Modern Warfare 4 is the Call of Duty I have been waiting all generation to play. It's a slickly produced first-person shooter that truly feels as if it is pushing at the boundaries of what this series can achieve when it's firing on all cylinders.

Activision has finally allowed its vast network of video game studios (who keep the gears of this annualized machine turning) to cease support for the PS4 and Xbox One, and the results are astonishing. There's a fluidity to the movement systems; weight to the weapon handling; a density of detail to the visual and auditory design that's apparent from the first kill to the last. You love to see it.

Jack O'Hara, the co-studio head of Infinity Ward and game director of Modern Warfare 4, believes the decision to leave last-gen systems behind has had a transformative effect on ideation and execution. "The processing power of the PS4 was great in its time, but it was starting to get in the way when it came to certain innovations. Support was making the development of new features harder, because you have to account for the differences between platforms."

"Console generations have been living for longer and longer, so we got better and better at optimization, but it does reach a point where you might be optimizing more than you're making something new. So, once you reach that threshold, you have to make the call," O'Hara adds. It's an exceptionally reasonable argument that has led to compelling results.

I'm told that Infinity Ward has engineered a lot of technology to deliver better balanced firefights. "Every shot should tell the truth" is a phrase I have heard more than once. Basically, there's a stronger alignment between bullet trajectory, weapon motion, and operator stance. Target visibility has been refined as IW introduces solutions to longstanding issues with bloom and depth of field. Weapons now make micro-adjustments as you push into tight spaces and begin to peek corners. It's wonderfully immersive, and feels utterly fantastic.

There's a control and a stability to the way that Modern Warfare 4 plays that simply wasn't present in Sledgehammer Games' disastrous Modern Warfare 3. Infinity Ward has effectively picked up from where it left off with MW2 in 2022. The recoil patterns and damage profiles are familiar, so too is the snappy TTK – though IW promises it's slightly less severe this time around.

"We are dialing in on the details to make that TTK feel consistent and strong," says Jacky Reynolds, multiplayer design lead. "One thing I'm really stoked about is that we made the TTK slightly longer at further ranges. If you played MW2, you probably felt yourself getting beamed across the map a lot. You'll feel that a lot less in Modern Warfare 4." Fighting at range requires more precision aiming than before, but Call of Duty is as lethal as it's always been once you're within sprinting distance of an enemy.

Consecutive Black Ops releases means Call of Duty has been saddled with hyper-mobility for two years. While I was certainly a fan of the omni-movement system within certain contexts, I was worried its introduction had defined a new direction for the wider franchise. IW has leveraged elements of this system to generate more fluid transitions around maps, and to give you new ways to change angles or adapt to pressure. So while you can't sprint, slide, or dive in any lateral direction like you could in BO7, you can now take advantage of backwards slides, mantle cancels, and faster climbing.

Combat Ready

I'm impressed with what Modern Warfare 4 is shooting for. I was able to play two multiplayer maps, and they are very in-keeping with the traditional Infinity Ward style – largely designed around three distinct lanes, promoting constant engagement and shifting momentums. There are some nice tweaks elsewhere too. The Riot Shield being reclassified as 'Equipment' and degrading through repeated use. There's now two Prestige paths, and IW is also very proud of a new Apex Attachment system – a set of unlocks that drastically transform a weapon's lethality and adaptability. Absurd incentives for weapon progression meet a more robust Gunsmith, enhanced customization, and a redesigned Create-a-Class system. There are more maps, modes, weapons, killstreaks, skins, and so it goes on and on.

All told, Modern Warfare 4 recalls memories of Call of Duty at its finest, albeit with a slick new-gen set of refinements, evolutions, and improvements. Beyond multiplayer, Infinity Ward has a lush campaign offering, following the exploits of Task Force 141 in the western hemisphere and a team of ordinary soldiers battling on the frontlines of a Korean war, and a returning DMZ mode that seems primed to take the fight right to Arc Raiders and Marathon. It's still early days, but I can't shake this feeling that Modern Warfare 4 couldn't have come at a better time for Call of Duty.

The series had clearly reached a breaking point. Back-to-back instalments of Black Ops and Modern Warfare titles created fatigue. Overbearing integration between mainline games and Warzone sowed frustration. There's a general sense that Sledgehammer and Treyarch (with three and two contributions this generation, respectively) haven't done enough to push the series forward – problematic as Arc Raiders, Battlefield 6, and a resurgent Overwatch offer competition elsewhere. But there's a quality to Modern Warfare 4 that is undeniable, and I'm desperate to play more.

Modern Warfare 4 is set to release on October 23 for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X. However, the new game for 2026 will no longer land day one on Xbox Game Pass.

We don't yet know whether or not Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will feature skill-based matchmaking (SBMM), but one Infinity Ward lead promises the devs will be "transparent" about the situation soon.

SBMM is a divisive topic within the Call of Duty player base – while as the name suggests, it's a system that aims to match players with similar skill levels against each other for a more balanced experience, some argue that doing so makes the game feel less casual and more sweaty, removing the joy from matches where you're head and shoulders above the competition.

Right now, neither Activision nor Infinity Ward have confirmed the extent to which SBMM will be implemented in the upcoming game (if at all), but we at least know that we should find out soon. Asked about it on Twitter, Infinity Ward co-studio head Mark Grigsby simply responds: "All will be revealed soon, and transparent."

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 went through a few ups and downs with its own SBMM – in the runup to its release, it was announced that "at launch, Open Matchmaking with minimal skill consideration will be the default matchmaking." Then, it was later clarified that this wouldn't apply to all playlists, with the majority "similar to the Beta experience where skill is minimally considered." Not everyone was happy about this – some called it a "rug pull" and a "backtrack," and perhaps this could be influencing the devs' immediate promise to be open about their plans this time around.

This is already going down well with fans, too. "It's actually crazy think that if you go back just 2-3 years you'd have never seen a studio head of COD openly replying to someone asking about SBMM. Crazy how things have changed. Only uphill from here," former CoD leaker Ghost of Hope responds.

"If he can deliver on this, then there might be hope," another replies.

Frankly, it seems incredibly unlikely that Infinity Ward will be able to please everyone in practice. For as many people who love the feeling of destroying their opponents, you'll no doubt have just as many who'd be left frustrated in the face of constant annihilation thanks to being matched with players more skilled than them. How the devs will tackle this, then, remains to be seen, but at least they're planning on telling us.

Modern Warfare 4 goes head-to-head with Arc Raiders and Escape from Tarkov as Call of Duty's extraction shooter mode DMZ returns.

It sure looks like Activision is gearing up to announce the rumored Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, as a mysterious live stream teases something after a number of leaks and rumors.

Right now on the official Call of Duty YouTube channel, you can watch a stream titled "카메라 004 | LIVE," which machine translation says simply means "Camera 004 | LIVE" in Korean. The stream itself has already changed significantly in the time I've been watching it – what started as a view of a street somewhere in Korea, complete with ambient noise and power cables gently swaying in the breeze, changed to show soldiers moving through the area, before an enormous explosion set the scene ablaze. Since then, the image has been much darker, and viewers have been able to hear people screaming, air raid sirens, and more explosions.

Being on the Call of Duty channel, it's obvious that this is a tease for something new, but as VGC points out, leaks that have preceded this mean we probably have a pretty good idea of what's coming.

Last year, former Call of Duty leaker TheGhostOfHope (who earlier this year stated that "Activision has legally demanded that I stop leaking and disseminating confidential information") claimed that the 2026 CoD release would feature North and South Korea in its campaign, with 141, the SAS, and Republic of Korea Army being the three main playable factions as you attempt to stop a third world war. What's more, the game was apparently titled Modern Warfare 사 – the Korean character has multiple meanings, but most notably in this case can mean 'four.'

While the leaker's shutdown could be interpreted as confirmation of accuracy, it's worth noting that the official Call of Duty account previously denied that TheGhostOfHope was right about everything, saying: "Even when leaks are wrong, they still hurt the people building the game and mess with player expectations."

Even so, that wasn't the only rumor. Just yesterday, reliable leaker Billbil-kun shared what they claim is blurry cover art for "one of Activision's games: 사." Although it's blurry, you can pretty clearly make out three soldiers standing side by side. NateTheHate – a prominent Nintendo leaker who accurately leaked the Switch 2 reveal, as well as the new Star Fox game amongst other things – took to Reddit to say that this will be the first Call of Duty game on Switch 2, too.

The official Call of Duty channels haven't yet confirmed any of this, but with the stream ongoing, it seems like it's probably only a matter of time before we see what it's all about. A release around October or November has been the pattern for the series since its inception 23 years ago, so it stands to reason that we could expect the reveal for the next one to arrive around now – watch this space.

For now, be sure to check out our list of the best Call of Duty games of all time.

Call of Duty is finally separating its weapon attachment changes in Warzone from its other games, like the upcoming Black Ops 7, in a move the devs are hopeful will allow for tweaks tailored "specifically for the unique play styles" in the free-to-play shooter.

This news was revealed during a Call of Duty NEXT pre-brief event attended by GamesRadar+. Raven Software senior gameplay engineer Francesco Galletti explains that players can expect plenty of changes to the way weapons are handled, with them notably "being streamlined with the return of five attachments."

He continues: "This past year, we've seen too many players run the same wildcards and walk the same golden path when it comes to weapon builds. For that reason, we think there are ways to make that more interesting, and we're going to do so by first making Overkill by default for everyone, removing wildcards, and fundamentally changing the way we're going about attachment tuning."

This new attachment tuning approach brings about a first for the game. "For the first time in Warzone's history, we're able to tune all the attachments independently of other titles," Galletti says. "What that means is that an attachment in Multiplayer may have completely different stats in Warzone."

Needless to say, Galletti continues, "The team is super excited about this. This is going to allow us to give you guys faster attachment tuning, faster meta shifts, and tune things specifically for the unique play styles in Warzone."

Elsewhere, a new Resurgence mode map has also been revealed. Called Haven's Hollow, the map features a rural setting – a small town by a river, complete with a paddle steamer housing a casino. Outside of the town, you can also find a modern research center, as well as other landmarks including a graveyard, train station, and a huge mansion.

How Treyarch is redefining what Call of Duty can be with Black Ops 7: "Where we're taking this game is so drastically different from a lot of the things we've done before."

Call of Duty is the fountain of youth; playing any one of its 50-or-so installments seems to bring you right back to your first time with the FPS franchise, which never seems to run out. But, apparently, it's starting to get old, as Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 devs are concerned the game might be too similar to Black Ops 6.

When CharlieIntel (by way of Dexerto) asked Yale Miller, senior director of production at developer Treyarch, if he was concerned that Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7 might appear interchangeable, he responded affirmatively. "I think the honest answer is yes. I worry about that," Miller says in the new interview. "Obviously, there was a plan with the two MW games and then this."

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 both also came out in succession, in 2022 and 2023, and the Infinity Ward games were meant as sequels to 2019's Modern Warfare reboot – not to be confused with the original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare from 2007, Modern Warfare 2 from 2009, or Modern Warfare 3 from 2011. Anyway.

Similarly, Black Ops 6 released in 2024, while Black Ops 7 is set to launch on November 14, 2025, just over a year later, looking very much the same.

"We'll see what the franchise does in the future," Miller tells CharlieIntel. "We're excited about the opportunities it gave us, but we'd all be dead lying if we said we weren't worried about that."

Black Ops 7 is fighting franchise fatigue in the most unexpected of ways with an ambitious co-op adventure which Treyarch believes can "redefine what campaign can be in Call of Duty."

Steven Spielberg started Medal Of Honor," says artist Brad Allen. "He sent us a video one time, commending certain things that he was liking in the game as we were progressing. It was super neat to get to work on a Spielberg project." 

Brad's role at 2015 Inc was his first games industry job. In fact, although the studio had secured a modicum of credibility in first-person shooter circles with its SiN expansion, Wages Of Sin, it was mostly populated by young and inexperienced developers – nearly all of whom had travelled to Tulsa, Oklahoma from elsewhere in America to seize their breakthrough opportunity. "I had moved out there from California, so it was a bit of a culture shock," Brad says. "But it was really fun." 

Robert Field, a modder who had built the enemy AI for Quake's popular Frogbot, was even further from home. He arrived at Tulsa International Airport on 15 December 2000, when development on Allied Assault was already underway. "I'm from Brisbane in Australia, so walking around in the snow in Tulsa was interesting," he says. "We even had a tornado once." The weather was tolerable because the work was fulfilling. With the Nineties over, Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault looked like the future. "To me, up until that point, a lot of games were hyper-coloured and bright and shiny, and this was not," Brad says. "This was subdued and realistic looking, and all the colours were drab. It was much more rich and interesting, the way they were presenting it." 

D-day

The foundations for Call Of Duty were set here, in the shadow of Spielberg. In place of the machismo of Doom and Duke Nukem was a more subtle sense of historic pride, mingled with sadness and a sense of sacrifice. Your avatar wasn't a superman, but a vulnerable soldier victimised by World War II, attempting to carry out hair-raising orders as best they could. This was an interactive Saving Private Ryan or Band Of Brothers. Or at least, it would be, if 2015 Inc's rabble could all push in the right direction. 

