Call of Duty Quiz
Price, Soap, Ghost, Mason and Nuketown: 15 questions on the biggest shooter series on the planet.
Which company publishes the Call of Duty series?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Activision
Activision has published every Call of Duty since the 2003 original, rotating development between studios such as Infinity Ward, Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games to keep up an annual release schedule.
Activision was founded in 1979 by former Atari programmers and was the first independent third-party developer of console games.
The original Call of Duty, released in 2003, was set during which conflict?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
World War II
The first game followed American, British and Soviet soldiers through World War II campaigns, from D-Day paratrooper drops to the defence of Stalingrad, in the style of Medal of Honor.
The original shipped with a squad-based philosophy, placing AI comrades beside the player instead of the lone-hero approach of older shooters.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which moved the series into the present day, was released in which year?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
2007
Call of Duty 4 launched in November 2007 and transformed the series with its modern setting, Captain Price's SAS campaign and a multiplayer progression system of perks and killstreaks that the industry copied.
Its mission All Ghillied Up, a stealth flashback to 1996 Pripyat, is routinely named among the best levels in shooter history.
Which Modern Warfare character is instantly recognisable by his skull-patterned balaclava?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Ghost
Lieutenant Simon Riley, call sign Ghost, debuted in 2009's Modern Warfare 2 wearing a skull balaclava and red-tinted sunglasses, and his look proved so popular that he was reintroduced in the rebooted Modern Warfare games.
Ghost's shocking death at the hands of General Shepherd in the mission Loose Ends remains one of the most discussed moments in the series.
Which studio developed the original Call of Duty and later created the Modern Warfare sub-series?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Infinity Ward
Infinity Ward, formed in 2002 by former Medal of Honor developers, built the first Call of Duty in 2003 and went on to make Call of Duty 2, the Modern Warfare trilogy and the 2019 reboot.
In 2010 Activision fired Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella, who founded Respawn Entertainment and made Titanfall and Apex Legends.
The cooperative Zombies mode first appeared as a hidden bonus in which Call of Duty game?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
World at War
Treyarch's 2008 game World at War hid Nacht der Untoten, a four-player survival map against Nazi zombies, as an unlockable after the campaign, and it proved so popular that it became a pillar of the series.
Black Ops later added a Zombies map set in the Pentagon in which John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Fidel Castro and Robert McNamara fight the undead.
Call of Duty: Warzone, the free-to-play battle royale, launched in which year?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
2020
Warzone arrived on 10 March 2020, just as pandemic lockdowns began, and drew six million players in its first 24 hours with its 150-player Verdansk map and the Gulag respawn mechanic.
Warzone followed the smaller Blackout mode in Black Ops 4, which had been the series' first attempt at battle royale in 2018.
Which Black Ops protagonist is interrogated throughout the 2010 game about a mysterious sequence of numbers?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Alex Mason
Alex Mason, voiced by Sam Worthington, spends the game strapped to a chair recalling Cold War missions while interrogators demand the location of a numbers station broadcasting to sleeper agents.
The twist reveals that Mason's ally Reznov died in the Vorkuta prison break and that his later appearances were hallucinations.
Which mission in 2009's Modern Warfare 2 caused worldwide controversy by letting players take part in a massacre at a Moscow airport?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
No Russian
No Russian puts the player undercover with terrorist Vladimir Makarov as he guns down civilians at Zakhaev International Airport, a scene so contentious that the game let players skip it entirely.
The Russian version removed the level completely, and Japanese players were told they would fail the mission if they shot civilians.
In the original Modern Warfare 2, how many kills in a row did a player need to unlock the match-ending Tactical Nuke?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
25
A 25 kill streak without dying triggered the Tactical Nuke, which started a ten second countdown and then ended the match in an instant win for the team that called it in.
The 2022 Modern Warfare II reboot raised the bar, requiring 30 kills without dying for its equivalent MGB killstreak.
Which Call of Duty game took the fight into space, with dogfights in a transforming Jackal fighter?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Infinite Warfare
Infinite Warfare, released in 2016, set its campaign across the Solar System with zero-gravity combat and Jackal fighter missions, a departure that made its reveal trailer one of the most disliked videos on YouTube.
