i'm not sure why you assume peoples' dislike is rooted in the dispute between EA and activision as opposed to the quality of the game itself

I think it's modern culture to hate anything that is successful...Apple etc.,
I don't hate COD I just don't like it. I however respect it's success.

You can't blame developers for rehashing the same old game with different scenery to make tons of money every year. I would do it and so would anyone else given the chance.

Gaming is a consumer driven market and if consumers continue to buy the same old dross then give it to them I say.

It has little creative evolution between its iterations. Doesn't really matter if its selling in millions, you usually make a sequel to improve upon something, not to repackage the same thing over, for that you have expansion packs.

Since its so popular, its haters are also popular. Its nothing to do with haters hating something "popular", more to do with everything related to a popular game is popular.

For eg too human is probably a worse game than MW3. It probably has more haters as well in terms of percentage. And yet they are not popular, because the game is not popular.

Personally I don't know anybody who hates the Modern Warfare series. As far as I'm concerned people only bash Black Ops and I have no reason why. I have played the new Modern Warfare and its nice, BUT it does look the same as MW2. I don't hate it at all though If I had the money I'd play all of them :)

I don't hate Call of Duty, in fact of all the popular shooters, it's pretty much the only one I like. That says, there are more than a few problems it brings to the table, not just for its own merits, but for what it's done to the industry as a whole.

1 - Activision is repeatedly getting rewarded for milking the franchise, further solififying the theory that gamers don't want new or interesting, they want more of the same.

2 - Yearly titles with little to no innovation. See point 1.

3 - Immature brats playing the game ruin it for most people who enjoy the multiplayer. If it's not snot-nosed children, it's homophobic, racist frat boys. two groups I personally do not want to deal with, EVER.

4 - It futher cements the belief that singleplayer is a lost art, and NO games are complete without a robust multiplayer, especially Modern Warfare 3, which had a 3.5 hour campaign with no substance whatsoever, instead the game focused almost entirely on the multiplayer.

5 - 15 dollar map packs are apparently okay. I could buy Outland or Dungeon Defenders or Limbo or Super Meat Boy for that price, instead we get 4 multiplayer maps. Not getting these packs means you're basically left in the dark, and likely won't be able to play with your friends if they get the new maps.

6 - There have been no significant innovations or revelations in the series since the original Modern Warfare, and yet they keep breaking the records of the previous game. this is despicable, and the morons of the world are eating that shit up like candy.

I admit, I like the Modern Warfare games (don't care for the others), I enjoy the Spec Ops and even the now-lackluster campaigns, and I spent dozens of hours on the multiplayer, but for the life of me I can't justify buying basically the same game over and over again unless the campaign is interesting and unique enough to keep me interested. MW2 had a lackluster campaign, and MW3 is a complete joke in that respect. I have better things to spend my money on.

I agree with you on the last 2 parts. that's my line of thinking.

because its human nature to think that if you dont like something, no-one else should either. once people have their mind on one opinion they find it hard to change.
im like that too because ive hated games like pokemon for the same reason but theres nothing anyone can do about it.
your asking why people hate COD but i bet within 24 hours your going to express hate towards something you dont like.
i dont hate cod but after platinum'ing (if thats a word) MW3 i traded it because the online has lost its appeal to me.
I will probably still get MW4, complete it and trade it because i know the price wont crash in 2 weeks time so i wont lose money on it anyway.

Well yeah, obviously CoD don't care about innovation, but come on, if we make it past MW4 and it's still hasn't tried to switch it up, there is something wrong with the players.

I don't dislike it for being successful,  I dislike it cause it doesn't bring anything new to the table.  They are trying to make money after all, so yeah I guess we can't blame them. well actually yes we can but whatever.

people hate on things that are super popular may not be special.

For example Avatar and Titanic.

Oh dear God...The "community".

Playing MW3 online makes me want to kill puppies, especially on XBL.