App safety check

Is Call of Duty OK for my child?

The biggest first-person shooter franchise, including the free-to-play Warzone. Realistic military violence and notoriously fruity open voice chat, and yes, half your child's class probably plays it.

Minimum age

PEGI 18

Rated 18 for realistic violence; the free Warzone game carries the same rating.

Type

Gaming

Game rating: PEGI 18

Official safety page

Activision support

What to actually watch for

It is an 18-rated game: realistic violence is the point.
Open voice chat is famously toxic; slurs and abuse are routine in public lobbies.
Battle pass and bundle spending pressure runs year round.
The free Warzone download makes access trivial on any console or PC.

The settings worth switching on

Decide the age question first: PEGI 18 is a considered rating, not a suggestion. If you allow it younger, do it knowingly.
Activision account settings control voice chat, text chat and crossplay separately from the console.
Turn open-lobby voice chat off or to friends-only: it is the single biggest quality change.
Console family controls handle play time and spending approvals.

Our honest take

Straight answer: it is rated 18 because of what it contains, and no setting changes the content. Plenty of parents allow it in the early teens anyway; if that is your call, make voice chat friends-only, set spending approvals, and treat public-lobby chat as the genuine hazard, because it is worse than the violence.

Frequently asked questions

The mainline games and the free Warzone are rated PEGI 18 for realistic, sustained violence. It is a considered rating: the content does not soften for younger players.

That is a genuine family judgement and you are not failing either way. If you do allow it, do the harm reduction properly: voice chat friends-only, spending approvals on, and an understanding that public lobbies get switched off if the language travels home.

In the game's audio and account settings you can disable or restrict voice chat, and your Activision account plus console family settings control chat and crossplay more broadly. Our PS5 and Xbox guides cover the console layer.

Go deeper

PS5 parental controls guide Xbox parental controls guide Gaming and your legal rights

Other gaming apps parents ask about

Is Roblox OK?

Minimum age: Account tiers by age

Is Fortnite OK?

Minimum age: 13 (younger with parental consent)

Is Minecraft OK?

Minimum age: PEGI 7

Last reviewed: August 2026. Minimum ages and settings were checked against the platform's own published policies, and platforms change them often, so the official page linked above always has the latest.