Many players bought it anyway because the Legacy Edition bundled Modern Warfare Remastered, a remake of the 2007 classic.
Kevin Spacey played Jonathan Irons, the villainous boss of a private military company, in which Call of Duty game?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Advanced Warfare
Advanced Warfare, Sledgehammer Games' 2014 debut as lead developer, used performance capture to put Spacey on screen as Atlas CEO Jonathan Irons, with exoskeleton suits reshaping movement and combat.
Later entries also cast famous faces, with Game of Thrones star Kit Harington playing the villain Salen Kotch in Infinite Warfare.
Soap MacTavish, the Scottish SAS soldier of the Modern Warfare series, has which first name?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
John
Soap's real name is John MacTavish, revealed in Modern Warfare 2, while the nickname is mocked in the opening of the original game when Gaz asks what kind of name Soap is for a soldier.
Captain Price also shares the first name John, while Ghost is Simon Riley and Gaz is Kyle Garrick in the rebooted series.
Which company completed its $68.7 billion purchase of Call of Duty owner Activision Blizzard in October 2023?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Microsoft
Microsoft announced the deal in January 2022 and closed it on 13 October 2023 after regulators in the US, EU and UK scrutinised what was the largest video game acquisition in history.
To calm regulators Microsoft signed a ten-year agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation, and the series also arrived on Game Pass in 2024.
The fan-favourite multiplayer map Nuketown, set in a 1950s nuclear test town, first appeared in which game?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Black Ops
Nuketown debuted in the first Black Ops in 2010, its mannequins and pastel houses inspired by the atomic test scene in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and a version has appeared in every Treyarch game since.
Shooting the heads off all the mannequins within seconds of the match starting triggers hidden Easter eggs on several versions of the map.
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All Technology quizzes →About the Call of Duty Quiz
Call of Duty began in 2003 as a World War II shooter from a studio of ex-Medal of Honor developers and became an annual event that has sold hundreds of millions of copies. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare rewrote the rules in 2007, Black Ops gave us Nuketown and the numbers, and Warzone pulled in six million players on its first day.
These 15 questions run from the easy stuff, like who publishes the series and where Zombies started, to the details fans argue about: the kill count for a Tactical Nuke, Soap's real first name and which game put Kevin Spacey in charge of a private army. It suits anyone who has ever prestiged, with a few questions that only veterans of the lobby will nail.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Medium. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
Which was the first Call of Duty game?
The original Call of Duty was released for Windows in October 2003, developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision, and was set in World War II.
Which Call of Duty game is the best for Zombies?
Zombies began as a bonus mode in World at War in 2008 and is most associated with Treyarch's Black Ops games, which expanded it into a full story-driven mode.
Who owns Call of Duty now?
Microsoft, which completed its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October 2023. The games remain on PlayStation under a ten-year agreement.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- Which company publishes the Call of Duty series?
Activision Activision has published every Call of Duty since the 2003 original, rotating development between studios such as Infinity Ward, Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games to keep up an annual release schedule. Activision was founded in 1979 by former Atari programmers and was the first independent third-party developer of console games. - The original Call of Duty, released in 2003, was set during which conflict?
World War II The first game followed American, British and Soviet soldiers through World War II campaigns, from D-Day paratrooper drops to the defence of Stalingrad, in the style of Medal of Honor. The original shipped with a squad-based philosophy, placing AI comrades beside the player instead of the lone-hero approach of older shooters. - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which moved the series into the present day, was released in which year?
2007 Call of Duty 4 launched in November 2007 and transformed the series with its modern setting, Captain Price's SAS campaign and a multiplayer progression system of perks and killstreaks that the industry copied. Its mission All Ghillied Up, a stealth flashback to 1996 Pripyat, is routinely named among the best levels in shooter history. - Which Modern Warfare character is instantly recognisable by his skull-patterned balaclava?
Ghost Lieutenant Simon Riley, call sign Ghost, debuted in 2009's Modern Warfare 2 wearing a skull balaclava and red-tinted sunglasses, and his look proved so popular that he was reintroduced in the rebooted Modern Warfare games. Ghost's shocking death at the hands of General Shepherd in the mission Loose Ends remains one of the most discussed moments in the series. - Which studio developed the original Call of Duty and later created the Modern Warfare sub-series?
