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Call of Duty games aren’t suitable for every age group. For decades, the Call of Duty franchise has been reigning in the first-person shooter industry with multiple massively hit titles. From casual gamers to professional players, these games suit everyone’s taste. However, a barrier is still needed, especially for underage gamers.
The intense fights, brutal kills, and story content of COD games aren’t specifically designed for kids. Most of these titles are rated as ‘Mature’ in the US, which indicates that this content is for players who are at least 18 years old. Agreeing with ESRB, Activision finally released a Call of Duty update to verify the age of gamers.
Call of Duty updates are common. Often, Activision rolls out new patch notes to fix bugs or add fresh content. On July 16, following the latest Warzone update, the developer team released another set of patch notes to address the age verification issue.
While players have been analyzing how these Warzone changes balance the gameplay, the age verification patch notes have been dropped. According to reports, from now on, COD players have to submit their birthdate as part of a new COD birthdate verification system.
To explain this sudden change, Activision stated, “In accordance with our efforts to deliver a positive community experience as detailed in the Call of Duty Code of Conduct, Activision players are being asked to provide updated information to their accounts.”
According to the latest news, to keep continuing their Call of Duty journeys, including Black Ops 6 and Warzone, players need to submit their ages. For those who are confused about how to verify birthdate in COD, the process is auto-generated. Next time when one tries to log into their COD game, it will ask to link their date of birth to the Activision account.
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The fan base of COD games is immensely wide; most importantly, these games are popular among youngsters. Though the accompanying message states, “This requirement will help us ensure [a] positive community experience for all players,” gamers aren’t convinced with this step.
A massive amount of players were worried whether Activision would block the underage accounts, but that’s not the case. For those who don’t meet the age criteria, they require ‘Parental Consent’ to continue. Well, the account removal threat is not completely fake, though. The Call of Duty team has issued a warning that players who fail to link their birthdates to their Activision accounts by November 10, 2025, will have their accounts deleted.
In the span of 2003-2006, Activision released the first three Call of Duty games, and those were marked as suitable for teenagers. With time, the franchise has evolved with new content, storylines, and battle mechanisms that shifted its focus to mature content. Therefore, it’s natural that Activision is trying to prevent kids from diving into those experiences.
The new measure has indeed stirred the community for now, but it’s not going to redefine the gameplay experience for gamers. The protocol misses the most important mark, a proof of birth date verification. Therefore, players can easily fake their birthdates to continue playing these games without any issues.
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