MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Devolver Digital Films has announced its feature-length documentary film around the rise of Call of Duty will release worldwide on major video-on-demand platforms and Steam on September 19th 2017.
The 93-minute film, dubbed CODumentary,was written, directed and produced in the UK by Jonathan Beales, and is set to explore how Activision’s first-person-shooter series has grown into one of the biggest entertainment blockbusters of all time. Activision, meanwhile, is not involved in the project.
Filmed across North America, the UK and Europe as well as the D-Day Beaches, CODumentary starts with the series’ creation in 2003, showing how developer Infinity Ward faced stiff competition from other WWII shooters of the time, as well as how the release of 2007’s Modern Warfare took the game’s competitive multiplayer element to a new level. It also features interviews with developers, fans, professional players as well as numerous game experts.
Game publisher and film distributor Devolver Digital will be releasing the film worldwide, starting with Steam and Amazon on September 19th, and then iTunes, Google Play, MGo, PlayStation, Xbox, TubiTV, Indie Reign and the Indie Rights Vimeo Channel at a later date. A DVD and Blu-Ray release is also in the works, but a release date has yet to be announced.
One of the biggest challenges making the film was encapsulating a 15 year timeline into 93 minutes,” says producer Jonathan Beales. I was very fortunate to work with a lot of great people whose input and contribution really helped make this happen. It’s a rich story of evolution told through the eyes of games developers, fans, industry experts and professional players.
"It’s a big documentary and we wanted to put the fans first so took the opportunity to host two full screenings at DreamHack Atlanta that were a big success.
"It’s been a great 5-year journey and even though the documentary is centered on video games, the story is always about the human input and endeavour involved. The rich experiences of developing games, playing them or waiting in line to buy them will always remain centre stage."
