 4 was enjoyable but overlooked due to a purchase requirement.
• Warzone excels with its core gunplay, memorable map, and gulag system, becoming a top battle royale game.

Call of Duty has a long and prestigious history when it comes to online multiplayer. Consistently the biggest release of the year, it continues to entice returning veterans back into the fold and picks up new fans along the way. Although it has changed quite a bit since the early days, the core appeal of Call of Duty multiplayer has remained the same for many years.

With a release every year since 2005, there are many multiplayer modes to choose from. The majority of games in the franchise only had a year in the metaphorical sun before being replaced by a shinier, newer model. It is important, therefore, to consider the popularity of each multiplayer mode during its peak, as opposed to judging its position and relevance now.

Updated on November 12, 2024, by Jason Wojnar: Even as the gaming landscape morphs and shifts, Call of Duty remains the same juggernaut it became back in 2007 with the release of Modern Warfare. Though the campaign may not live up to certain expectations, the multiplayer always manages to move units and keep players invested in the series. Call of Duty’s multiplayer goodness has not let up, eitherm=, even in recent years. Live service games and new multiplayer genres just cannot seem to stop the simple, chaotic action that Call of Duty gives players each year. The brand name is strong, but the games themselves are simply fun and continue to impress year after year.

10 Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018)

The Predecessor to Warzone

Although the main multiplayer mode suffered under the weight of a specialist-style operator system that players were bored of, the main focus in retrospect has to be on the very good Blackout battle royale mode. Seeking to take advantage of the sudden growth of independent battle royale games like PUBG and Fortnite, Call of Duty took its first swing at the mode.

The result was an extremely enjoyable battle royale game that fans greatly enjoyed. Its popularity suffered due to the prerequisite of buying Black Ops 4, but the lessons learned were carried forward when another attempt was made.

Black Ops 4
is also the only title in the series to not feature a single-player campaign.

9 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)

The Game That Revolutionized The Series

When Call of Duty 4 was released in late 2007, it drastically changed the look, feel, and type of game that Call of Duty was. Contemporaries made instant comparisons with Halo 3, which speaks to the popularity and acclaim at the time.

All the base systems that Call of Duty would define its success on originate in the game. Prestige, Streaks, and various other things all start here. It’s fairly dated now, but at the time, it was one of the best multiplayer shooters ever.

8 Call of Duty: Warzone (2020)

All Roads Lead to Verdansk

Building on the great reception to the rebooted Modern Warfare released some months earlier and releasing in the midst of a global pandemic that kept people at home for months just after the game’s release, Warzone became an overnight success and quickly became the most popular battle royale game on the market.

This is for good reason, too, as its core gunplay, memorable map, and gulag system (which allowed players who won a 1v1 battle to have a second chance) were too good to ignore for a lot of players.

7 Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (2015)

Jetpack Movement is Mastered

The second Call of Duty to have the jetpack movement system, Black Ops 3 made great advancements from the previous entries and created a system that felt far smoother to play. This was relatively popular with players at the time, due to the movement system having not become overblown yet.

The best multiplayer mode in the jetpack era of Call of Duty, Black Ops 3 also had a specialist system that gave a new feel to multiplayer, with plenty of new options becoming available because of it.

6 Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (2012)

A Somewhat Risky Venture

Coming off the success of the original Black Ops, it would have been easy to make a sequel that directly followed the setting of the first Black Ops game. Instead, Treyarch jumped 50 years into the future to create Black Ops 2.

Black Ops 2 was immensely popular with fans and critics as the setting, tone, and style were unlike anything seen before in the franchise. The multiplayer was the perfect blend of new and old, providing a fresh and colorful look but with an unchanged core gameplay loop.

5 Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020)

A Small Step Back But Still Fun

Following up the beloved Modern Warfare from 2019 was tough, but Black Ops Cold War lives up to the series’ standard. Still, those used to the engine used on the 2019 title had to get used to no longer being able to mount or peak around corners.

Despite these minor steps backward, the maps were still excellent additions to the series. The Face-Off mode was also a notable highlight. The smaller maps make the action so hectic and make certain guns more reliable than on the larger maps.

Even though it runs on a different engine than
Warzone,
it still had some synergy with the battle royale game, with weapons from
Cold War
making it into
Warzone
.

4 Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (2024)

It’s Indescribably Fast

In a lot of ways, Black Ops 6 feels like a return to basics. A lot of the superfluous systems are streamlined here. The battlepass is also still there, of course, but it does not feel like an extra menu that players have to jump through just to get into the action.

Once in a game, the omnimovement system provides a subtle innovation to the gameplay formula. A brief tutorial explains how it works, but it is intuitive enough for players to use without thinking. The gameplay is also extremely fast compared to prior titles, which can either be a plus or a minus. The only drawback is the lack of large-scale game modes, but those uninterested in Ground War will not miss out.

3 Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010)

Near Perfection

A slightly slower and more subtle experience than the games on either side of it. Black Ops 1 had the best core features of a good multiplayer mode in Call of Duty history.

It featured numerous iconic maps, including Nuketown and Summit, a new customization system that involved the acquisition and use of credits, and plenty of new modes that would be staples of the franchise going forward, such as Gun Game.

2 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)

Bombastic and Wild

Modern Warfare 2 is the most popular and influential Call of Duty game of all time. The game was so bombastic and exciting that it spawned a whole online sub-culture filled with tactical nuke video clips and 360p trickshot montages. This is for good reason, as Modern Warfare 2 built on the foundation laid two years earlier in almost every conceivable way. The multiplayer here was incredibly fun to play and deserves the recognition it receives. It’s so good, in fact, that 2023’s Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer reused all 16 maps from this game.

As if the competitive multiplayer was not good enough, this game also introduced the Spec-Ops mode. These cooperative missions were put together with care and were more complicated than just killing every enemy in the level. Many of them offered asymmetrical gameplay, with each player doing vastly different things together.

1 Modern Warfare (2019)

There’s Something For Everyone

The series’ ambitions for rebooting Modern Warfare did not stop at a more serious, grounded campaign that tried to bring up moral questions about modern conflicts. Its multiplayer also rejuvenated the series and reminded everybody what is so good about Call of Duty. The expected modes all return along with a large-scale Ground War mode that is reminiscent of Battlefield.

For something more intimate, Gunfight pits two teams of two against each other on round-based matches that sometimes only last fifteen seconds. All of these modes are enhanced by a new visual high for the series, along with superb sound design. With good headphones, players can know where enemies are coming from just by listening for their footsteps.