"When I arrived, the animation system and everything was broken because they were replacing everything," Robert says. "I didn't know much about it because I was a mod author, so I thought, 'Oh, this is what you do.' Later on, Jason West brought the discipline where you always have a working game and you're able to show prototypes." Jason West had joined the team as a programmer to work on a console port. "But then I think Vince Zampella convinced him to take over," Robert says. "He became pretty much the lead of Allied Assault. We were a bunch of mod authors and he came on and got us meeting the schedule." Brad, who was creating the game's characters, would grab photos of members of the team and transform them into German or American soldiers, telling them, "You're gonna be the bad guy." 

"Everybody that I was working with was super talented, and super enthusiastic about what we were making," he says. "Everybody wanted to put the special sauce on it and spend the extra hours. It was really a fun experience, minus a few other things." Some on the Allied Assault team had concluded that they didn't want to stay at 2015 Inc beyond the end of the project. "We weren't going to get a good deal with the owner of 2015," Robert says. "Jason, Vince and Grant [Collier] wanted a better deal where we got royalty sharing." Resolving to set up a new company, a handful of key staff started to make moves. "We were all over the place, with five or six guys sneaking off to lunches and going, 'What are we going to do?,'" Brad says. "We had no idea what the name of the company was going to be. We just started spitballing ideas for games. One of our ex-producers had connections with different publishers, and he was like, 'What if we got this IP or that IP?' So it was really exciting. There were a ton of different ideas floating around and options that we could have done." 

Yet the first thing the new Infinity Ward worked on was, in fact, Medal Of Honor. More precisely, an add-on pack for Allied Assault at the behest of EA. "We were still working on the same game, with the same publisher, but as another company," Brad says. Many packed up and vacated the 2015 Inc office overnight. Although, as Brad remembers, Robert didn't get the memo straight away, "Robert was away on vacation or out of the country or something. So we didn't have a way to let him know. He shows up the next day, and everybody's gone. I think Grant contacted him and let him know, 'Hey, we're here, this is what's going on'. He may have been a little bewildered." The change and bewilderment didn't end there. When Infinity Ward was deep into development on its Medal Of Honor expansion, EA stopped paying for the work. "We were about to go under and get absorbed into the EA collective," Brad says. "And Activision swooped in. They were like, 'Hey, we'll fund your next project. If you work for us, you can stay together as a team.' And that was a really big issue for us, because we really liked working with each other." 

"It's a family type of thing," Robert says. "We felt we had a good team, and we had Jason, who was pretty much the team leader, so we all rallied behind him." Activision wanted Infinity Ward to make a competitor to Medal Of Honor – an idea which didn't enthuse the entire team, who had already spent years with their heads in a simulated Second World War. But it was the best offer they had, and so they agreed – initiating a partnership that has now lasted for two decades and counting. "The goal was having a good solid team of people to work with that we liked," Brad says. "We trusted each other's instincts and talents [at Infinity Ward], and it was a great opportunity to continue working with nearly everybody." Twenty-two people had worked on Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault. "And when Call Of Duty started, we all moved six miles down the road in Tulsa," Robert says. The team occupied the 37th floor of the 60-story CityPlex tower. The iconic local building was first built by controversial televangelist Oral Roberts at the request of, as he told it, a 900-foot vision of Jesus. "Thirty-seven flights of stairs is not fun for fire alarms," Robert says. "After the first alarm I said, 'I'm not trashing my knees anymore. If it burns down, it burns down.'" 

Infinity Ward was led by West, Zampella and Courier. "To fund Call Of Duty, Grant was maxing out his credit card originally," Robert says. "He was important from a biz point of view. And he got paid out well in the end." West was the creative force, however – steering the team through a tight 18 months of development. "Starting from Call Of Duty, Jason had a whole system of how we do features," Robert says. "At the beginning, all the level designers would write on cards the things they wanted in the game. Then the programmers would estimate how long that would take and look at our schedule and say, 'OK, this is how many things we think we can do.' We'd prioritise them and go down the list. We were scarred pretty badly from Allied Assault, where it got delayed." 

The team put together a detailed design doc – something they wouldn't bother with on later projects. "I guess we were trying to impress Activision," Robert says. "And Jason wanted to make sure we were on track." The addition of multiplayer was a compromise, made to please the publisher – a surprise, given how important the online component would later become to the series. "There was this notion back then of back-of- the-box features, and Activision was focussed on the buzzwords," Robert says. "We said, 'OK, we'll add multiplayer.' By Modern Warfare, half the development was on multiplayer. Earlier on, it was just minimal." 

Infinity Ward's primary focus was the campaign, an ambitious single-player mode that would see the player fight on different fronts of the war as three separate soldiers – one Russian, one British, one American. "Probably at one point it was more than three," Brad says. "But we had to narrow it down for scope reasons, and have it all be able to fit on a CD." 

Strength in numbers

The decision to back multiple protagonists would have huge implications for COD's future of perspective-swapping stories. "I think we were put off by the idea of having just the one hero character that saves everybody in the war," Brad says. "It didn't feel as realistic. We wanted to represent everybody that contributed to that part of history." Like Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault, Call Of Duty was to be T-rated in the United States – suitable for ages 13 and up, with violence but little blood. Nonetheless, Infinity Ward wanted to ramp up the grittiness and intensity. "We had aiming down the sight and going prone, those sorts of things that were more tactical," Brad says. "A lot of the guys were playing Counter- Strike and they liked all those aspects of the shooting and the realism." Players of the first Call Of Duty demo were in awe when, during a nighttime assault on the French village of Sainte-Mère- Église, the impact of a nearby mortar shell would flatten their character prone, the impact ringing in their ears. 

"There was a lot of cool attention to detail that was put into that," Brad says. "We wanted it to feel like the player was the person, and the immersion was the thing. And it didn't have to be a name that went with a character that you were playing. It was really the idea of getting a feel for what it would be like to be in that situation." Brad was one of five artists on a team that ultimately totalled 26. "And a lot of people wore a lot of different hats," he says. "That was a good aspect of a small company. You're able to play with whatever you can." During one memorable mission, the player crosses the Volga river into Stalingrad with a group of Red Army conscripts – and watches in horror as a boat of friendlies is struck by German artillery. Brad got to animate the ship as it sank into the depths. 

"I had our lead animator holding my hand and going, 'Try this, we're going to make this a little more extreme,'" he says. "It was a learning experience. Everybody was free to contribute." And if an idea didn't work out, nobody got into trouble. "That added to the game being as good as it was, because everybody was heard and everybody got excited about throwing out an idea," Brad says. "Maybe it would stick, or somebody might be able to help make it better." The Stalingrad level was heavily influenced by Enemy At The Gates, the 2001 Jude Law movie that follows two rival snipers over a long winter of battle. In one harrowing moment, the player is handed ammo rather than a gun – and commanded to pick up the rifle of a fellow soldier once he is killed. It's a scene pulled directly from the film. 

"Level designer Steve Fukuda had Saving Private Ryan running on another screen continually during the whole game, pretty much," Robert says. "Actually, there was talk that Activision wanted to make a Band Of Brothers series. But then they'd have to pay licensing. I don't think it would've been the best decision." The team was hungry for any new piece of cinema that featured the Second World War. "That helped us with setting things apart visually," Brad says. "Luckily there was a nice wealth of really strong cinematography. Having that goal of making things feel cinematic and real and heavy led the way for the look of the three campaigns." Research tools were worth their weight in gold. 

"Whatever books we could find," Brad says. "Whatever things we could find on the internet. For the second COD, we sent a bunch of guys to different places for photo reference. But for the first one it was all about Google." Infinity Ward bought model kits, and visited tank and aircraft museums on photo safaris. "When you didn't have a whole lot of access, you worked with what was close by, and luckily in Southern California there's a plethora of places that have all these artefacts and equipment from back in the day," Brad says. "Even if it's not in the best condition, all of that wear and tear adds to the flavour. You don't want everything to look perfect, even though probably at the time it was brand-new. If you throw a little dirt and rust on it in the game, it just looks cool." Legendary military consultant Dale Dye returned, having worked with the team on Medal Of Honor. But the artists most valued their time with re-enactors, who would allow their gear to be photographed, "We were always trying to be as accurate as we could." 

Call Of Duty sold the idea that, rather than a catchphrase-ready commando, you were just one face in a crowd of desperate fighters. Robert worked on the AI, ensuring that each soldier could navigate the rubble and get to their intended destination, "If you've ever seen an AI clip through a wall in Call Of Duty, that's using the fail-safe that Jason said we definitely had to have," he says. "He said, 'No matter what, they have to get from point A to point B.' If the AI doesn't get there, the level's broken, it's not going to continue. If they were really getting in trouble, getting caught on something, I would just noclip them wherever they're trying to go." In some of the larger battles, Infinity Ward compromised on the intelligence of its troops, by having the more distant soldiers follow animated paths rather than using their heads. "When you get off the boat in Stalingrad and all the guys are running up, they're actually not AI," Robert says. Among the hundreds of soldiers who passed through Call Of Duty's campaign, one moustachioed individual stood out: Captain Price. 

"It's pretty crazy," Brad says. "He made it all the way to Modern Warfare. He's one of the key guys now, he was the guy that stuck. Everybody was meant to be, not throwaway, but they weren't supposed to be the heroes. Everybody was supposed to be a hero, so nobody was supposed to be the main badass." The "big crazy struggle" of the project came in the summer of 2003, the year Call Of Duty was to ship. That's when all of Infinity Ward upped sticks and moved from Oklahoma to California – into the LA building they would occupy until Modern Warfare 3. "We were more than just coworkers," Robert says. "And the fact that we all came from Tulsa, it's like this journey you're on." 

"We were packing up all our stuff, figuring out where we were gonna live, and had to hit the ground running and make this game," Brad says. "It didn't really seem to affect us as much as we thought it was going to, because everybody was nose to the grindstone. We were all there as many hours as we could be." There were no demands that staff show up on the weekends. "But a lot of people were, because that was the mentality," Brad says. "As a new company trying to prove ourselves, everybody was super focussed on making our first game really good. Or else we wouldn't get to make another game. There were a lot of unspoken stresses." 

Los Angeles was chosen partly because it was near Activision HQ, and would allow studio leaders easy access to the producers managing the game. But as far as Robert was concerned, Infinity Ward felt like an independent company, with an independent culture. "You wouldn't get the sense that you were working at Activision," he says. "We were insulated from disputes over what was going to happen on the game. That would be Vince and Jason talking with Activision behind closed doors, and we'd be shielded."

Monster hunter

To the publisher's credit, it often gave the team space to do their best work. "We weren't getting executives going, 'We want you to put this or that in the game,'" Robert says. "We weren't doing corporate dictates, we were just channelling what we thought was best for the player." The team at Infinity Ward was already proven, thanks to its work on Medal Of Honor. But they were intimidated by EA's series, the monster they'd helped create – not knowing if fans would stick with the name they knew or recognise the pedigree of the team behind Allied Assault. "EA had crazy awesome marketing at the time for Medal Of Honor," Brad says. "So we would see their commercials coming out, beautiful movie trailer-type things with live action. And we were like, 'Oh, man, that looks so good.'" As Robert remembers it, the team had been in competition with others for as long as it had existed. "On Allied Assault, we were trying to outdo the console Medal Of Honor," he says. "For Call Of Duty, we were going against EA's Allied Assault expansion, Spearhead. It's like a bogeyman." Robert compares the process of pulling Call Of Duty together to being in a Quake clan. 

"Obviously things can go wrong and you start shouting at each other," he says. "And designers are trying to outdo each other with the cool scenes. But you've all got the sense of being on a team working together, pushing each other: 'I'll control that area, you control this.'" The push to the end was frantic and exciting. "And then you're just waiting for the reviews to come out," Robert says. "That was the first shot of drugs in the vein." Call Of Duty was hailed as a masterpiece, with scores over 90%. "We were just happy that it was well received," Brad says. 

The day after launch, Activision acquired Infinity Ward. For a few million dollars, the publisher bagged the studio behind the franchise that has since made it unstoppable. In 2020 alone, Call Of Duty made Activision over $3 billion. "They got us for a song," Brad says. "That was a super good business decision." In 2004, when EA finally did release its answer to Call Of Duty "it really wasn't competitive". "We were worried about them because we saw their trailer and they had really cool rendering stuff," Robert says. "But once Medal Of Honor: Pacific Assault came out it was like, 'OK, these guys aren't our competition.' They didn't have their act together." By then, Infinity Ward was already turning its attention toward Bungie, which inspired West and the team to drop medikits in favour of regenerating health for Call Of Duty 2. "It was obviously based on Halo, because they had their shields," Robert says. "You don't want the game to become this treasure hunt for health packs. You want it to be more about the experience of playing than worrying about your last little bit of health." 

The shift reflected a growing concern with approachability. If an Infinity Ward designer was right-handed, they were told to test their level using their left, so that their aim would match that of an unseasoned player. "We were trying to get maximum sales," Robert says. "You're obviously not trying to do a garbage game, but we really were focussing on getting in as many people as possible. We'd get the receptionist doing playtesting, people who hadn't played games before. Each level designer would have to watch the person play their level without any help, and if they were stuck in some spots, the designer would have to try to fix that." 