Infinity Ward Infinity Ward, formed in 2002 by former Medal of Honor developers, built the first Call of Duty in 2003 and went on to make Call of Duty 2, the Modern Warfare trilogy and the 2019 reboot. In 2010 Activision fired Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella, who founded Respawn Entertainment and made Titanfall and Apex Legends. - The cooperative Zombies mode first appeared as a hidden bonus in which Call of Duty game?
World at War Treyarch's 2008 game World at War hid Nacht der Untoten, a four-player survival map against Nazi zombies, as an unlockable after the campaign, and it proved so popular that it became a pillar of the series. Black Ops later added a Zombies map set in the Pentagon in which John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Fidel Castro and Robert McNamara fight the undead. - Call of Duty: Warzone, the free-to-play battle royale, launched in which year?
2020 Warzone arrived on 10 March 2020, just as pandemic lockdowns began, and drew six million players in its first 24 hours with its 150-player Verdansk map and the Gulag respawn mechanic. Warzone followed the smaller Blackout mode in Black Ops 4, which had been the series' first attempt at battle royale in 2018. - Which Black Ops protagonist is interrogated throughout the 2010 game about a mysterious sequence of numbers?
Alex Mason Alex Mason, voiced by Sam Worthington, spends the game strapped to a chair recalling Cold War missions while interrogators demand the location of a numbers station broadcasting to sleeper agents. The twist reveals that Mason's ally Reznov died in the Vorkuta prison break and that his later appearances were hallucinations. - Which mission in 2009's Modern Warfare 2 caused worldwide controversy by letting players take part in a massacre at a Moscow airport?
No Russian No Russian puts the player undercover with terrorist Vladimir Makarov as he guns down civilians at Zakhaev International Airport, a scene so contentious that the game let players skip it entirely. The Russian version removed the level completely, and Japanese players were told they would fail the mission if they shot civilians. - In the original Modern Warfare 2, how many kills in a row did a player need to unlock the match-ending Tactical Nuke?
25 A 25 kill streak without dying triggered the Tactical Nuke, which started a ten second countdown and then ended the match in an instant win for the team that called it in. The 2022 Modern Warfare II reboot raised the bar, requiring 30 kills without dying for its equivalent MGB killstreak. - Which Call of Duty game took the fight into space, with dogfights in a transforming Jackal fighter?
Infinite Warfare Infinite Warfare, released in 2016, set its campaign across the Solar System with zero-gravity combat and Jackal fighter missions, a departure that made its reveal trailer one of the most disliked videos on YouTube. Many players bought it anyway because the Legacy Edition bundled Modern Warfare Remastered, a remake of the 2007 classic. - Kevin Spacey played Jonathan Irons, the villainous boss of a private military company, in which Call of Duty game?
Advanced Warfare Advanced Warfare, Sledgehammer Games' 2014 debut as lead developer, used performance capture to put Spacey on screen as Atlas CEO Jonathan Irons, with exoskeleton suits reshaping movement and combat. Later entries also cast famous faces, with Game of Thrones star Kit Harington playing the villain Salen Kotch in Infinite Warfare. - Soap MacTavish, the Scottish SAS soldier of the Modern Warfare series, has which first name?
John Soap's real name is John MacTavish, revealed in Modern Warfare 2, while the nickname is mocked in the opening of the original game when Gaz asks what kind of name Soap is for a soldier. Captain Price also shares the first name John, while Ghost is Simon Riley and Gaz is Kyle Garrick in the rebooted series. - Which company completed its $68.7 billion purchase of Call of Duty owner Activision Blizzard in October 2023?
Microsoft Microsoft announced the deal in January 2022 and closed it on 13 October 2023 after regulators in the US, EU and UK scrutinised what was the largest video game acquisition in history. To calm regulators Microsoft signed a ten-year agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation, and the series also arrived on Game Pass in 2024. - The fan-favourite multiplayer map Nuketown, set in a 1950s nuclear test town, first appeared in which game?
Black Ops Nuketown debuted in the first Black Ops in 2010, its mannequins and pastel houses inspired by the atomic test scene in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and a version has appeared in every Treyarch game since. Shooting the heads off all the mannequins within seconds of the match starting triggers hidden Easter eggs on several versions of the map.
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