In Call of Duty: Ghosts, the story is mostly told through the eyes of one single character, Logan Walker. Players assume the role of Logan for most of the game, with several other playable characters, including an astronaut specialist named Baker, and Logan's father, Elias Walker.

The multiplayer in Call of Duty: Ghosts features changes from that of previous Call of Duty games as some new mechanics have been added to it. Maps now have areas that can be altered or destroyed. On certain maps there is a nuke-like kill streak reward, the KEM Strike. You can get the ODIN kill streak by either getting a certain amount of kills or you can get it by killing the top player on the other team and then completing various challenges after picking up a blue briefcase that is dropped. The sniper rifle scopes also have new "dual render technology" allowing the player to see around the outside of the scope (although blurred) when zoomed in. On October 3, a new multiplayer type was revealed, called Squads. This features a squad that you build and you can face other squads around the world. Your squad can be leveled up and will act like a true individual. "Octane", "Prison Break", "Tremor", "Freight", "Stormfront", "Siege", "Warhawk", "Sovereign", "Overlord", "Flooded", "Strikezone", "Whiteout", "Stonehaven" and "Chasm" are the maps that are in Call of Duty: Ghosts so far. The dynamic map, "Free Fall", was a pre-order bonus. The game now features playable female soldiers.

The Call of Duty franchise began branching out competitively in 2006, alongside the game released at the time, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Over the years, the series has extended with releases such as: Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and finally with the release of Call of Duty: Ghosts. With the release of each of these games, the competitive platform has become extremely popular and hosted on websites such as Gamebattles.com, Gamrs.net, and Majorleaguegaming.com.

The tournaments offered on these websites, provide players with the opportunity to win cash prizes and trophies if successful winning their given match. The trophies are registered and saved on the players profile if/when they win a tournament and the prize money is delivered to the bank account number listed on the account. Call of Duty Ghosts is the most active game being played competitively in 2014, with an average of 15,000 teams participating every season.

For the past 6 seasons in competitive Call of Duty, Full Sail University has hosted a prize giveaway to the top team, $2,500 in prize per season to the team in first place. The other ladders give out credits and medals registered on their profiles. Tournaments hosted on the Call of Duty Ghost’s Arena give cost from 15 to 30 credits, thusly averaging at a cost of about $18.75 per tournament. If the player competes with a team, the prize money is divided and an equal cut is given to each player. Other tournaments are hosted in specific cities and countries for LAN teams to compete in, with substantial prizes. Two other major tournaments that host competitions are MLG: Anaheim and MLG: Dallas

The biggest Call of Duty tournament hosted is Call of Duty Experience (XP) and it is hosted each year for the released Call of Duty. It began when Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 released and was hosted in 2011. The spectator passes cost $140 and the V.I.P passes cost $270 in the Ghosts store on Gamebattles, furthermore allowing spectators to meet the professional players and have access to certain gaming equipment set up for their own entertainment. The pass can either be sold on the Call of Duty: Experience website or in the Major League Gaming Store

The competitive Call of Duty series is most popular in Europe and North America, with users who participate in tournaments and ladder matches daily. While other games such as the StarCraft (series) and League of Legends (series) are more popular in both Asia and North America. With such a diverse group of users the competitive series is promoted on social media sites from all over the world, such as: YouTube, Twitch.tv, and Twitter with over an average of 500,000 followers or subscribers per competitive player.

Extinction is a new 4-player co-op mode, which pits the player(s) against various types of aliens (known altogether as Cryptids) in a base-defending survival style map. The main goal is usually to destroy all of the Cryptid hives scattered across the map (with the exception of Awakening and Exodus; the former requires players scanning for obelisks in an area which need to be destroyed, while Exodus features generators which the players have to activate). Players choose from four different class types, with unique traits and customizable loadouts.