"Traditional" Call of Duty: Modern Warfare season pass scrapped in favor of free maps and events

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Infinity Ward says it doesn't want to divide the community

The reboot of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare looks exceedingly Call of Duty, but it's breaking at least one of the series' habits: big ol' season passes. Today Infinity Ward and Activision announced that the new Modern Warfare "is eliminating the traditional season pass, so that [it] can deliver more free maps and content as well as post-launch events to all players." 

This is especially good news after the fiasco surrounding Black Ops 4's season pass (and I'd go so far as to say this decision is at least partly a response to it as well). Black Ops 4 players could only get access to new maps and modes by buying the entire season pass, which inevitably fractured the game's player base. There's also Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare's special edition, which was the only way to get Modern Warfare Remastered for the seven months before it was made available as a standalone game. On top of that, Modern Warfare Remastered was itself filled with pricey and quite literally divisive DLC.

Suffice it to say, several recent Call of Duty games had controversial DLC, so it's refreshing to see Infinity Ward lead with "more free maps and content" as part of a move to "unite the community" instead of a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare season pass. That said, it remains to be seen whether axing the "traditional season pass" means cutting season passes entirely. I don't think it will - you can bet on there being some long-term content buy-in - but as long as it's not intrusive, it shouldn't be a problem. 

Speaking of uniting the community: Infinity Ward and Activision are gungho about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare crossplay. Huzzah! You can also watch a breakdown of three campaign levels in the video below. 

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.