Approachability may have prepared Call Of Duty for the big time, but the switch from a historical backdrop to the modern day sealed the deal. "Our designers wanted to push for a new setting, because we were burnt out," Brad says. "As a company, we had made three World War II games, including Medal Of Honor. And so we were like, 'Can we change this up? We've been making World War II longer than World War II lasted.'" There was pushback from Activision, who didn't see many successful shooters on the market with contemporary settings, "They really didn't want us to make Modern Warfare." 

Brad doesn't know what changed the publisher's mind, but the launch of Modern Warfare marked Infinity Ward's ascension to the very peak of pop culture. Call Of Duty became a water-cooler game, its campaign twists discussed on lunch breaks in schools and offices. It secured the future of the series for many more years to come. "We weren't expecting it," Brad says. "We knew that it was fun, especially the multiplayer – we would stick around late at night and play. But the success of that was ridiculous. It was a cool and fortunate experience – not all companies get to stick together that long."

This feature originally appeared in Retro Gamer magazine. For more fantastic in-depth features, interviews, and more on classic games, subscribe to Retro Gamer or pick up a single issue today. 

It's just over 30 years since Id Software launched Doom onto an unsuspecting world. Famously, the studio decided to make it available by uploading the shareware version onto the FTP site of the University of Wisconsin, immediately crashing the institution's entire network. This was just a hint of the chaos this seminal first-person shooter would wreak. Sure, Doom wasn't the first FPS and it wasn't the first game with online multiplayer, but it innovated in so many ways, it was so fast, so advanced, so imaginative, so violent, that it changed the games industry forever. 

Sitting here in (almost) 2024, the age of photorealistic 4K visuals and 1GB broadband connectivity, it's tempting to believe that Doom has long since faded into irrelevance. But that's not the case. In his recent autobiography, Doom Guy, John Romero lists the set of design rules he laid out for the game while the team were working on it. Playing the very latest shooter, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, it's clear that most of the those rules are just as relevant to the FPS genre as they ever were way back in the mists of time (i.e. 1993) – especially in terms of online multiplayer modes. The ghost of Doom still lurks in the burned-out corridors of Modern Warfare, and I'm going to show you where.

Doom with a view

First of all, let's think about map design. Doom's levels were primarily built for the single-player experience, but they had a very compact, non-linear structure. Players often had to double-back and re-explore old areas to open locked doors. Indeed, one of Romero's Doom design rules was: "Reuse areas in the level as much as possible, as it reinforces the understanding of the space every time the player goes through an area again. For example, if players come back to a central hub before going out to a spoke, they will remember the hub the most." 

While modern single-player campaigns tend to be almost entirely linear, this principle still lives on in multiplayer maps. Most are designed around two core archetypes: three-lane maps, which have a trio of parallel channels leading from one end of the map to another, and circular maps, where a central hub is surrounded by concentric orbital routes. Some maps contain elements of both.

It's really interesting to look at how similar these modern maps are to Doom levels. Let's look at two examples side by side. First, we have the opening level of Doom; and second, we have Highrise from the Modern Warfare series.

Notice how they're roughly the same size, and how they both have a central hub surrounded by smaller, winding channels. Both adhere to Romero's principle of reuse, of encouraging players to memorise and constantly renegotiate the space, creating their own routes through the alleyways, tunnels and open hub sections. How we behave in MW maps is exactly what Doom speedrunners were doing 30 years ago. 

One of the key principles of multiplayer map design is over-watch – the provision of hidden elevated positions with long sightlines from which cunning players can watch (and snipe) unsuspecting enemies. On Activision's Call of Duty blog, multiplayer design director Geoff Smith explained how and why these areas were reintroduced into 2019's MWII maps: "In our previous games, we would have these power positions, and those got boiled out of the game due to concerns about 'head-glitching' or camping. But that was the kind of special sauce that made Team Deathmatch work so well; that you have a power position and you actually have an advantage by having a line of sight and people would gravitate toward you."

This idea of gaining visibility over players elsewhere on the map was there right in the earliest stages of the Doom design process. "I remember we were barely starting to get multiplayer working," says Romero. "But I was finishing off a level design and I visualised looking through a window into another room and just thinking about two people out there throwing rockets and plasma rifle shots at each other. I thought, there's nothing that can be better than this. Blowing away a guy who's fighting another guy. We saw that the network gameplay, no matter how it's connected, was the critical must-play part of the game."

Stick 'em up 

Weapons are another area where Doom's blueprints live on. Its standard guns – the pistol, shotgun, chain gun (basically an LMG) and rocket launcher – all remain in the FPS arsenal, but more importantly, the way they were designed to fulfil different and lasting roles in the game had lasting ramifications. "Doom really expanded the vocabulary of FPSs," says Romero."It defined a lot of the rules, one of which was extremely important for all modern games, which is in the weapon selection. Every weapon in Doom is always useful.

You do not wipe out the previous gun because you got a better one. In Wolfenstein, that's not true – as soon as you get the chaingun, every other gun is useless. But in Doom, every gun is totally valuable, and that was one of the most difficult design and balancing exercises: to get the weapons different enough that you had to choose one depending on what you were doing. None are ever eliminated."

The facets that made Doom work so well are continually being rediscovered by new designers. For the re-imagined Modern Warfare maps, both Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer have prioritised fluidity of movement through 3D space. Players can climb up scenic objects such as air conditioner units onto previously inaccessible roofs, they can mantle over walls, they can slide across floors and then fire their weapons immediately, they can opt for Covert Sneakers and sprint unseen and unheard for long distances. The new games are all about uninterrupted motion. 

This is exactly what John Cormack was going for when building the Doom engine. "You're always moving forward," says Romero. "It was critical that the engine was super smooth – the speed of the acceleration, the amount of friction it took to stop moving, the strafing speed, the mouse movement being rock solid. It was just the feel of the movement through that space." It's also there in Romero's first rule of multiplayer map design: "A player should not be able to get stuck in an area without the possibility of respawning."

Doom took the audio as seriously as the visual elements of the environment, and this is another vital element that still influences FPS titles today. Id Software used sound to enhance the sense of impending battles. You hear monsters before you see them, often from nearby rooms; you hear doors opening and closing. These give vital clues to the player – just as footsteps and gunshots do in Modern Warfare. Doom was one of the first games to introduce the concept of spatial audio as a strategic element. 

"[It was about] setting up that environment to feel like you're under threat," says Romero. "Hearing sounds off in the distance that something is coming, that kind of thing. We had a little bit of that in Wolfenstein beforehand, but with Doom, we purposely put those wandering sounds in so players could hear them moving around and be scared to hear it. Coming up with that palette of playability and gameplay was really critical."

The chances are a majority of Modern Warfare III players have never seen the original Doom running on a 386 PC in 320 x 200 resolution – the way it looked and felt thirty years ago. But you can buy it on Steam for a couple of quid, or try the homebrew update GZDoom. Graphically, it's hopelessly dated in a lot of ways. But the feel of it – the speed, the guns, the player movement, the design of the maps, the drama of player-vs-player engagements in dark corridors – all those elements still work. The rules Romero shared with Id's designers and programmers hold up. In fact, Romero is still using them - as well as a lot of the original Doom code - in his next project, the spiritual sequel, Sigil 2. Doom is to games what Halloween is to slasher movies – an inescapable blueprint. You can run from it, but even after 30 years, you can't escape. 

Here are the best FPS games you can play right now 

Modern Warfare 3 is Call of Duty in the midst of a severe identity crisis. It's as if every one of its components represents a frayed piece snatched from a different puzzle; the hastily assembled picture resembling something that's both vaguely recognizable and largely unsatisfying. The entire package is fraught with tensions, leaving one of the few remaining traditional first-person shooters on the market in an exceptionally precarious position as it celebrates its 20th anniversary.

You feel this as you see Nicki Minaj and Skeletor bunny-hop around dusty 14-year-old maps, firing year-old weapons, monotonously grinding experience to progress through a raft of messy progression systems that should have died with Modern Warfare 2. The killcams are a confluence of after-effects as leviathans crawl over crumpling, glittering bodies; the lobbies a circus of discriminatory and sexist rhetoric as children of all ages go to war with one another in absolute defiance of Activision's employment of an AI-powered voice chat moderation system. 

That tension is there in the five-hour single-player campaign too, where a lackluster, nonlinear approach to mission design is, at best, a misguided attempt to recapture the magic of Medal of Honor: Airborne. And in Zombies, the cathartic, compulsive rhythms that once defined its cooperative carnage have been exchanged for an ill-fitting extraction shooter model built atop the still-warm corpse of Activision's abandoned DMZ mode for Warzone. Taken as a whole, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is stuck paying deference to a past that it seems to barely understand. 

Out of sync

Traditionally, Activision has given three development studios room to experiment on three-year release cycles. Infinity Ward sought to provide viable alternatives to Counter-Strike; Treyarch a refuge for the competitive class; and Sledgehammer a space to explore advanced-movement mechanics. If you didn't like one style of Call of Duty, you always knew another would follow soon enough – and in the age of Warzone, there are distractions aplenty for the disenfranchised. But Activision's decision to pursue an immediate sequel to Modern Warfare 2 (and put it in the hands of a different lead developer), without taking meaningful steps to drive the concept or underlying technology forward, means we'll always be wondering what could have been. 

Infinity Ward should be praised for trying to push Call of Duty in a different direction with its return to Modern Warfare, slowing the time-to-kill and removing any impulse to remove boots from the ground. A stark shift in pace, and the best the franchise had been in some time. Modern Warfare 3 doesn't just fail to iterate on these ideals, it does away with them. Sledgehammer has realigned the fundamentals: increasing base health, raising TTK, and widening mobility. You're free to sprint and slide and skip around without penalty, and while play is speedier it doesn't feel that much slicker. 

There are times when Modern Warfare 3 feels like a capable, albeit uninspired and inoffensive, arcade shooter. And there are other moments where it's more of an unwitting return to the series' awkward adolescent years – where the popularity of Halo 3 and resurgence of arena shooters gradually altered player behavior, subsequently eroding a once-grounded approach to combat. There's a twitchiness to the movement and jerkiness to the firing models, with multiplayer lacking the level of polish and attention to detail that I've come to expect from an Activision-developed shooter.  

There is space for Call of Duty to engage more thoughtfully with snappier movement and momentum, just as Treyarch has in the past with Black Ops and Sledgehammer with its Advanced and Infinite Warfare titles. I'd be curious to see the end result, so long as the individual components were designed to support that mission objective. Instead, weapons, attachments, operators, and maps have been dragged forward from two iterations of Modern Warfare 2. It's an interesting concept, particularly as the series moves towards a more connected ecosystem via COD HQ, but the execution is lacking. 

The dearth of creative consistency between Modern Warfare 2 and its successor is stark. The drastic alterations to core play means that many of the returning weapons handle weirdly due to the revised ballistic models and quicker animations, while the vast majority of the 37 new Modern Warfare 3 guns are greatly over-torqued to help them stand above the mess of options available from the outset. The amount of attachments is dizzying, with the outlay dissolving any true sense of progression. And the decision to not immediately carry maps forward is strange, leaving us to trudge across exceptionally old arenas that survive on sheer nostalgia alone. There's little new to learn in Modern Warfare 3, which contributes to this pervasive sense that you've done and seen all it has to offer before. 

Reexamining the past

There are some nice ideas scattered throughout Modern Warfare 3, even if the implementation is a little heavy-handed. Perk Packages have thankfully been removed, with key modifiers now split between equippable Vests, Gloves, Boots, and Gear. It's a forward-thinking gesture, undermined by how unsatisfying the overall feel and pace of play is. The decision to map weapon, attachment, and equipment unlocks across three tracks (player ranks, a premium battle pass, and a new armory system) is greatly misaligned, but would have potential in a less congested ecosystem. 

The rising prominence of daily challenges (the backbone to Modern Warfare 3 Armory unlocks, which gates access to key Perks, Killstreaks, and more) has also had positive and negative effects on player behavior. When they reward for properly playing objectives, modes like Hardpoint and Domination become more enjoyable; when they encourage a global playerbase to get kills with nothing but Launchers and Lethals, Modern Warfare 3 effectively becomes unplayable for large stretches of time. Sadly, that isn't an uncommon feeling.

Skill-based matchmaking continues to be a divisive part of the Call of Duty multiplayer experience. Admittedly, I'm typically a fan of it, but it feels misaligned this year. I routinely find myself whiplashed between lobbies where I'm notching 60 kills on the leaderboard and then unable to get one on deck in the next, stuck in a cycle of death as a legion of CDL-skinned players wield quickscoping Sniper Rifles with comical precision. It doesn't feel as if I'm gradually raising my skill ceiling and being rewarded with incrementally more challenging encounters, and in an environment where there's already so little to see or do that's genuinely new this quickly creates an attention deficit. 

