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Update, October 20: After a handful of launch issues have seemingly been ironed out, the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 campaign is out now on Steam, Battle.net, Xbox, and PlayStation.
Yes, if you missed the marketing blitz, Activision Blizzard is offering early access to the campaign for all digital Modern Warfare 2 pre-orders, so you can play the single-player mode a full week before the rest of the game launches.
Perhaps predictably, the unlock process for the campaign did not go completely smoothly. PC players had a rough time on Steam with 'connection timed out' errors, though judging by the nearly 100k players on the platform right now, those issues have been ironed out. Xbox was warning players that they were trying to jump in 'too early,' even after the release time had arrived, though that similarly seems to have been worked out.
While PS5 and PS4 players were spared those sorts of issues, all platforms have been subject to problems with missing campaign packs - you need to make sure both Campaign Pack 1 and Campaign Pack 2 are fully installed before you can actually get in.
Original story, October 19: Activision and Infinity Ward have confirmed the details of the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 campaign preload for early access players.
As previously announced, anyone who makes an early digital purchase of Modern Warfare 2 will get one week of early access to the campaign. (Check out our guide to Call of Duty MW2 pre-orders for details on where to buy.) While the full game doesn't officially launch until October 28, you can get into the campaign as of this week.
Modern Warfare 2 campaign preload time
Preloads for campaign early access begin at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT / 6pm BST on October 19. That's a single, global start time, and it's the same across PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam and Battle.net. The one thing the devs haven't confirmed is the size of the preload, but the system requirements for the full game on PC suggest a 72GB install.
Modern Warfare 2 campaign early access time
Once you've gotten the Modern Warfare 2 campaign downloaded, early access begins at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT / 6pm BST on October 20. As above, that's a single, global start time across PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam and Battle.net.
This will also give you a head start on unlocking the Modern Warfare 2 campaign rewards, netting you a host of bonuses to carry into the multiplayer side of the game.
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