Sailors play Call of Duty aboard the USS John C. Stennis, March 15, 2010, in San Diego, Calif. The popular series is slated to put out a board game next year, according to Activision. (Mikelle D. Smith/U.S. Navy)
One of the most widely played video games among U.S. service members is headed to the tabletop.
Call of Duty: The Board Game is in development and expected to be ready sometime next year, Activision said Monday.
The video game franchise has been among the most commercially successful since its debut as a World War II-themed first-person shooter in 2003. It has been praised for its realistic gameplay and storylines that often mirror real-life military operations and technology.
U.S. and U.K. military esports teams regularly play the game and have competed against professional gamers during the Call of Duty Endowment Bowl competitions.
The board game will include two to four players, figurines of familiar game characters and an “intuitive combat system designed to replicate the feel of Call of Duty,” Activision said in a statement.
Gameplay also will mirror some of the maps of towns, buildings and combat environments from the video series.
A short trailer video posted on the Activision website starts with typical dramatic music and cartoon renderings of familiar player avatars in combat gear moving across the screen, as sounds of automatic weapons ring out in the background.
The video shows no images of the actual game and ends with “coming soon.”
The board game will be “a series of products within the same game system, starting with the initial core sets,” Bryan Pope, one of the game’s designers, told entertainment website Polygon. “From there additional products will add new features to the game, such as new operators, weapons, maps and even new modes of play over time.”
Activision said it will release more game details in the next couple of weeks.
The board game is being designed by Arcane Wonders, which has worked on popular games such as Mage Wars, Sheriff of Nottingham and Spoils of War.
Arcane Wonders has launched a Kickstarter campaign for the board game, which has met with criticism from some who perceived crowdfunding as unnecessary given the franchise’s success.
Call of Duty’s video games include numerous sequels, spin-offs, and adaptations, to include increasingly futuristic iterations such as Modern Warfare and mobile app versions.
Arcane Wonders defended the campaign in a statement, saying that board game companies are much smaller than video game makers.
“A project of this scope just wouldn’t be possible for us without sacrifices to the final product that we feel wouldn’t be fair to our vision of what (Call of Duty) players and board gamers deserve,” the statement said.
Stars and Stripes reporter Kyle Alvarez contributed to this report.
Marines prepare to compete in CODE Bowl III on Dec. 16, 2022, in Raleigh, N.C. Call of Duty, a video game popular among service members, will have a board game version next year, according to Activision. (Brian Bowers/Stars and Stripes)