The lack of consistency in Modern Warfare 3 extends to the core 6v6 map selection – 16 from 2009's MW2. I was 19 years-old when I first fell in love with maps like Skidrow, Terminal and Wasteland; and I was 20 by the time I hoped to never set foot on the likes of Highrise, Rust, and Scrapyard again. I'm 33 now, and time has confirmed my teenage suspicions: there are a few classics in the selection, but it's a real mixed bag. Work has been done to remaster the maps within the new IW9 engine, but the development teams stopped short of making any alterations to better support the style play that's being pursued, or to ease any long-standing friction that exists at a foundational level.

Sniper Rifles are easy to wield and one-shot to a torso, making the uninterrupted sightlines of Afghan, Derail, and Estate a camper's paradise. The messy, interweaving lanes of Invasion, Karachi, and Quarry feel unsuited to a meta built around rapid-fire Assault Rifles. And, you know what, the less said about Underpass and Sub Base the better. The return of map voting means you'll typically find yourself cycling through the same few locations anyway, with players either getting their way or quitting out en masse – 2009 all over again. 

Compounding the sense of malaise, very real problems with player visibility and spawn rotation. It isn't uncommon to find yourself cycling onto a battlefield either in the midst of an engagement or miles from the action, often leaving you at the mercy of players sitting prone in a premium skin that is near-imperceptible across environments that were never designed to carry them.

The future is uncertain

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is good for a few hours of fun with friends, but it has very little to offer over time. Performance is solid across campaign, multiplayer, and zombies, and the entire package is appealing enough from a visual perspective. The problem is that the core play is uninspired – MW3 has no big creative concept, outside of pursuing some vague attempt to recapture disparate elements of a past which our collective-nostalgia insists definitely existed. 

Last year, Infinity Ward was charged with laying the foundation for the future of Call of Duty with MW2. A platform which would allow for better cohesion between mainline installments, the expansion of Warzone, and an advanced technology framework to empower the series' shepherds to innovate and iterate with greater consistency. 12 months later, in the midst of a 20th anniversary celebration, Modern Warfare 3 is more of a death rattle than a sign of what's to come. 

Modern Warfare 3 was reviewed on Xbox Series X, with code provided by the publisher.

After over two years of development, a huge mod for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is ceasing development.

Known only as "SM2," the massive mod promised to overhaul the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with well over 100 weapons, and revamped gameplay systems like the ping ability. 24 Perks, dedicated melee weapon slots, party chat voice features, and unique progression systems were all promised in the SM2 mod, as a dream game for Call of Duty players.

Now though, that's all shutting down. Earlier this week, a developer on SM2 was sent a cease and desist letter from Activision, demanding they stop all work on SM2 immediately. The entire development team on the mod is complying with the cease and desist letter from the publisher, and all work on SM2 is ceasing with immediate effect.

SM2 hopefuls are gathering together on Twitter to mourn the loss of the prestigious mod. "This has made me incredibly sad," one user wrote, with another adding "All my homies hate Activision." One popular post even uses that much-memed 'Press F to pay respects' prompt from Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare to mourn the passing of the SM2 mod. 

You can get a glimpse of what SM2 would've been via the gameplay video below. The mod truly would've been a gigantic overhaul for the classic Infinity Ward sequel, seamlessly integrating brand new weapons and Killstreaks into the shooter, and effectively breathing new life into what many believe to be the best Call of Duty game ever made.

It's a sad day for Call of Duty fans, then, and particularly classic Modern Warfare enjoyers. For what it's worth, COD Tracker dubbed this project a "dream game" for any Call of Duty fan, so there are probably legions of fans out there really feeling this cancellation as a kick in the gut.

A recent report claimed Call of Duty 2023 is an extension of Modern Warfare 2, so there's at least good news for those who enjoy the more recent offerings of the Modern Warfare series.

Check out our new games 2023 guide for a look at everything else slated to launch over the remainder of the year. 

Titanfall series director Steve Fukuda is leading a team at Respawn in early development on "something new."

There is, however, no new Titanfall game in the works, though the studio would love to return to the series at some point, as Respawn boss Vince Zampella tells Axios. For now, Titanfall and Titanfall 2 director Steve Fukuda is leading a "very small," "skunkworks" team on a new project at Respawn. Zampella says "the mission is to find the fun in something new."

It's a very small quote, but one that makes excited speculation very easy. "Something new" certainly implies that this will be a new IP. The rest of the quote suggests that Respawn is currently prototyping to test out new gameplay ideas to build a whole new project around. The resulting game could be a new IP, though it's possible the team will hit upon something that makes sense as part of something familiar.

Fukuda served for years in design roles at Infinity Ward, and was credited as a design lead on Call of Duty 2, Modern Warfare, and Modern Warfare 2. He left the studio along with many other veteran developers when Respawn was founded, and since served as game director on both Titanfall games.

We already know that Respawn has two more Star Wars games in development following the launch of Jedi: Survivor, though that's pretty much all we know about what's happening at the studio - aside from continued Apex Legends updates, of course.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor reviews have been filled with praise for the game itself, but the community's not happy with the game's lackluster performance, especially on PC.

Each Call of Duty game has "so much content" that Activision requires 1.5 lead studios to work on each installment. 

Last week the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the Microsoft Activision Blizzard acquisition claiming that it could damage competition in the gaming market. The regulator's final report on the deal revealed several interesting insights into Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, as well as the gaming industry as a whole. One of these interesting tidbits from the report reveals that Activision requires "almost 1.5" lead studios for each Call of Duty game it releases. 

The report reads: "A report by IDG submitted by a third party quoted Activision Blizzard as saying that it has so much content for CoD that it needs almost 1.5 lead studios for each annual CoD." The report continues, "Further, Activision is claimed in the report to have said that it typically uses about 15 outsourcing/co-development partners for a $100 million game, and 20- 30 different partners for a larger game."

As any Call of Duty player will tell you, Activision typically uses three main development studios so that there can be a new installment in the FPS series each year - the studios in question being Infinity Ward (most recently behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2), Sledgehammer Games (Call of Duty: Vanguard), or Treyarch (Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War) with several support studios - such as Raven Software - assisting with the development of each game. 

Another interesting bit of information found in the report reveals that the total cost of the biggest games now reportedly tops $1 billion, which is a sharp increase from as recently as five years ago. Elsewhere in the report, the CMA shares its view on the Microsoft deal which allows Call of Duty games to release on Nintendo consoles for the next 10 years - to which the CMA concluded that the Nintendo Switch isn't "technically capable" of running Call of Duty well.

Want to experience more of Activison's back catalog? Take a look at our best Call of Duty games list.  

Microsoft Gaming now owns Activision Blizzard. It's taken almost two years to get here, following protracted legal battles to get the deal over the line. You can read through all of our existing coverage of the Xbox Activision deal below, but for now the important thing is that the $68.7 billion has closed. Microsoft owns Activision Blizzard, and that means some big changes are on the distant horizon. 

I say distant because it's going to take some time for the gears to start turning. Eventually, you should expect to see franchises like Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and others join the Xbox Game Pass fold – just not immediately. 

Below you'll find our Xbox Activision deal explainer, which we will continue to keep updated as more information comes as the deal closure details are released. 

The basics

When did Xbox buy Activision?

News of the Xbox Activision deal first surfaced on January 18, 2022. Naturally, this is just the first step in a lengthy process for approval, with both the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the European Commission (EC) formally filing complaints to block the acquisition due to concerns surrounding competition in the market. Even without investigations, these massive deals can often take some time to complete: When Microsoft announced its intention to acquire ZeniMax Media in September 2020, it took a further six months before the likes of Arkane Studios and Bethesda Softworks could be officially welcomed into the Microsoft Gaming fold. Xbox has said that it is targeting a June 2023 closure date for its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. 

How much was the Xbox Activision Deal?

Microsoft has said it will buy Activision Blizzard for $95 dollars a share, in an all-cash transaction valued at $68.7 billion. This would be the most expensive video game acquisitions in the industry's history, dwarfing the $8.1 million that Microsoft paid for ZeniMax Media in 2021 and the massive $12.7 billion that Take-Two Interactive paid to acquire Zynga last year. As for why Xbox paid so much for Activision, there's a number of factors. Activision Blizzard is a global business, with studios positioned all over the world and with nearly 10,000 employees on its books. That's certainly a factor in the valuation,  alongside Activision's massive share in the mobile market and its ownership of some of the video game industry's most popular and long-lasting franchises. 

Why did Xbox buy Activision? 

There are a variety of factors at play when trying to understand why Microsoft would want to buy Activision. The most obvious is that it gives the Xbox division access (and creative control) to some of the video game industry's most enduring IP – Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Crash Bandicoot, Diablo, Overwatch, Spyro the Dragon, StarCraft, World of Warcraft, and so the list goes on. Not only would Microsoft Gaming profit from new entries to these franchises, but it would be able to use legacy games to significantly bolster the Xbox Game Pass games list. Activision Blizzard reportedly tracks "nearly 400 million monthly active players in 190 countries and three billion-dollar franchises" across its console, PC, and mobile divisions, which would significantly bolster the growth of Game Pass, Xbox's investment in Cloud Gaming technology, and Microsoft's ability to compete with Sony and Nintendo. 

The details

When are Activision games coming to Xbox?

Many Activision games are already on Xbox, because Activision is a third-party publisher. That means that it produces games regardless of platform, as opposed to first-party publishers (Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo), who produce games for their specific ecosystems (Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch, respectively).

For example, every Call of Duty game comes to Xbox, as have other notable Activision games; recently, that includes the likes of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, and Crash Bandicoot 4. Blizzard games are also released on Xbox; Overwatch 2 launched into early access on Xbox Series X and Xbox One, while Diablo 4 is also coming to both consoles later this year.

If the deal goes through, future Activision Blizzard games will continue to be available on Xbox – and day and date through Game Pass – but it remains to be seen if their availability on Sony consoles will be impacted. Activision-Blizzard would become a first-party company within Microsoft, meaning that it would primarily be producing games for the wider Xbox ecosystem. Microsoft has made a years-long commitment to keeping several of Activision-Blizzard's games on other platforms, but it's likely that eventually, those games will be exclusive to Xbox,PC, and Microsoft's Game Pass and Cloud Gaming services.

Will dormant Activision franchises return?

Activision was founded in 1979, and has a wealth of IP and legacy titles locked away in its vault. With Xbox in control of the portfolio, there's every chance that some older (or long-dormant) franchises could make a return, which is something Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has claimed is a "pretty exciting" prospect. Naturally, we all have our dream series revivals, and we have already made a wishlist of Activision Blizzard franchises we want to see reborn at Xbox. 

When will Activision games come to Game Pass?

There are already hundreds of video games available as part of the full Xbox Game Pass games list, and that's expected to grow following the completion of the deal. However, there is no timeline for how long that may take. When Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media, it took just a few days for 20 of the biggest Bethesda games to join the service – and more have joined since. Microsoft has said that it expects franchises like Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Diablo to join Xbox Game Pass eventually, although the arrival of Call of Duty may be delayed by "a number of years" due to ongoing negotiations with Sony. While you wait for those, here's our pick of the best Xbox Game Pass games to play today.

What the publishers have said

What has Microsoft said? 

Microsoft has maintained that the goal is making Activision Blizzard's catalog more accessible. While Game Pass will be stronger with Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Diablo included, Spencer noted as far back as Microsoft's first blog on the deal that "Activision Blizzard games are enjoyed on a variety of platforms". As such, the plan is "to continue to support those communities moving forward".

A question of competitive  fairness within the gaming market has also arisen, with Microsoft previously adding the likes of Bethesda to its ranks. To that, the company has pointed out that, should the deal go through, Microsoft would be the third-largest gaming company revenue, behind Tencent and Sony.

What has Sony said? 

Sony doesn't appear convinced Microsoft's pledges to keep games like Call of Duty readily available are genuine. As various international regulators scrutinize the deal, we've seen plenty of back and forth between the pair. For example, throughout the UK's investigation into the agreement, Microsoft accused the competition regulator of relying on Sony's objections, namely "misplaced" concerns over Call of Duty. 

In a statement to Reuters, a Sony spokesperson reiterated that the deal was "bad for competition, bad for the gaming industry, and bad for gamers themselves". "This deal would give Microsoft's Xbox ecosystem a unique combination of tech and content, and hence a dominant position in gaming, with devastating consequences for consumers, independent developers, and Sony itself," they said. 

More broadly, a lot of concern stems from Call of Duty's continued availability. Sony reportedly said that Microsoft isn't offering parity, with the Xbox creator answering that a 10-year deal has been put up. The importance of the series to gaming has also been a constant, with Sony playing it up while Microsoft plays it down.

What has Nintendo said?

Nintendo has been largely silent on the Xbox Activision deal. While Sony and Microsoft continue to trade words and legal filings, the Switch manufacturer has been holding conversations behind-closed-doors. Microsoft president Brad Smith has confirmed that the pair have signed a "binding 10-year contract to bring Xbox games to Nintendo's gamers, should the deal close. This would of course include Call of Duty – the franchise has appeared on Nintendo consoles in the past, although not for a long while; a Wii U port of Call of Duty: Ghosts arrived in 2013. 

