I think we would have less cinematic videogames.. CoD 4 is still an amazing game changer after all these years.. Games like uncharted 2 would still have been made but with less amazing set pieces and immersion.. I also think the gaming industry would be in a worst state cause CoD showed the rest of the world how a videogame could be such an moneymaking entertainment event rivalling movies.. Don't think any other game could have done that

Simple: Another multiplayer shooter would have taken it's place

I bet certain Nintendo games have been far more profitable than any COD.  Mainly 2D Marios at low resolutions that have pretty simple to program (yet masterfully crafted and pieced together) levels probably don't cost very much to develope and sell tens of millions.

Instead of CoD you'd have some other shooter dominating the industry. Maybe Gears would be bigger? If any franchise were to take its place I think it would be Gears. It was the first "yeah! next gen" game IIRC and was incredible online.

If not Gears, maybe Battlefield. And then instead of progress bars, unlocks, and perks in every game, we'd have online passes, day one DLC, and servers being rented out to gamers in every game. Yikes.

First, there wouldn't be so many military shooters around, so developers would have invested those resources in something else. Second, games wouldn't have followed the simplification route to appeal a wider (and more basic) audience as hard as they have done so far. And third, as a consequence of #1 and #2, we would have more games of other genres, which I find to be extremely positive.

If anything like that were to happen, which is doubtful since millions upon millions of people bought the X360/PS3 for Call of Duty regardless if people on this site will admit that, Halo would be bigger than it is today. Halo and other multiplayer games that had success this gen would be a little bit bigger.  The thing is if it wasn't for Call of Duty Battlefield wouldn't be as popular, however Halo was popular before Call of Duty.

@ Everybody else - The thing that people must understand is that the multiplayer games are addicting and gets friends to get other friends to buy these games.  If it was not for Call of Duty we would have millions less consoles and games without multiplayer would still not have grown more than they are today.  People who are buying Xbox and Ps3 for Call of Duty are playing games for competitive fun.  JRPG, WRPG, Action/Adventure, etc does not have these elements that these players want.  I am a multiplayer/Singleplayer gamer but from what I've gathered on this site is many of you are only single player gamers and have a very biased opinion on things such as this.  If you do not like Call of Duty then so be it.  But millions upon millions of others love the series and nothing you all say about it will change that.  Hating on something that is popular does not make you different and cool.  If you don't like something turn your head instead of bashing on it.

In fact I'd argue that Call of Duty has helped other games out because Call of Duty has been the probably the biggest system seller to date.  And for many gamers who may have gotten bored of CoD after a few months might have looked for something else to buy .

medal of honor or battlefield would of taken their place

Medal of Honor has been lackluster this gen and Battlefield was made popular from Call of Duty.  Battlefield 3's advertising was literally the controversial of being better than call of duty. 

Battlefield has always been popular but it wasnt until BF3 that it went mainstream

If not for Call of Duty, you would be making a thread about Medal of Honor or Battlefield or some other shooter with online competitive multiplayer focus.

I literally did not see anyone bash COD in this thread. 

OT: I'd probably have to agree with Medal of Honor or Battlefield being bigger. Thing is, I think the Kill Streaks were a big draw for COD. Maybe even Ghost Recon could have been bigger. All depends on who could have made that huge appealing FPS(Multi-Plat) earlier this gen.