Activision is reporting that Call of Duty 4 was the best selling title of 2007, with an impressive seven million plus copies sold since its November release. Those are certainly impressive numbers for what many considered a gamble on a new series direction. Still, for the gaming community, it’s both good and bad news.

First, the bad news-a Call of Duty game has been crowned the best selling game of the year. Not that’s anything wrong with the Call of Duty series particularly, but it hasn’t exactly been a series of restrain over the past few years. Call of Duty 1, 2, 3, 4, Big Red One, etc. have all clouded the market in recent years. It’s become the shooting equivalent of Madden Football. The games also promise inconsistent quality. While CoD 1, 2, and 4 are generally considered to be of exceptional quality, the other titles have been more suspect (though not nearly as bad as their Medal of Honor brethren).

So, what’s the good news? That a Call of Duty game not set in World War II was the best selling game of the year. The Call of Duty series, and first person shooters in general, needed a breath of fresh air from the tired World War II setting. Call of Duty 4, while still possessing many CoD characteristics, was a breath of fresh air for the series and the genre. It was also nice to see that fans rewarded Activision for this gamble, as opposed to some other game series that have tried to offer something new. What does this mean in the long term? That we’ll likely see a Call of Duty 7. In the short term? Call of Duty 5.