What has Valve said?

Despite being offered a similar deal to Nintendo, Valve president Gabe Newell has said that it "wasn't necessary" as he's okay with the storefront's current relationship with Activision over Call of Duty and Microsoft. "We're happy that Microsoft wants to continue using Steam to reach customers with Call of Duty when their Activision acquisition closes," he told Kotaku in a statement." Microsoft has been on Steam for a long time and we take it as a signal that they are happy with gamers' reception to that and the work we are doing. Our job is to keep building valuable features for not only Microsoft but all Steam customers and partners."

The CMA decision

In April 2023, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority blocked the deal in its home country, citing Microsoft's strength in cloud gaming. Microsoft has suggested that it might be forced to cease trading in the UK if the decision – which it is appealing – is upheld. 

The FTC Trial

In the final weeks of June, Microsoft went to trial against the US Federal Trade Commission's injunction against the closure of its deal. The trial aimed to determine whether the deal could be finalized before its July 18 deadline. Microsoft claimed that if it lost, it could potentially lead to years of litigation that might kill the merger.

Over the course of the trial, many senior figures, including PlayStation's Jim Ryan, Activision's Bobby Kotick, Xbox heads Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, were questioned, offering detailed information about the current state of the games industry. It's been hard to sift through that flood of info, but here are some of the standout headlines:

• Microsoft's CEO doesn't like console exclusives
•  The Last of Us Part 2 and Horizon Forbidden West both cost more than $200 million to develop 
• PlayStation boss claims publishers "do not like Game Pass" 
• Sony expected Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6 to launch on PlayStation, but noted that the exclusivity isn't anti-competitive. 
• And it was potential PlayStation exclusivity for Starfield that kicked off Microsoft's purchase of Bethesda. 
• Microsoft thinks the PS6 and next Xbox will launch in 2028, and knows Xbox lost the console wars 

So, what happens next?

Whether Xbox's acquisition of Activision Blizzard completes remains unknown. Microsoft will need to wait for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, European Commission, UK Competition and Markets Authority to complete its investigations, while there are ongoing legal challenges in various states in the United States which may need to be resolved. 

As it stands, Microsoft will continue to make its case, and everybody else will continue to argue their positions until the last. The deal is expected to close, one way or the other, by the end of Spring 2023. So we will of course keep you up to date on any new information as we receive it. 

Looking for more on the Xbox Activision deal? Here's our look into what Microsoft's latest acquisition could mean for Activision Blizzard and Xbox Game Studios.

Warzone 2 error codes crop up now and again when you try to access the Modern Warfare 3 battle royale, and while they may highlight issues such as server outages that you'd can't do anything about, there are others that indicate problems that you may be able resolve yourself by trying your own fixes. The most recent error code is Dev Error 5433, which has been causing problems on the PlayStation platform, so I've got that covered below along with a selection of other errors for Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone 2.

Being able to identify any error messages you see means you'll know if you can take action yourself, or if you just have to wait it out. I've put together this list of the most common issues players have run into, so you can see if there's a solution available in my extensive compendium of Warzone 2 error codes.

Warzone 2 Error codes, quick guide

These are some of the most common Warzone 2 Error codes: 

• Dev Error 5433
• Dev Error 11152
• PUGET - ALTUS
• Error code 0x887a0005
• DIVER
• Purchase Modern Warfare 2 to have access to everything
• PUGET - LAKES
• Dev Error 657
• Status: SAVANNAH
• WOLTER - FRANCIS
• BLANDING - SCOTT
• NIAMEY - LEE
• Dev Error 6036
• TRAVIS - RILEA

Generally, most of these are telling you something, even if that's not clear. It might relate to Warzone 2 server issues, files, downloads or something else. Whatever it is, there's usually something you can do to make the problem go away. Even if the error code isn't telling you anything in Modern Warfare 3. 

Below, I've got a more detailed breakdown of all the Warzone 2 error codes in Modern Warfare 3 I've encountered so far, along with any known fixes attached to them to get you up and running again.

Warzone 2 Dev Error 5433, Modern Warfare 3

If the Dev Error 5433 message is appearing in Warzone 2 or Modern Warfare 3, then it's likely that you're on PlayStation and have had an issue with a recent update. Per this post from @CODUpdates, an update has been pushed out to address the issue, so if the error is still persisting for you then make sure your game is on the latest version by checking for updates. The temporary fix means that on PlayStation the video previews in the Store have been disabled, but these should return when further fixes have been made.

Warzone 2 Dev Error 11152, Modern Warfare 3

If you're seeing a Dev Error 11152 message, then this means there's a problem with your game files, though it shouldn't be a cause for immediate panic. It's mainly seen when trying to play while an update is downloading or installing, especially on PlayStation, so check that you're on the latest version of the game and wait for any updates to completely install before trying again. If you're still getting Dev Error 11152 then unfortunately your files may be corrupted, and while PC players can fairly easily repair this through Steam's "Verify integrity of game files" option or Battle.net's "Scan and repair" function, console players who can't get past the error will need to delete and reinstall the game to replace the broken files.

Warzone 2 error code PUGET - ALTUS, Modern Warfare 3

If you see a code reading "Unable to access online services. (Reason: PUGET - ALTUS)", there's no fix, because it's not your fault. Sorry to say that it's an issue at the other end, with Activision's servers. If you're afflicted by this issue, there's likely to be lots of other people with the same issue - possibly all players - so what I suggest is simply to check official channels and Twitter feeds to see what the developers have to say, and if they can provide any information about when issues will be rectified.

If you're not sure that it's based in server-side issues, you can try to reset your router and make sure you don't have too much consuming bandwidth - but if those don't work, there's little else you'll be able to do.

Warzone 2 error code 0x887a0005, Modern Warfare 3

This is a Windows and PC issue that seems to have a number of causes. Things like in-game overlays used by Discord or capture software Nvidia can be the root of the problem so check if you have any running and try the game without them first off all. NVIDIA Ansel can also cause problems. You can also repairing or verifying files to ensure everything is running okay, as well as running the game as an administrator to check there's no permission issues. If you're using any upscaling, try turning that off too, to see if it fixes the issue. If you suspect the issue might be graphical in nature you can also diables on-demand texture streaming and check your graphics drivers. 

Warzone 2 error code DIVER, Modern Warfare 3

MW3 error code DIVER is very similar to the Dev Error outlined above, as you'll see it if the game hasn't been able to download all of the required files, and it may be accompanied by a "Download Failed" message. If you see this, and the retry download option doesn't sort things out then check to see if the Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 3 servers are down, as this could be preventing the files needed from downloading. If there are no server issues and your internet connection is working correctly, then follow the steps above to check for updates and verify your game files, which should fix the problem.

Warzone 2 error "Purchase Modern Warfare 2 to have access to everything"

Some players have experienced a Warzone 2 error when trying to log into the free-to-play version of the battle royale, saying they need to "Purchase Modern Warfare 2 to have access to everything" and prompting them to to Purchase Modern Warfare or exit. Do you need Modern Warfare 2 for Warzone 2? Absolutely not, though you do need to download a free version of the Modern Warfare 2 launcher to access Warzone 2 if you don't own the game. If you're getting this error, make sure that you've downloaded the latest version by checking for updates, then restart the game and if necessary your console or PC as well to resolve the issue so you can log in.

Warzone 2 error code PUGET - LAKES, Modern Warfare 3

As with many other entries on this list, the MW3 and WZ2 error code PUGET - LAKES relates to server issues, though in this case it seems to more specifically be calling out overpopulation ie the servers have become too full of players. This is often seen after waiting in a queue, and means you've been kicked out of it as there's no space for you. Unfortunately, as things stand the only way to fix this error is to keep trying or come back later when the servers are hopefully less busy, though this should only be a temporary issue around the launch.

Warzone 2 Dev Error 657, Modern Warfare 3

Not much is actually known about MW3 and WZ2 Dev Error 657 at this point, as it seems to have been a recent introduction to the reporting system. However, as with the other Dev Error codes these usually relate to files being missing or an update is required, so check you game to make sure it's complete and up to date – there's more details on how to do this under Dev Error 6036 below.

Warzone 2 error code Status: SAVANNAH, Modern Warfare 3

The Modern Warfare and Warzone error code Status: SAVANNAH often appears when you try to connect with friends, and is usually accompanied by the message "Unable to join game session, the host cannot be joined or game play is paused" when that connection fails. It may not seem like the logical explanation from that description, but this issue mainly comes about when your game isn't patched to the latest version, so check for updates following the standard process and you should be able to upgrade then connect with friends again.

Warzone 2 error code WOLTER - FRANCIS, Modern Warfare 3

With the launch of Warzone 2 and greatly increased traffic to the servers, players are seeing the MW3 error code WOLTER - FRANCIS when trying to connect, often after being stuck on a "Waiting for datacenters" notification message for some time. This error means that the servers are being overloaded and a connection couldn't be established, so your best bet is back out and try again. You can also try restarting the game or your machine, and checking your internet connection is functioning correctly, but beyond that there isn't really a fix other than to keep trying, and this error should go away as the servers settle down.

Warzone 2 error code BLANDING - SCOTT, Modern Warfare 3

Some players are seeing the MW3 error code BLANDING - SCOTT intermittently appear as a popup in the corner of their menu screen, often accompanied by a connection error message. However, this doesn't seem to be having any effect on the actual functioning of the game, and may be related to back-end connections with the Store that haven't been fully implemented yet, so it's safe to ignore this error if it's not causing you any issues.

Warzone 2 error code NIAMEY - LEE, Modern Warfare 2

The MW2 error code NIAMEY - LEE is the official designation for the Modern Warfare 2 status installing glitch, which is stopping players from accessing the game by presenting a progress bar that never completes. To fix this, simply hit the Options button to open the side menu and choose any of the available options – Quick Settings at the top should do it – then back out again. This will have the effect of pushing you through to the next menu screen, from which you'll be able to reach the rest of the options.

Warzone 2 Dev Error 6036, Modern Warfare 3

MW3 Dev Error 6036 is actually an error code that has also appeared through several previous iterations in the series, and when it was seen in Vanguard it related to localized versions in languages other than English. Back then the initial solution was to revert the interface language to English until the developers could push out a permanent fix, so if you're playing in a different language then it's worth trying this as a temporary resolution for the error.

However, a more common cause of Dev Error 6036 in Modern Warfare 3 is that the game files, an update, or multiplayer data hasn't downloaded correctly. The easiest fix for this is to restart the game, at which point it should automatically resume any downloads or updates to complete the required files. However, if that doesn't work you may need to manually check for an update or verify game files as follows:

• PlayStation: Press the Options button while hovering over the MW3 icon and select Check for update.
• Xbox: Press the Start button while hovering over the MW3 icon and select Manage game and add-ons.
• Battle.net: Press the cog icon next to MW3 and select Check for Updates. If no update is found, select Scan and repair.
• Steam: Right-click on MW3 and select Properties then Updates to make sure automatic updates are turned on. If nothing is downloading, select Local Files then Verify integrity of game files.

PC players may also encounter the Modern Warfare 3 Dev Error 6036 due to an issue with the Cache Spot Shadow and Cache Sun Shadow settings, which can be disabled to rule this problem out. Do this by going to the Graphics settings in the Options, scrolling to the Shadow & Lighting section, then disabling the Cache Spot Shadows and Cache Sun Shadows options before restarting the game.

If none of those fixes work, then unfortunately you may need to either delete the game completely and reinstall it, or wait for the developers to push out a patch that addresses the issue.

Warzone 2 error code TRAVIS - RILEA, Modern Warfare 3

MW3 error code TRAVIS - RILEA is another indication of connectivity issues with the servers, which may be accompanied by a message saying "Connection Failed" or "Timed Out" while trying to start the game. As with the other errors above, check the usual sources online to see if there any current problems with the servers and verify that your own internet connection is trouble-free. If necessary, restart your router and reboot your machine to see if that knocks any kinks out of the system that may have been holding things up.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

One Call of Duty: Warzone 2 player has achieved the impossible: detonating a nuclear bomb without firing a single shot. It's a wise strategy given the reports that getting too many kills can earn you a Warzone shadow ban.

Earlier today, on December 15, pro Call of Duty player Guard Gavin uploaded the clip seen just below to his Twitter account. The clip is the final step of a monumental journey to detonate a nuclear bomb in Call of Duty: Warzone 2 without firing a single shot the entire time.

As you'd probably expect, Guard Gavin achieves the unthinkable and immediately flips out. To be fair to the pro player, it's not just him that's beside himself with the achievement: everyone in the responses to the tweet above is losing their mind at what the pro player has accomplished here.

If you're wondering how Guard Gavin pulled this off, we're scratching our heads with you. However, there might be a technicality because while the pro player won five Warzone 2 games without firing a single shot, nowhere does it say he didn't kill anyone with equipment or a riot shield.

It could be that the player lobbed enough C4 to level a city at his opponents, and that's how he won five Warzone 2 matches. It must be said, this is a pro Call of Duty player we're talking about here, so maybe set your expectations if you're considering taking on this challenge in the future.

