Call of Duty Hurts College Kids?

“The largest entertainment launch in history”. That’s a title many franchises could not say applies to them, and indeed most franchises could never dream of claiming. Call of Duty has done it three years in a row. For three years the Call of Duty franchise has been in competition with itself to out-do the previous year’s Call of Duty sales. To put the success of last year’s installment, Modern Warfare 3, into perspective, consider this. It took seventeen days for Avatar to make $1 billion- it took Modern Warfare 3 sixteen days. Why does all of this matter for college students? Because college students are practically the target audience for Call of Duty. The 18+ age group is the ideal market for Call of Duty, and the natural community style of college life encourages long night gaming sessions and intense competitions.  All of this can lead to some problems for college kids.

Being half awake, bleary eyed, dead tired, and with a caffeine infused drink in hand is not an uncommon sight in college class rooms, particularly after the launch of a new Call of Duty. For example, last year’s Modern Warfare 3 caused the University of Louisville to lose against University of Pittsburgh on the football field the weekend after Modern Warfare 3′s launch. The game was all Louisville’s team talked about, the coaches said. They stayed up late every night playing the game, not studying, not practicing, and most importantly not sleeping. This was not an uncommon thing across the country, and frankly the world. College students everywhere imitated what the Louisville Cardinal’s team was doing.

So what’s going to happen this November when Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 releases? Exactly whats happened the last three years. Black Ops 2 will sell millions and become the next reigning title that can claim the description of “the largest entertainment launch in history”. College kids everywhere will pick up the game and play it long into the night, every night. may take a short lived dip. And maybe, just maybe, another football team will be able to pin their loss on Black Ops 2. Regardless, Call of Duty certainly has an impact on college kids across the country. All that will vary is if it will be a fun distraction, an exciting event, or a grade-dropping obsession.