Call of Duty: Modern Warfare getting Riley the dog

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is getting the fan-favorite franchise character of Riley the dog added in the latest expansion.

The Call of Duty franchise is one of the foremost series of first-person shooters, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is now seeing the return of one of the franchise’s favorite characters.

That character would be Riley the dog, who made his appearance in Call of Duty: Ghosts, and this news came to our attention here at Dog O’Day through GameSpot. 

Riley survived a bullet wound in the 2013 Xbox One title, though he survived, as resilient military dogs often do.

Players will need to purchase the Modern Warfare Season 3 Battle Pass, where it is presumed that he will assist in disposal of enemy threats.

Modern Warfare also features another military dog named Indiana, owned by the Operator Talon, who attacks enemies. Indiana was added to the game about two weeks ago.

GameSpot reports that both a German Shepherd named Ruger and a Belgian Malinois named Rico were used for the motion capture of Riley’s movements, though it is likely different dogs will have been used for the latest update.

While the Dog O’Day staff doesn’t often play video games (and the story-based ones like Fallout 4 sound more interesting), we do appreciate that Riley and Indiana are included, as military working dogs do play a vital role in combat, as they have for decades.

For more on the training of these dogs, check out our interview with dog trainer Jeff Franklin, or reading Matthew Duffy’s memoir of Franklin (as well as our review of it, of course).

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare players can unlock Riley the dog on the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game, which is developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision.

For more news, opinion and analysis of the latest in video games, be sure to check out FanSided Network sister site App Trigger for all the details.