Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a 2011 first-person shooting game, developed by Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games (Treyarch for the Wii version), with Raven Software having assisted in development and published by Activision. It is the third installment in the Modern Warfare saga, a direct sequel to 2009's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and the eighth Call of Duty installment.
The game was released on November 8, 2011 in North America on Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Wii, with a seperate version for Nintendo DS developed by n-Space. In Australia, the Wii version was released on November 23, 2011. In Japan, Square Enix handled the installment with a separate subtitled and dubbed version, as they did for Call of Duty: Black Ops, released November 17, 2011 and December 22, 2011 respectively. Within 24 hours of going on sale, the game sold 6.5 million copies in the U.S. and UK alone and grossed $400 million, making it the biggest entertainment launch of all time, until it was surpassed by its sequel, Call of Duty: Black Ops II in November 2012 with $500 million. As of November 5, 2013, Modern Warfare 3 has sold 26.5 million copies.
It was the last Call of Duty game to be released on Wii. It was also the last Call of Duty PC game to support Windows XP
Several hours after killing General Shepherd, Price and Nikolai evacuate a critically wounded Soap to a Russian loyalist safe-house in Himachal Pradesh, Northern India, but Makarov sends forces out to their position to kill them. Yuri, a man with a common grudge against Makarov, assists in providing a safe extraction from the region. Meanwhile, the war between Russia and the United States concludes when the actions of a Delta Force team call-signed Metal, successfully repels Russian Forces in New York City, and secures their withdrawal from the East Coast.
Two months later, Makarov attacks a plane en route to Hamburg containing Russian President, Boris Vorshevsky, to derail Vorshevsky's plans of making peace with the United States. In the midst of the plane crashing, members of the F.S.O. attempt to secure Vorshevsky, but are killed by Makarov and his men when they attempt extraction by helicopter. Makarov reveals his plans to the president for Russia's future - he intends to have Russia control the whole of Europe and to further ensure it, he plans to use the country's nuclear arsenal. Vorshevsky refuses to give over the launch codes, leaving Makarov no choice but to locate his weakness; Vorshevsky's daughter, Alena. To ensure his plan succeeds, Makarov has chemical bombs transported from Sierra Leone into Europe, and every major city in the continent, detonating them, despite the efforts of an SAS team trying to prevent this from happening in London. The attacks cripple the intelligence networks and special forces bases in Europe, allowing the Russians to invade much of the continent, prompting the US to send in forces to counter-attack the invasion. Price's team get a lead from his former commanding officer leading them to Somalia, and learn the identity of the bomb maker as Volk, the CEO of Fregata Industries, who transported the bombs. Metal receives his location from Price afterwards, and manage to capture and extract him from Paris with the help of GIGN forces and other US troops.
Volk gives up the location of Makarov after extraction and Price's team receives it, heading to Prague to carry out an assassination attempt on him. However, Makarov knows of this and thwarts the attempt, attempting to kill Price and his men. Soap is gravely injured as a result, but not before he hears him mention that Yuri knows him well. Despite efforts by Price to get him medical attention, Soap passes on what Makarov told him before succumbing to his wounds, and an enraged Price forces Yuri at gunpoint, to reveal what Makarov meant. Yuri reveals that he was a former ultranationalist who worked alongside Makarov, during the arms deal in Pripyat when they helped evacuate Imran Zakhaev after the assassination attempt on him. Although Yuri thought he was following a good cause, the detonation of a nuclear device in the Middle East sickened him, leading him into an attempt at stopping the massacre at the Zakaev Internatinal Airport in Moscow, but Makarov, aware of his actions, shot him and left him for dead. Yuri's guilt-ridden vengeance barely convinces Price in maintaining their alliance.
After infiltrating Makarov's castle headquarters near Prague, and learning of the state of President Vorshevsky's captivity, Price alerts Metal that Alena Vorshevsky's location at a safehouse in Berlin has been discovered by Makarov. Despite launching a rescue operation to recover her, Alena is abducted before Metal can reach her, but learn where she was taken to. Metal leads a joint task force with Price and Yuri to a Siberian diamond mine where they manage to secure and rescue the Vorshevsky family; however, during extraction, Metal are killed when the mine collapses. With the Russian president secured, he has all Russian forces withdraw from Europe, thus ending the hostility between the United States and Russia.
Three months after the war ends, Price and Yuri finally manage to track down Makarov to a hotel in the Arabian peninsula of the Middle East. Armed with heavy equipment, the pair assault the hotel, and reach the top of the building as Makarov awaits an incoming helicopter to extract him. When Yuri is injured, Price continues on his own, and prevents their target from leaving by crashing his transport into the atrium of the hotel. Makarov manages to escape death, and kills Yuri when he attempts to kill him, but Price manages to get the upper hand and finishes the job, killing Makarov and ending the ultranationlists permanently, while he smokes a cigar as police soon arrive on the scene.