Here's hoping this isn't the last we've seen of whacky ways to detonate a nuclear bomb in Warzone 2.

Check out our Modern Warfare 2 Raid rewards guide if you're just getting cracking on the latest content drop for Infinity Ward's sequel.

Battlefield 2042 is currently free to play on PC and Xbox.

The "cross-platform, limited-time free access period" enables latecomers to "experience the game after a year of evolution, improvements, and three seasons worth of content" and includes access to 15+ maps, 100+ weapons and gadgets, 40+ vehicles, 13 specialists, and six game modes.

Players will also get the Battlefield 2042 Welcome Pack and access to the premium battle pass, too, if you're prepared to cough up for it. All progression will be retained should you decide to purchase it afterward but you will need to be an Xbox Gold Live subscriber.

You need to be quick, though - the free trial ends later today at midnight PT (that's 8 am on December 5 in the UK, and 2 am CT). PC players can play for free on Steam until the end of tomorrow, December 5, and there's a free access event on PlayStation consoles from December 16-23.

Earlier this year, Infinity Ward co-founder, Vince Zampella, opened up about what he thinks went wrong with Battlefield 2042. Zampella - who now heads up Apex Legends' developer Respawn - suggested DICE had "strayed a little too far" from Battlefield's original blueprint, and forgotten "what makes that fun".

"I think they just strayed a little too far from what Battlefield is," Zampella said at the time. "They tried to do a couple of things that were maybe ambitious: grow the player count etc. I don’t think they spent enough time iterating on what makes that fun.

"It’s not inherently a bad idea," he added. "The way they were set up and the way they executed just didn’t allow them to find the best thing possible."

Back in February, EA acknowledged Battlefield 2042's lackluster launch and partially blamed the shooter's poor performance on Halo Infinite, which arrived just a few days prior on November 15, and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

There's been plenty of talk from consumers and developers alike on Battlefield 2042 since its launch. A refund petition gained over 100,000 signatures earlier this year, and a former Battlefield 3 lead revealed he was "astonished" by the "missteps" of the new game. 

Nonetheless, EA has confirmed that it is "fully committed" to improving Battlefield 2042 with new updates over the coming months, and DICE is seemingly attempting to rescue the troubled title by introducing some sweeping changes, most notably the return of classes. 

And just a couple of weeks back, DICE launched Season 3, Escalation, which ushered in a healthy dollop of new content, including new weapons, a new map, and even new specialist, Rasheed Zain.

Does Battlefield 2042 make the cut in our rundown of the very best shooter games?

Battlefield 2042 Specialists | Battlefield 2042 weapons | Battlefield 2042 error codes | Battlefield 2042 tips | Battlefield 2042 modes | Battlefield 2042 campaign

One Call of Duty: Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 player pretended they received in-game items for free thanks to a developer error, but have since found to be trolling.

As reported earlier today on November 29 by ModernWarzone on Twitter, it was claimed that players were receiving in-game unlocks that they shouldn't have access to in both Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2. The Twitter account claimed players were getting hold of weapon skins, weapon attachments, and even Operator bundles via the in-game store for free.

However, this has since turned out to not be the case at all. Responding to a follower just a few hours later, ModernWarzone clarified that yes, the original claim was just a "troll tweet." Call of Duty players aren't in any such luck for unlocking items they shouldn't have access to after all.

To suggest Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward would accidentally hand out in-store purchases for free was quite the ploy. Just earlier this month, publisher Activision Blizzard announced Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 had successfully grossed over $1 billion in record time for the franchise at large. 

Considering Call of Duty's status as Activision's Blizzard's cash cow (or one of many, depending on how you view Overwatch 2 and World of Warcraft), keeping store items out of the hands of players who aren't willing to pony up the cash for said purchases is no doubt top priority for publisher and developer alike.

For more on the latest battle royale spin-off, check out Warzone 2 Nuke guide for how to earn the incredibly tricky Champion's Domination victory. 

One Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 player has managed to decipher Ghost's true face, and it makes for a weird result.

Yesterday on November 23, the Modern Warfare 2 subreddit post just below hit the internet forum. Containing a spoiler warning (if you're that fussed about Ghost's actual face), the post then claimed to reveal the face of the soldier, hiding underneath that imposing mask for so long.

That sure is the face of a soldier, alright. In fact, that more accurately looks like the face of someone who was stuffed in a locker and bullied throughout his High School years, and decided to take all his anger and put it into soldiering around the globe with a skull on his face. 

This unveiling of Ghost's strange face makes his interaction with Soap in Modern Warfare 2's campaign all the more unhinged. If you're unfamiliar, Soap asks Ghost if he's ugly underneath that mask, to which the latter replies "quite the opposite." Yes, the soldiers flirt in Modern Warfare 2.

That interaction has subsequently led to players himbo-ing Ghost as a sexy soldier, particular on TikTok, of all places. Now that Ghost's face has finally been unveiled for the world to see, how will his adoring fans on TikTok respond? 

Over the past weekend, it was reported that some Warzone 2 players were being locked out of the free game unless they purchased Modern Warfare 2. There were also reported matchmaking issues on the Xbox versions of the latter game, which developer Infinity Ward said it was being "investigated."

Check out our guide to the best Warzone 2 guns in Modern Warfare 2 and how to unlock them all. 

A brand new update for Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 is out now, and it makes changes to Armor Piercing Ammo and Buy Station inventory.

As published by developer Infinity Ward last night, the new blog post outlining the changes for Warzone 2.0 are fairly extensive when it comes to bug fixes. It turns out the new patch actually removes the damage multiplier against armored opponents when used the special ammo, meaning Armor Piercing Ammo no longer pierces armor. 

On the Warzone-dedicated subreddit, this hasn't gone down entirely well. In the comments under one post, users are now questioning what the point of the Armor Piercing Ammo actually is, if it's not going to provide the sole statistical bonus it was set up for in the first place.

Elsewhere in the new patch, the purchase options from Buy Stations have also changed. You can now no longer purchase Counter UAVs and Tactical Cameras from the Buy Stations found around Al Mazrah, switching the list of options up for players used to knowing what they want from the stations.

Another noteworthy feature of the new patch is how Camos are managed. Players can now navigate between Camo categories with controller bumpers, and you can also toggle a button that'll either show or hide locked Camo skins, significantly decluttering your inventory.

Otherwise though, the rest of the patch notes lean heavily into bug fixes, for both Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0. For the latter though, it's not just battle royale mode bugs that've been remedied, as a slate of fixes have also been deployed for the Warzone 2 DMZ mode. As per usual, you'll need to download this new patch to get cracking on with either of the new games.

Check out our extensive Warzone 2 DMZ Chemist MB13 guide for details on how to get the special assault rifle in the new mode.

Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward is still "investigating" an issue that is preventing Xbox players in parties of more than three players from successfully matchmaking.

The developer confirmed there was an issue early on Saturday, but at the time of writing there's been no further update from IW, and the team's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Trello board card remains unchanged.

"We're investigating an issue where some Xbox players in a party of more than three are having issues queuing up/matchmaking," Infinity Ward announced on its social media channels. "Stay tuned for further updates."

For now, Xbox players should probably break up parties larger than three players until the issue has been resolved. As always, we'll report back just as soon as we know more and/or the problem has been fixed.

Unhappy Warzone 2.0 players are reporting that the free-to-play battle royale is locking them out of the game because they don't own Modern Warfare 2. It appears that after a handful of Warzone 2 games - and sometimes even when they do indeed own the premium shooter Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, apparently - the game locks them out by displaying a pop-up that instructs players that they need to "purchase Modern Warfare 2 to have access to everything".

Warzone 2 is completely free-to-play and, in theory at least, a different game, so players shouldn't require Modern Warfare 2 to access Warzone 2. Hundreds have now upvoted the post, however, with many commenting that they too are experiencing the same issue.

Warzone 2 officially launched earlier this week but its Steam page is already inundated with negative reviews and currently boasts a "Mostly Negative" rating from over 8,000+ reviews - less than 3,000 of which are positive. 

"Warzone 2 makes a good first impression," we said in GameRadar+'s Warzone 2 review-in-progress. "While it shares some similarities with its predecessor, Infinity Ward has delivered a more tactical battle royale that smartly subverts expectations."

Did you catch the story about unscrupulous Modern Warfare 2 players stealing the codes off of promotional packs of Jack Link's Pork Strips?

Ready to get in on the action? We've got you covered in our Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 guide. 

Life moves pretty fast in a Call of Duty multiplayer match. One second you're running toward a doorway, M4 in-hand ready for anything, the next you're watching a replay of someone shooting you through a window from 200 yards away. You may however have noticed a subtle improvement in your ability to spot this sort of danger between the launch of the Modern Warfare 2 beta last month and the arrival of the full game. Sadly, it might not be completely down to your improvement as a player. You thought you played the beta to test the netcode and server performance, right? No, not quite. There was something else going on. 

At a recent press event in Amsterdam, Michal Drobot, the studio head at Infinity Ward Poland, introduced a technology the studio has been slowly evolving over the past three years. It's called 'software-based variable rate shading', and it's quietly changing the way players perceive the environment – and nearby enemies – within the game. 

"We developed the tech a few years ago and have been improving it through this generation of consoles," explains Drobot. "It allows us to put extra resolution and extra performance [on screen], but only where we know it counts. We want to put extra quality where you are aiming, and we want to put extra quality of resolution where points of interest are on the map. If there is an enemy on screen, we make sure that enemy has the highest quality resolution so you're never feeling like you're being hindered by the game rendering at a lower res." 

Fog of war

Importantly, this is a way of improving visual clarity without requiring, say, an expensive PC graphics card (the tech is entirely software-based, hence the name), and as it's so focused on specific elements of the game environment, the refresh rate doesn't take a hit either. So when you're playing Modern Warfare 2, the engine is quietly adding resolution detail to key elements that players actively look for, especially enemies and important areas or scenic features.

But how did the team know what players would be looking at in each map? Partly because the maps are designed to allow and encourage certain play behaviours: there are always vantage points with long sight lines, there are always open areas for big gun fights, there are always tunnels or allies for quick getaways – these are key points of interest as players navigate. But there's also something else: Infinity Ward watched people play. They watched a lot. 

"We know through QA playtests and additional work at the studio where people look, we track that, so we have all this data," says Drobot, "We use machine learning over many playthroughs of the game; we do hundreds of playthroughs over the course of a year, we're talking tens or even hundreds of thousands of hours. So we know which areas are going to be more interesting to players – and that way we can adjust the texture data, both in terms of what everyone in the match sees and also locally on your client." 

Watching QA testers in the studio is useful, but it can't possibly replicate the behaviour of real-world players. That's where the beta came in. During the beta, the use of software-based variable rate shading to specifically highlight enemies and points of interest  was introduced for the first time. "During the beta we actually tweaked this between the weekends because we wanted to see  how player accuracy and behaviour changed," says Drobot. "This was useful data we could analyse and as it helped us guide the players, which is really important." 

Vitally, this was never mentioned in the run up to the beta or through any patch notes or community messaging. "When you're trying to do research on player groups you don't want to tell them what's going on," says Drobot. "You want to see the behaviour change for real. There's a lot of psychology and social engineering going into this!"

Eye, spy

Indeed, what the tech is actually doing is mimicking human vision. Our sight is not as detailed at the periphery, but our optic systems enhance certain elements such as colour, shapes and fast movement so that we have warning of potential threats. Drobot explains that the visuals in Call of Duty involve three perceptual layers: you have the photorealism of an environment that's been rendered in as much detail as possible, then over that there's a layer of cinematic aesthetics (dramatic lighting, reflections, lens flare), then there's a human perceptive layer that attempts to simulate what we'd actually see as human beings in these spaces. 

In Modern Warfare 2, you're not just seeing what's actually there, the engineers are trying to replicate the way our brains process visual input. "The game  knows where the players are, but we don't always know how individuals are seeing each other when they play," says Drobot. "This is because we're humans, not cameras: we have a visual system, we see things differently... so we spent a lot of time [during development] attempting to mimic what a person would see while playing the game, using different environments, different lighting effects and different character skins, and then we tried to figure out – is it actually possible for you to see a particular enemy on screen? It's a fuzzy question, but we will help you out a bit – enemies will stick out more. It's a tough call. We don't want the game to look too cartoony, but it helps, it evens out the playfield. We want a character fully dressed in white to be as visible in troublesome areas as a character in dark clothing in the same spot. But we also want to make sure it looks good."

Drobot says the engineering team will keep tweaking the tech, reacting to how players behave in both Modern Warfare 2  and Warzone 2. He concedes that like any element of game design, there's no correct way of doing things, no absolutely balanced approach. But it's really interesting how developers are now moving beyond a mere photorealistic approach to game visuals and environmental design, and more toward an area of artificial intelligence research known as player behavioural modelling, in which player actions and psychological motivations are closely observed by the game engine. "There are a lot of compromises between the teams to arrive at something that frankly is never going to be perfect," says Drobot, but then that's kind of the point, because neither is our eyesight, or our way of seeing the world. 

