How did CoD end up shifting from PCs to consoles?

The original Call of Duty game was released just for PC, and many of the earlier CoDs were quite PC-centric with console versions as well.

But now Call of Duty is almost primarily focused on consoles with adverts for console versions everywhere, a really "consolized" general play style and some bad PC ports. As a result(?) the Call of Duty series seems to be dying on PC as most PC players prefer many other games over it. To the point that they sell far less than consoles and player counts drop quickly.

What has actually caused this shift towards consoles?

@cub: How did Dark Souls go from Console to P.C.?

Same answer, bigger customer-base going multiplatform for the developer to profit.

#money

Blaming consoles isn't really logical. With both consoles and P.C. getting franchises from each other all the time and changing to fit modern trends.

Next question_

@RSM-HQ: On top of a lot of PC player now use controlers ... like consols gamers !!!

I don't.

Mind you, most the games I play on P.C. are build for keyboard and mouse in mind.

i'd be interested to know how exactly cod 3 ended up a console exclusive. it was one of the reasons i decided to buy a 360 as i had 1, 2 and uo on pc and was a big fan of the series at that point

I would guess money too. That’s pretty much it.

Money.

Hey man, if you're not up on this console gaming thing you should give it a shot. It's fun lol

The main reason CoD has tanked on PC is because Activision studios have recycled the same theme for 5 consecutive years. Back in the old days CoD of WW2 were pretty good. Activision is all about Money! There money maker is on Consoles, it's MP is were the golden goose is and not on PC. The only thing good about CoD on PC is just the single player but this isn't saying much.

Game controllers have been around as long as gaming. Most of the early computers and consoles shared the serial port style so you could hook up whatever you wanted.

It's as simple as using the right tool for the job.

well lets hold on a second.

I dont know for sure but I would be willing to bet that most PC gamers do NOT use a controller.

not saying they dont, just saying its likely not the majority.

WASD is as common a meme for PC gamers as 60FPS is

Yep. Controller is only the right tool in a few cases for me. FPS games with a controller makes no sense to me.

@pyro1245: Play Quake: Champions with a controller and you're gonna have a bad time.

That's all I'll mention on the matter :P

Hey man, if you game on PC you get access to cheaper games and a larger selection :p

@Enragedhydra:

if you game on PC you get access to cheaper games

This statement is based on an inaccurate meme, not sure why this thread had to become a System-Wars themed debate. So let's break down some logic unlike memes.

Both options have cheap games, and expensive games. Also worth noting that P.C. has the most expensive games on any given platform, also has the most games centered around gambling addiction (beating out even the mobile platform). I can supply a list of both and it will shock you how much some of these games/ microtransactions cost, and money pumped into various gambling garbage.

and a larger selection :p

Also, while I agree with the larger selection, a lot of it is garbage, consoles also have a fair share of garbage, but Steam really does accept any piece of trash don't they.

And you can play some great old games on P.C. Sadly for a lot of those older greats you commonly have to forum jump for mods just to get those retro games working on any modern P.C.; and even then, probably won't have it working till you spent continuous hours of copying/ dumping files. Very tedious.

Then let's mention the recent P.C. port of Chrono Trigger just to make myself sad_

*P.C. gaming is great and if nothing let you customise your experience more so than any other gaming platform. However consoles are pretty good themselves, and has various pros. But so long as you're enjoying games_ I don't really care what platform you're on people /peace

Well, it wouldn't be to generate more revenue, would it?

Bunch of kids were playing it and that's when Activision found out where the money was coming from--the console kiddies.

Large triple A games often go down in price more quickly on PC than they do on console. I picked up Total Warhammer, DOOM and Wolfenstein a few months after being out, the prices were significantly cheaper than their console counterparts that were still sitting at $79.99. I'll admit that there are nasty PC ports such as Chrono Trigger and Arkham Knight but these are more the exceptions, the majority of ports are well done.
Lots of the games are garbage but even putting all the garbage aside we still have more good games at cheaper prices.
I went and took a quick look at Far Cry 5 and the price was the same on PC and console both sitting at $79.99. I would put dollars to doughnuts that we will see significant price reduction on PC before console.
Every single one of my old games off of GoG and Steam have worked flawlessly, at the start Windows 10 did suck for running older software but that all seems to have been worked out. I can run DOS games with no problems.
Neither of my statements are wrong, we have access to cheaper games as a whole and a larger database of games to pick from.

@Enragedhydra: No

Because they want the sales, why else did you think?

Also, who cares if it is released for console as well, it´s not going to stop you from buying it and play on pc.

@Enragedhydra:

Every single one of my old games off of GoG and Steam have worked flawlessly, at the start Windows 10 did suck for running older software but that all seems to have been worked out. I can run DOS games with no problems.

Last year I tried Gothic from Steam during a sale, and Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate from GoG. Neither game worked; and the Forum pages for both games and user reviews are still having a field day for them not running on Windows 10. Check for yourself if you don't believe me_ Chaos Gate even has a video just to try fixing the game with mixed results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbgp5kHheu8

I know that's two examples of games, however they're my two examples of retro P.C. games with real and recent experience. And they do not work when purchased. It's not debateable_

Neither of my statements are wrong, we have access to cheaper games

Both options have access to free games, so from a logical perspective you are indeed wrong.

And I don't think it gets much cheaper than free games. If you stated volume of cheaper games I would agree P.C. come out on top but in your original comment you did not.

However consoles also have gaming sales that rival Steam Summer and Winter sales. I would recommend you research into the matter instead of blindly insisting you have vastly better offers; we're in 2018 now and the consoles do sales for up to 80% off games.

I'm someone who plays both on P.C. and Consoles usually for different experiences. And I also don't really understand the blind bias some of you people have for one sole platform, while making inaccurate statements to fill a blinding ego. Nothing wrong with enjoying your system of choice, but conversations like these come to the point of waving a blind flag of loyalty, and in-turn looks foolish.

The 360 was going to launch with Halo 3, however Bungie/MS decided to delay it as it needed more time in the oven (something they don't really do these days amirite) Instead, MS needed a new killer app FPS to dominate Xbox Live as Halo and Gears weren't out yet. They reached out to Activision and got COD 2 as their big launch FPS instead and it worked. I presume that's when COD blew up on consoles, and COD4's popularity certainly helped.

I think a better question (which would also answer yours) would be "when did Call of Duty switch from a respectful portrayal of WW2 to a Michael Bay movie?" The answer is probably MW2: CoD 1-3 were Band of Brothers, CoD4 had a distinct Tom Clancy feel to it, but MW2 was when the series completely chose to jump the shark and not even attempt to portray war in any realistic or believable fashion. Which is what the console audience wants, more than the PC one.