Infinity Ward, the creators of Call of Duty 1, 2 and 4 passed up on Call of Duty 3 as they weren't impressed with the blueprint for the game, nor were they fond of making yet another World War II game.
The game was passed on to Treyarch who utilised EA's license for the title to create CoD3. It was then only released on consoles. Whilst it wasn't a bad game, it was clear it lacked the polish that Infinity Ward give theirs and it showed. The music, graphics, intensity and set-pieces were somewhat uninspired, especially when Call of Duty and Call of Duty 2 were best known for being masters of such things.