The next time you get a five-kill streak on Farm 18, then, you'll have to think about how much of that was down to skill, and how much to the subliminal messaging of a technology designed to watch and mimic human perception. 

In case you missed it: The Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass is out now

Call of Duty: Warzone 2 isn't performing too well on Steam, with more negative reviews than positive despite the battle royale's massive launch. 

Warzone 2 officially launched earlier this week but its Steam page is already inundated with negative reviews. According to SteamDB, Warzone currently has 'Mostly Negative' rating, with just 38% of its 5,000+ reviews giving it a positive rating. 

Most of the negative reviews cite problems players are having with the game. For example, some of the top negative reviews include complaints about the game's nickname system, its complicated menus, lagging, crashes, and bugs. The most surprising thing to come out of these reviews is the fact that several players are reportedly being asked to buy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 after just one match in Warzone 2. 

If true, this is a pretty unexpected move from Activision, considering Warzone 2 is completely free-to-play and so shouldn't require Modern Warfare 2 to play. As for the other issues being reported by players, it hopefully shouldn't take much for developers Infinity Ward and Raven Software to implement some kind of patch to fix these hiccups.

It's disappointing to see so many players having difficulties with Warzone 2, especially since so many of the same people said heartfelt goodbyes to Warzone ahead of Warzone 2's launch and will probably now return to it until things get fixed. The original Warzone won't even be the same for much longer as it will soon relaunch as Warzone Caldera in two weeks' time. 

If you're one of the people struggling with the battle royale, take a look at our best FPS games list for ideas on what to play instead. 

Warzone 2 has exposed the lies at the heart of battle royale. Common complaints have been ripped from the pages of Reddit and are now communicated in real-time, as players stalk the sprawling terrain of Al Mazrah in search of exfiltration and in defiance of proximity chat. I've heard it all, from the boys who cry hacker to the blaming of every missed shot on server lag. But it's those who direct their squads to certain death – on a false promise that an opponent is "one shot" after a brief battle – who remain my favorite. Warzone 2 gives every one of us the right to reply to such indiscriminate lies, and loudly exposing a falsehood on an open comms line, before opening fire for a squad wipe, is the most satisfying maneuver that you can pull off in multiplayer right now. 

The implementation of proximity chat into an online first-person shooter is hardly uncharted territory, but it's one of the many smaller-scale additions which help to breathe new life into Call of Duty's battle royale. The results are remarkable – Warzone 2 is remarkable, even as changes to fundamentals like loadouts and looting prove to be divisive for an already embattled community. Infinity Ward has succeeded in making the traversal of increasingly hostile territories exciting again, regardless of whether you're fresh meat for the grinder or have already committed hundreds of hours to repeating the circuitous cycle of death, rebirth, and occasional victory across Verdansk and Caldera.

Surviving Al Mazrah

Despite the technical innovations that underpin Warzone 2 – a truly ambitious playspace, aquatic combat, an overhaul of weapon ballistics and handling – Infinity Ward has, in a sense, returned to the basics of battle royale. The experimentation inherent in hybrid experiences like Resurgence, and objective-based modes like Plunder, which helped to define the original Warzone are out. 

And so 150 players drop onto a single, sprawling map with little more than a pistol. Solitary survival is interspersed with frenetic firefights at random intervals, as backpacks fill with loose ammunition and equipment. And when the final expletive is cast across death comms, one combatant is exfiltrated from a small, circular arena – victorious, with a tale to tell to anybody who will listen. 

Warzone 2 is defined by the stories it allows you to generate, and how well you can navigate the wide spaces between a round's most memorable moments – defiance in the face of death; racing against a closing gas circle; the quiet isolation of looting the sunken Sawah Village. Adrenaline-raising battles are more infrequent in Warzone 2, unless your squad is insistent on hot-dropping over the city of Al Mazrah's high-rises. Because of the size of the map, you're likely to see fewer enemies while exploring, and when you do encounter one, there is very little margin for error once a trigger is pulled.

That's largely because of Warzone 2 embracing (and expanding upon) the core Modern Warfare 2 platform. Key mechanical improvements, progression systems, and overindulgences are shared between the two. Shared, and undoubtedly heightened in the fight to survive Al Mazrah – from the wicked time-to-kill and steadier movement speed, to the more convoluted approach toward weapon customization and loadout retrieval. Warzone 2 is a slower, more considered experience than its predecessor, with combat pacing among the most severely impacted areas of play.

To understand why, you first need to have a real grasp of Al Mazrah. The Warzone 2 map is the most impressive (and largest) ever created for Call of Duty; densely detailed and smartly sectioned, with territories that make fine use of dense urban sprawls, sparse open ground, and undulating terrain that can act as makeshift cover in a pinch – the glimmer of a shimmering scope ever-present on every horizon. What's incredible is that Al Mazrah doesn't feel like a patchwork, even as it has you moving across original areas and old favorite multiplayer maps (Showdown and Shipment from MW; Afgan, Terminal, and Quarry from MW2; MW3's Dome and even Neuville, from the original Call of Duty). 

Visibility and detail is clear, distance between POIs is palpable, and the scale of threat shifts cleanly as you move between areas. Al Mazrah is a cleaner map than Caldera, and more balanced than Verdansk. However, rotating between positions is slower. The viability of tactical sprint has been reduced, your turning circle is wider, and weapon handling is heavier than it has ever been in Warzone. Engagements have changed as a result. 

Slow and steady

Warzone 2 prioritizes positioning in a way that almost feels antithetical to the core Call of Duty experience. You need to be more mindful of how (and when) you decide to break from cover and across open space, and when you decide to open fire on an enemy. Should you get a handle on the climbing recoil patterns of the many weapons strewn liberally across the map, Assault Rifles and SMGs will chew through armor plates with relative ease. Speaking of armor, Infinity Ward has upended the balance of survivability by introducing a three-tier armor satchel; you can only equip two plates by default, and expand this to three if you're lucky enough to loot the rare item or locate a Buy Station which stocks it. A misplaced ode to Black Ops 4's Blackout battle royale, perhaps. 

Combat pacing is shorter and sharper, and shrugging off the muscle memory of Warzone's cat-and-mouse battles is a shock to the system. But after settling into its rhythms, I came to appreciate what Infinity Ward has created here. This battle royale is leveraging slight MilitarySim leanings into an approachably competitive FPS framework, and it works. That's partly because everything is expendable in Warzone 2. Your hit points and ammunition, obviously, and your patience, naturally. But almost everything else you encounter too. Vehicles run out of fuel and need to be ditched in the race between gas circles, three of which can now appear in the closing minutes to splinter squads and generate drama. The Heartbeat sensor will run out of battery if you lean on it too heavily, a nightmare while cowering crouched behind rocks as incoming bullets kick up dust around you. Hell, even the Buy Stations will run out of its stock of UAVs. 

All this makes for a more challenging and combative experience, forcing more emergent strategies as you stumble from one horrendously tense firefight to the next. At first, limitations on elements such as killstreak deployment feel strange – combat pacing in the original Warzone was, after all, ultimately defined by its combination of overhead radars and custom loadouts. But UAVs are encountered so infrequently in Warzone 2 that a notice of activation feels like a genuine threat to your survivability, and so few players being able to equip their full loadout is a well-intentioned attempt to pull players away from the seasonal meta mentality.

Those who are hell-bent on equipping their preferred primary weapon, throwables, and perks will likely find themselves battling through Strongholds – three generate in any given game, across 77 possible locations – which are guarded by surprisingly combative AI enemies. While I rarely feel an impulse to push against these areas (globally-accessible loadouts can still drop at any time between the second and sixth circle collapse; should the need for the Ghost perk, my Fennec 45, and a finely-tuned TAQ-56 become too great), I do appreciate the chaos that is created should a circle tighten up around one of these locations. Getting down to the final ten, only to find yourself facing fire from scores of enemies who care not about making it out of Al Mazrah alive is genuinely thrilling. 

Room for improvement

Warzone 2 sets out a fine foundation for future expansion, but there is room for immediate improvement across key areas. There are elements of the experience and ecosystem that are more complicated than they need to be – a criticism that can also be levied against Modern Warfare 2. The core UX is messy, making it difficult to navigate between game modes, social tabs, and weapon customization screens. The Warzone 2 Battle Pass system is similarly convoluted, with Infinity Ward abandoning linear progression for a sector-based map design that makes it difficult to quickly track unlocks between games.  

Speaking of weapons, while Gunsmith is cumbersome in the core MW2 multiplayer, the system's intricacies are pronounced in Warzone 2. While Infinity Ward has done everything that it can to push players away from relying on distinct primary weapons setups (you can now buy one at a time from Buy Stations) in favor of cycling through ground loot (more of which can be held at once thanks to a new backpack inventory system; another unnecessary turn back towards Blackout), the truth is some weapons are already proving more viable than others, and the process of unlocking new weapons, attachments, and camo is both difficult to follow and a total time sink. 

So too is the revised Gulag system, which gives players an opportunity to fight for a one-time free respawn. It's now a two-vs-two affair, where you and a randomly-assigned buddy must race to eliminate the opposing duo before they are able to equip better ground loot or armor plates, or before an AI Juggernaut drops in and sweeps the floor. What should be a simple instance of skill-based confrontation – you and an enemy, with the same weapons and equipment, fighting for immediate supremacy – is now just a bit of a drag, with too many random elements at play to feel all that fun or fair. 

These issues will likely be improved over time. In the first week of Warzone 2, for example, Infinity Ward introduced the option to filter the hundreds of weapon camos available, making it easier to equip unlocked colorways. Quality of life improvements will come, but what's important right now is that Warzone 2 is an excellent foundation for years of expansion and experimentation. The map is incredible to traverse, the weapon systems and handling models are slower and more deliberate, and the sharp, short, snap to combat makes every enemy encounter a thrill. 

Warzone 2 was reviewed on Xbox Series X, and is free-to-play on all platforms.

Update - November 16: The Warzone 2 release time has come and gone: the long-awaited battle royale is now live. 

Warzone 2 launched roughly on schedule, and with so many players now rushing to get in, its servers are predictably struggling to keep up. The game doesn't seem to be unplayably bogged down at the time of writing, but actually queueing for a match up can take quite a while in our experience. But with a little luck and patience, you'll be down in Al Mazrah soon enough. 

Original story follows...

The Warzone 2 release time is imminent, which means it won't be long until we can finally make our first drop into the much anticipated battle royale sequel. There are some big changes being introduced for Warzone 2, from a completely rebuilt Battle Pass progression system to entirely new gameplay modes, though for many players the most important question right now will be what time is Warzone 2 playable. If you're eager to visit Al Mazrah and start exploring the new Warzone 2 map then the wait is almost over, so we've got all the details you need to know about the Warzone 2 release time, and why Warzone 2 is locked if you're seeing a padlock icon when trying to access it.

What time is Warzone 2 playable

Warzone 2 releases on November 16, at the same time as the Season 01 Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass and various other updates. This means Warzone 2 will be playable from the following times:

• West Coast US: 10am PT
• East Coast US: 1pm ET
• United Kingdom: 6pm GMT
• Europe: 7pm CET

If you want to play the new battle royale mode as soon as it goes live at the above times, the good news is that the Warzone 2 preload is already available. Regardless of whether you play on PlayStation, Xbox, or PC, you can line up your download to ensure you’re good to go as soon as the Warzone 2 unlock time hits, though the process can be somewhat confusing so check our separate guide if you're having any issues getting prepared for launch.

Why is Warzone 2 locked

If you're wondering why is Warzone 2 locked, then you're probably trying to access it before the official release time listed above. If your Modern Warfare 2 is up to date or you've downloaded the launcher then you'll see the new battle royale in the main menu, along with the Warzone 2 DMZ mode, however both will be marked as LOCKED with a padlock icon next to them. Those should unlock automatically when the Warzone 2 release time arrives, but if you find they're still locked after that point then try reloading the game and make sure you have the latest update installed to push things forward.

If you're looking to find the best free PS5 games available right now, you've come to the right place. With all sorts of experiences to jump into without spending a cent, there's no shortage of options to explore and try out. From some of the best shooters to the best online games, and much more.

With many available for both PS5 and PS5 Pro, Sony's console is home to an expansive library of games that's only growing thanks to a big lineup of new games on the way, which includes plenty of upcoming PS5 games. But there's happily some absolute gems out there already that you can play for free.

While some do include optionable purchasable in-game features, this list brings together a selection that don't require you to spend anything if you don't want to. So read on below as we take you through the 10 best free PS5 games available right now.

The best free PS5 games are...

10. Marvel Rivals

If you're looking for a team based PVP shooter that lets you cause web-slinging chaos as Spider-Man, or blast foes as Iron Man, then look no further. Marvel Rivals let you squad up as a roster of fan favorite superheroes and super villains, with everyone from Guardians of the Galaxy to the Avengers, and more.

As you battle it out across battlefields set across the Marvel universe, plenty of updates have refined the experience since launch, with new characters joining the roster and more fresh faces still to come in the future. With lots of different powers at play that can alter environments and give your team the upper-hand, Marvel Rivals is a great option to play with pals for free. For more, check out our initial Marvel Rivals review.

