Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) is the nineteenth installment in the Call of Duty series, being another reboot and the sequel to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019). Unlike the first reboot, Modern Warfare 2 references the original trilogy’s aesthetics in its visual design with bright greens and a return to squared sans-serifs, all while still keeping the contemporary look first established in Modern Warfare (2019).

This is the last entry to feature Call of Duty’s old franchise logo in Impact, this time without any modifications to the typeface. Eurostile Extended Bold is used with wider spacing.

Stratum 2 is the primary user interface font used on most text, big and small. It is complemented with DIN Next Condensed as the secondary typeface, used more inconspicuously and mainly on short text. Blender appears only in the form of computer text, such as when viewing through the camera of an airplane. Futura, similar to the first game, is used for massive introductory text in cutscenes. Last but not least there’s Noto Sans, mainly used for multilingual purposes.

Game logo

Campaign level select. Stratum 2 is used quite liberally here. DIN Next can also be seen here.

The iconic title card at the start of every mission, set in Stratum 2

A typical situation in campaign mode. Note the usage of Noto Sans specifically used for the button prompts.

Blender used on the terminal UI. Stratum 2 is also used, albeit minimally.

Futura Book used in the start of Chapter 5

Multiplayer select screen

Modifying a weapon

Beginning of a Search and Destroy match

Winning a round in Search and Destroy. DIN Next is used for the numbers and team names.

From Wikipedia:

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is a 2024 first-person shooter video game co-developed by Treyarch and Raven Software and published by Activision. It is the twenty-first installment of the Call of Duty series […] Black Ops 6’s single-player story follows rogue CIA operatives Troy Marshall and Frank Woods as they assemble a team of agents to hunt down Pantheon, a paramilitary group with covert ties to the agency.

Black Ops 6 continues the age-old tradition in military shooters: it must use squared sans-serifs no matter what. And this game more than kept its end of the bargain. Kairos Sans Condensed is featured throughout the game’s UI, mainly on big headings and small, less important text. TT Lakes Neue and its Condensed variant are mainly used on long body text, where Kairos Sans could be a bit too angular for readability.

Subtitles are set in Monospace 821 Bold, evoking the feeling of reading a transcript – very fitting for the “off the books” nature of the Black Ops games. Helvetica itself is also used, but is reserved for numbered elements. The venerable Noto Sans returns, used on the scoreboard and player names for full language converage. Stratum 2 makes a surprise appearance, but only in the campaign’s pre-rendered cutscenes.

Game logo

Main menu

Mission select screen on the campaign mode

A cutscene that happens early in the game. Stratum 2 is seen here.

Multiplayer lobby

Modfiying a weapon. Monospace 821 is used on gun statistics.

Every now and then, the game gives you multiple dialogue choices. The last line of dialogue is set in the regular width of TT Lakes Neue, while the buttons use the Condensed width.

Admiring a beautiful shotgun. The campaign uses a different HUD from the online modes. Button prompts (bottom right) appear to be set in Noto Sans, while the rest is in Kairos Sans.

The start of a Team Deathmatch mode. Helvetica can be spotted on the bottom right, used for the ammo counter. The monospaced version – Bitstream’s Monospace 821 – also appears here in subtitle form.

Scoreboard

Tasting sweet victory in the form of a very large Kairos Sans

Barely surviving in Zombies mode. The HUD appears virtually the same as other online modes. Note that Helvetica is used on the score numbers, while Noto Sans on the described kills.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is the fourth installment in the Call of Duty franchise. It is the first to be set in the modern times, straying away from its World War 2 roots. The game’s overall look is heavily based on 2000s military (movies) aesthetics. The typography reflects this with imposing, geometric typefaces that evoke a feeling of power and a maybe tinge of futurism, since the game takes place in a fictional 2011.

The series’ logo used Impact, with bevel and chrome effect applied. The “Modern Warfare” text is set in Bank Gothic, which is glowing green and is likely a reference to night vision goggles. A majority of the user interface uses ITC Conduit Regular for both short and long text. It is complimented with Carbon Bold, which is used sparingly for important information.

The briefing cut-scenes between each chapter use Eurostile’s normal and extended width for most information. 3X5 is additionally used for small text and can be found at the top right of most cut-scenes.

Modern Warfare 2 (2009) and Modern Warfare 3 (2011), along with the remasters largely follow the same stylings, so this use can still be applied to those games.

Game logo

Main menu for the arcade mode

The first cut-scene you watch in the game. Eurostile Extended Bold can be seen used for both big and small text. 3X5 is seen above.

Learning the basics at the target range. Carbon is used to display newly added mission objectives and the occasional button prompt. ITC Conduit is seen below.

When looking at friendly characters, their name appears and is set in Carbon. Here, Captain Price is belittling Soap for his name.

Multiplayer HUD. Carbon is used with the exception of the compass and the amount of grenades you have stored.

Loading screen in multiplayer

Choosing a loadout before a match

An iconic part of Call of Duty is how every chapter starts with a title card, establishing time and place along with mission details. Carbon is used, glowing bright green.

Modern Warfare 2019 serves as the reboot to Call of Duty’s Modern Warfare trilogy, updating the series to fit modern sensibilities. This included the user interface where Nat Dart, the Senior UI artist at Infinity Ward along with the rest of the UI team opted to shave off the original’s dated militaristic look for a cleaner, more readable appearance that retained a sleek military reference. This was achieved by utilising multiple colors, transparencies, soft gradients, checkered patterns, and of course, clean typography.

Until the release of Modern Warfare 3 (2023), Impact was used for the series’ logo, with minor alterations. Considering that the franchise started in 2003, that’s 20 years of Impact. As if we didn’t have enough Impact from 2010 memes, but I don’t mind. A modified Eurostile Extended Bold with an upside-down W as M is used for the “Modern Warfare” text in the game’s logo.

Bio Sans Bold, Regular and Light are used for much of the user interface. This includes big text as well as smaller things like subtitles. Noto Sans Semi Condensed Bold is then used for the scoreboard, player banners, and chat window. This is likely for multilingual purposes to cover languages that Bio Sans doesn’t cover. OCR-B is rarely used on decorative or computer terminal text. Futura in massive text is used only as introductory text in cutscenes. Helvetica similarly is used as the subtitle text in cutscenes.

Curiously, ITC Conduit makes a return and is sporadically used in small amounts. The Regular weight is used. This is the first time ITC Conduit was used since the original Modern Warfare 3 (2011). It could just be a subtle throwback to the original trilogy for all I know.

Game logo

Main menu for the multiplayer mode, the checkered pattern can be seen on the left buttons

Previewing a skin

Deploying in Warzone, Call of Duty’s take on the Battle Royale genre. In the loading screen, Bio Sans is used plentiful here for both big and small text

Landing in Verdansk, OCR-B is used for the compass above

Winning 3rd place in Warzone. Noto Sans can be seen on the bottom right for the chat window

Modifying a gun. Note ITC Conduit being used here for the gun statistics.

Unlocking a new weapon

Pause menu. Bio Sans and ITC Conduit are both used here. Noto Sans is seen below.

Scoreboard. Noto Sans is used here.

Futura used in the start of the first chapter

Helvetica used in the earlier cutscenes

Nazi Zombies: The Final Reich is included in Call of Duty: WWII, released November 2017. It has its own original storyline set in an alternate history, and separate from the main game.

Alias Harbour is used for title graphics, its readable-blackletter design gives the layout a Gothic edge.