Call of Duty's new Combat Readiness Program makes multiplayer more fun for 'noobs'

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s hardcore fans show no mercy to new players, known as “noobs.” But the new game (which released this week) has a Combat Readiness Program, a new multiplayer mode that makes these noobs feel good about themselves and slowly ramp into the regular multiplayer mode.

The mode follows predecessors like Titanfall, and it has the potential to widen the audience for first-person shooter games like Call of Duty, which generates $1 billion a year and has 40 million monthly active players. Call of Duty games have sold more than 175 million copies and generated $10 billion to date. But to keep growing, and to keep those gamers playing year-round, it needs to encourage the inexperienced players.