***Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3*** (short form: *Call of Duty: MW3*) is a first-person shooter video game. It is the eighth game in the *Call of Duty* series and the third game in the *Modern Warfare* series. The game was made by Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software. The game was released on November 8, 2011.

Gameplay
--------

The game is a first-person shooter, like the other *Call of Duty* games. There are three main sections to the gameplay: campaign, special ops (the cooperative mode) and multiplayer.

### Campaign

The campaign follows the events of *Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2*. Russia continues its invasion of the United States of America and expands its attack to Europe, including the countries England, France and Germany. The characters include people from previous games in the *Modern Warfare* series such as: John "Soap" Mactavish, Captain Price, Makarov and Macmillan.

### Special ops

There are three parts to the special ops mode: the Mission, Survival and Chaos modes. The Mission mode is a game mode that comes back from the special ops mode of *Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2*. In the Mission mode, players do lots of different missions and get stars for their work. The Survival mode is a new game mode. In the Survival mode, waves after waves of enemies attack the player/s. There is no way to complete Survival mode because the waves keep coming. There are thirty seconds between each wave of enemies. This is so the player has time to buy weapons, explosives and Pointstreaks. The Chaos mode is another new mode. Players must earn the most money they can, which is done by keeping the multiplier going and killing as many enemies as possible as quickly as possible. Weapons are scattered around the map, and perks and care packages assist the players.

One or two players can do Survival, Chaos and most Missions. Some Missions need two players.

### Multiplayer

The multiplayer is similar to that of *Modern Warfare 2*. Players can do the multiplayer mode online or locally.

Players can play different game modes in a variety of maps. As the player does more, they unlock new weapons, attachments and perks. They also unlock new titles and emblems, and they increase their multiplayer rank until the limit of 80. Players can enter *Prestige* mode once they complete level 80. This resets all the player's weapons, perks and pointstreaks. The first time it is done, the player will be on Prestige 1, and so on. This can be done 20 times. If a player has reached Prestige 20, they can spend a Prestige Token to reset all statistics to level 0, Prestige 0.

The Killstreak system is now called the Pointstreak system and it has changed very much. There are now three Pointstreak packages. A player picks one package and selects three rewards from it. In previous games, Killstreaks could only be earned by killing other players. Poinstreaks can now be earned for completing objectives in any objective mode, or by shooting down enemy air support. Pointstreak rewards are organized into three different Strike Packages called Assault, Support and Specialist. In *Modern Warfare 3*, there are lots of new maps, weapons et cetera. However, the overall way the game is played is the same. DLC packs include maps from previous games, but they mostly need payment to unlock them. Players can play as an American, Briton, African, Russian or as a Frenchman, although this is randomly chosen. The multiplayer factions are Delta Force, Special Air Service, Spetsnaz, GIGN, Inner Circle, Africa Militia and PMC.

Development
-----------

On May 12, 2011, four teaser trailers were released on the official *Call Of Duty* YouTube channel. These trailers were called: America, England, France and Germany. The trailers suggest that the countries are locations for the game.
On May 23, 2011, the reveal trailer was released.
On May 31, 2011, Activision announced *Call of Duty Elite*. This is a social service for the *Call of Duty* community to compare progress, create videos and access premium content. The service will work with *Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3* and it will be launched at the same time as the game. On June 6, 2011, the first gameplay demo of the game was presented by Robert Bowling and Glen Schofield at E3 2011. On June 14, 2011, the first live gameplay demo of the new *Survival Mode* was played by Jimmy Fallon and Simon Pegg on *Late Night With Jimmy Fallon*. On August 9, 2011, the trailer for the new *Survival Mode* was released on YouTube. On September 2, 2011, the multiplayer world premiere trailer was released on YouTube. On September 2–3, 2011, Activision held a two-day event called *Call of Duty: Experience 2011*, in Los Angeles, CA, to promote the game.

Reception
---------

*Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3* sold 6.8 million copies in the US and UK alone and grossed $470 million within 24 hours. It grossed more than $775 million globally in the first 5 days. *Modern Warfare 3* was also at the top of the UK video game sales chart in the first seven days. By November 21, 2011, the game was the bestselling title in the United Kingdom, sales dropping by 87%. *Modern Warfare 3* was still the top spot on the UK charts in the third and fourth week. The PS3 version of *Modern Warfare 3* was also at the top of the Japanese chart in its first week on sale. The PS3 version sold 180,372 copies, while the Xbox 360 version sold around 30,000.