Consistency.
Since the Franchise inception in 2003, at least one game has dropped every year. They quickly became a reliable and consistent franchise as each game retained its core formula that attracted its fan base. While making small improvements every year. Just like Apple's Iphone releases and much like the Iphone, people buy it every year!
This Consistency of yearly releases coupled with high quality improvements led to an explosion of its competitive scene. By just 2013, the Call of Duty Esports scene secured the spotlight when it dethroned Halo. Here's the tweet where Major League Gaming CO-Founder Sundance announces Halo is dead.
This initiated a Call of Duty Esports Boom! Young men in their late teens and early twenties began earning their share of tens of millions in Prize Pool cash! A lot of them began earning more money than their parents, by playing video games like a full time job with mandatory overtime. World Champions were crowned! Millionaires were made! Legions of fans transcending Pros to internet celebrity status! There's simply nothing like the meteoric rise in Esports like the Call of Duty scene.
Today, the Call of Duty League operates much like any other NA sports league. Complete with city franchised teams with stadiums. Featuring a $25 Million ($25,000,000) Franchise slot Fee, payable with a $2.5 Million downpayment + annual payments until the rest is paid off. The League launched with 12 teams in 2019. None of them have made any payments to the CDL aside from the down payment as the annual payments have been delayed due to the pandemic. They're rumored to be delayed until 2024. The 12 Franchises in the Call of Duty League are:
- Atlanta Faze (2021 World Champions)
- Boston Breach
- Florida Mutineers
- London Royal Ravens
- LA Thieves (2022 World Champions)
- Minnesota ROKKR
- New York Subliners
- OpTic Texas
- Seattle Surge
- Toronto Ultra
- Las Vegas Legion
3 comments
COD pro scene is still heavily multiplayer and hasn’t broken into the Warzone/BR focus. I believe the BR game mode allowed the viewership to rise and match/compete with the likes of Fortnite & Apex as well as what seems to be the focus of your article, the annual release, to keep things “fresh”. Halo doesn’t provide enough of a “pull” like we see with games like Overwatch or Valorant.
Nice article! I’m sad to admit it but Halo really did get dethroned. That was such was a classic game. I feel like somewhere between halo 3 and halo 4 they really let it go. Something about the dynamics changed. I think it may have been that they didn’t progress as games continued to improve. For example, in my opinion, halo 2 will always be the halo of all halos. I feel like people would disagree and say halo 3. Good to see creators having something to compete for. Having that chance to be a “professional”
That sundance tweet is such a throwback. I remember when he tweeted a joke about preferring COD fish that made the Halo Community BIG mad.