9. Astro's Playroom

We've already given you 7 reasons why Astro's Playroom should be the first thing you play on PS5 – one of which is the fact it comes pre-loaded and ready to go on Sony's latest console. That's especially pertinent given the purview of this list, and while it may present itself as a fancy tech demo, rest assured, Team Asobi's 3D platformer is so much more than meets the eye. For starters, it takes players on an Easter egg-packed tour of PlayStation's history, a journey which visits the actual components of the hardware.

Cooling Springs represents the console's fan system, for example, while Memory Meadow nods to its 16GB GDDR6 of RAM – all the while showing off the DualSense features of the control pad with aplomb. In doing all of that, expect a wonderfully-designed, gorgeous-looking platformer that's completely free-of-charge.

8. Destiny 2  

Although beginning life as a pay-to-play game, Destiny 2's New Light update of late 2019 introduced a free-to-play entry point for the space opera shooter. In essence, New Light delivers a tailor-made version of the full game that focuses on content released before Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, the major expansion paired with New Light.

It allows players to sample myriad Destiny 2 activities and destinations, and play with their friends, without spending a dime – on PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It also supports the new Destiny 2 cross save feature, so if you start playing on one platform and decide to move to another, you'll be able to bring all of your Guardians with you. Check out our Destiny 2: Final Shape review for more.

7. Rocket League  

The aforementioned cars meets soccer meets, um, cage fighting spectacle that has no business being as entertaining as it is. But Psyonix's long-standing sports-racer is tremendous fun – in one vs one bouts, four vs four encounters, and everything else in between.

Out on the pitch, speed-enhancing boosts help you scoot around at lightning speed, and a roguelike ability to double jump broadens your scope for creativity in defense and attack. Like real-world sport, and indeed virtual incarnations of real-world sport, tactics, and strategy are key, but that doesn't mean you can’t strive to smash up your opponent's cars at every turn. Popular tie-ins since the car-soccer sim's 2015 launch include the movie Back to the Future, wrestling giant WWE, and EDM artist Deadmau5. Find out more in our Rocket League review.

6. Apex Legends

If Titanfall 2 and Overwatch got together in the throes of a war-torn battle royale deathmatch, the outcome would look something like Apex Legends. Respawn's free-to-play FPS was a bit of a surprise hit when it landed in early 2019, and it's hardly looked back since, driven by its meticulous, razor-sharp shooting and head-spinning, breakneck speed.

Throw its innovative Ping system into the mix – a means of player communication via a host of commands and statements in lieu of voice or text chat – and you’ve got a real free-to-player winner in Apex Legends. Fortnite is rightly praised for its accessibility, but there's a strong argument to be made that Apex Legends is the most inviting free game you don't need money to buy. Learn more in our Apex Legends review.

5. Honkai Star Rail

If you're looking for a JRPG on PS5 to step into for free, Honkai Star Rail from HoYoverse is a great option. The space fantasy takes you on an intergalactic adventure that sees you hop from world to world aboard the Astral Express, where you'll encounter other characters, try to resolve conflicts, and more.

With different companions to choose from who will fight alongside you in turn-based combat, you'll be able to use the power of a Stellaron which implanted in your chest to follow the trail of mysteries dotted around the universe, with puzzles to solve along the way. To learn more, check out our Honkai Star Rail PS5 review.

4. Genshin Impact  

Another free-to-play game that landed with modest fanfare that has really taken off since launch is Genshin Impact. MiHoYo's sprawling open-world gacha JRPG arrived in late 2020 for PS4 and PC (making the jump to PS5 in April, 2021), and has since been treated to frequent updates and neat additions which have grown its world exponentially.

Story-wise, Genshin Impact covers a lot of familiar JRPG ground – after being separated from your family, you’re tasked with exploring the expansive setting of Teyvat, in order to find answers from the gods of elements known as The Seven. Classic stuff, really. In sort-of Suikoden-like style, you can also recruit a host of characters to help you on your merry way, each of who possesses a variety of different skills. With so much going on, you’d be forgiven for forgetting the fact Genshin Impact is free-to-play. Assuming you choose not to punt on its loot box-aping gacha features, it totally is.

3. Warframe 

If you’ve ever dreamed of becoming a space ninja (which is, surely, every one of us), then Warframe is the game for you. With a mix of close-quarters melee, fast-action shooting, RPG and stealth elements, life as a Tenno warrior is never boring, especially when locking horns with the Orokin, a faceless army of robots sent to kill you by evil mega-corporation, the Corpus. Since its launch way back in 2013, Warframe has undergone several transformations to become the free-to-play giant it is today, with developer Digital Extremes rolling out extensive updates a few times a year. Despite making Xbox Series X players wait several months for a dedicated next-gen version of the game, Digital Extremes launched Warframe on PS5 at launch, and has since rolled out a number of quality of life updates designed to cut loading times and improve cross-play matchmaking.

Read our Warframe review here

2. PUBG Battlegrounds

A mostly unnecessary name change was quickly followed by a much-welcomed format change in the world of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, sorry, PUBG, sorry, PUBG Battlegrounds, recently. The battle royale that in 2017 inspired the subsequent influx of battle royale games; the game which breathed new life into the genre and helped spawn modern juggernauts such as Fortnite and Apex Legends, is now free-to-play itself. Which means there's no better time to storm Erangel and its other six sprawling murder playgrounds in your quest for those elusive chicken dinners.

1. Fortnite

Building upon the sound battle royale foundations laid by PUBG Battlegrounds (back when it was known simply as PUBG) in 2017, Fortnite Battle Royale – a spin-off itself of Fortnite Save the World – added a splash of on-the-fly construction to the 100-player, last-person-standing formula to great effect.

Instantly approachable but with real long-term depth, Fortnite has since taken the world by storm with its series of themed season and real-world crossovers – not least a remarkable, in-game live performance from American rapper Travis Scott in 2020 – wherein players can expect a different experience every time they parachute into the game's open-world island map. Cosmetics are now available to buy by the bucketload, but there is still plenty of fun to be had with Epic Games' battle royale juggernaut without spending a thing.

There's a host of free PS4 games to play, too, if you're after more recommendations.

Call of Duty: Warzone 2's reported file size is a whopping 115GB on all systems.

Yesterday on November 10, the Twitter account below alleged the file size of the forthcoming battle royale sequel. It's worth noting that the full size of Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 has never been verified by developers Infinity Ward and Raven Software, so it's worth considering this a rumor until it's actually confirmed.

Even if the information is a rumor, however, it hasn't stopped players worrying about storage space on their consoles. In the replies to the tweet above, players are fretting over how they're going to manage downloading over 115GB on their new-gen consoles, especially those with a smaller Xbox Series S. It's an enduring concern, given that the original Warzone has also topped 100GB in the past.

There's also a lot of confusion about whether Warzone 2.0 is tied into Modern Warfare 2. The original battle royale game needed players to download Modern Warfare to have access to Warzone, which made the file size of the first Warzone significantly bigger for players.

As our guide on do you need Modern Warfare 2 for Warzone 2 explains though, you'll be able to immediately access the latter game if you have the former installed. There's still confusion going around about this though, but it helps to have had a clear answer from Infinity Ward and Raven Software previously.

Warzone 2.0 launches next week on November 16, and if you haven't done so already, you can get a personalized highlight reel of your Warzone career right now ahead of the new launch. 

For more on what to expect from the game's final launch next week, head over to our Warzone 2 DMZ mode explained guide. 

The Modern Warfare 2 hardcore mode playlist is live now after being delayed from launch by a few weeks and now coincides with the launch of Season 01. The more realism-focused Tier 1 playlist has been added to the main game along with the new Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass for Season 01. You'll also be able to drop into the new Al Mazrah map when Warzone 2 launches shortly. Here's everything you need to know about the new Modern Warfare Tier 1 Hardcore mode.

When is Hardcore coming to MW2? 

Tier 1, the new name for the Hardcore playlist, is available now. It has gone live in Modern Warfare 2 on the same day as the launch of Warzone 2 and Season 01 with it's new Battle Pass. Infinity Ward has confirmed in a blog post that Tier 1 offers a more competitive experience versus the traditional Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer – "Operators have less health and limited HUD elements, and friendly fire is on."

Prepare some solid loadouts with our best Warzone 2 loadouts in Modern Warfare 2  guide so you can get prove yourself as a Tier 1 Operator. Just make sure you keep your wits about you and don't shoot your teammates! 

Two new multiplayer maps, a new co-op missions, and more will be added during Season 01, but be aware that the CDL Moshpit playlist has been delayed. There's still plenty more to check out in the new Battle Pass and in Warzone 2 of course - there's the new Warzone 2 map, Al Mazrah, and new vehicles, the new Warzone 2 DMZ mode, and a new 2v2 Gulag experience.

Having trouble in the early days of MW2? Check to see if the Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 servers, or whether there are any major Warzone 2 and Warfare 2 error codes that you should be aware of.

Wondering how you can check your KD in Modern Warfare 2? It is, after all, one of the best ways to monitor your progression in Call of Duty (and establish who is better than who in your friend group). Traditionally, your K/D ration in Call of Duty is the stat you want to watch, which allows you to track how many kills to deaths you have achieved across multiplayer games. 

If you have a positive K/D, you know you're doing something right. If it's negative, maybe you need to try working unlocking some of the best Modern Warfare 2 loadouts. So keep on reading to learn how to check your KD in Modern Warfare 2, and for info on when the MW2 Combat Records system is set to come online. 

How to check your KD in Modern Warfare 2

Right now, the only way to check your KD ratio in Modern Warfare 2 is on the scoreboard when a match concludes. This leaderboard will show your kills, deaths, and your KD ratio – as well as your overall score and any other related metrics – before disappearing entirely. This is the only way to see your KD in a game, and this screen isn't viewable while a match is in-progress (you can pull up the scoreboard at any time, but it won't detail your deaths or KD). 

As it stands, there is no way to see your lifetime Modern Warfare 2 KD, nor can you see how your friends are stacking up versus your own achievements as there's also no global Modern Warfare 2 leaderboard or stat tracking. With the Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass set to launch on November 16 alongside Warzone 2, there's some hope that this functionality will be patched in then, but Infinity Ward has yet to confirm this either way. 

Where is the Barracks in Modern Warfare 2?

In previous Call of Duty games, you could head to the Barracks to find all of your customization options – cosmetics, calling cards, emblems, and the like – and access the Combat Record to see how you're performing on the global and friend leaderboards. At launch, there is no Modern Warfare 2 Barracks or leaderboard functionality, although some of the features can be found elsewhere. 

Calling cards and emblems can be found via the Launcher menu (F1 on keyboard, or start button on controller). From there you'll be able to find your unlocked calling cards and player emblem, set a clan tag, and establish your profile showcase. 

Infinity Ward has confirmed that Modern Warfare 2 Combat Records will launch during Season One of the MW2 battle Pass, which goes live November 16.

Battle Pass Season 01 is set to launch on November 16, which will also introduce Modern Warfare 2 Hardcore mode. That means you've got plenty of time to get your best M4 loadout in Modern Warfare 2 up to scratch.  

How to Prestige in Modern Warfare 2 has changed compared to previous Call of Duty games, and you'll be able to experience it for yourself soon enough. Season One of the Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass is coming online on November 16, and this will introduce a new seasonal prestige system – allowing you to progress beyond Military Rank 55 and earn special rewards as you do. 

Below you'll find all the information on how you can earn XP in Modern Warfare 2, which will allow you to level your MR from 1 to 55, and information on how to Prestige in Modern Warfare 2 – which should be everything that you need to know ahead of the Season 01 Battle Pass coming online. 

How to Prestige in Modern Warfare 2

If you're wondering how to prestige in Modern Warfare 2, I'm afraid you're going to need to hang on a little longer. The prestige system release date is November 16, where it'll come online alongside Season 01 of the Modern Warfare 2 battle pass. 

The reason for that is Modern Warfare 2 features a 'Seasonal Prestige' system, with progression shared with Warzone 2. Beginning with Season One, once you reach Military Rank 56 you will unlock Prestige 1. 

As a reward for this achievement, you'll be granted a unique Emblem, additional rewards, and a set of challenges – and if you complete those challenges you'll unlock an exclusive Battle Pass Season Calling Card.

Once you reach Prestige 1, you'll stop earning Military Rank levels and will instead begin to earn Prestige Ranks. You'll gain one Prestige Rank for every 50 levels that you achieve, up to a max-cap of Prestige 5 – with each tier of progression introducing new challenges and rewards. 

Here's how the new Prestige system in Modern Warfare 2 is structured: 

• Prestige 1: Unlocked at Rank 55
• Prestige 2: Unlocked at Rank 100
• Prestige 3: Unlocked at Rank 150
• Prestige 4: Unlocked at Rank 200
• Prestige 5: Unlocked at Rank 250, which is the level cap until the end of Season One.

At the end of Season One, you'll be able to continue ranking up from wherever you ended up on the Prestige Ranks. In Vanguard, for example, this would reset entirely between seasons, which made it impossible to carry over whatever progress you made. The Modern Warfare 2 Prestige system is changing that. Infinity Ward says: 

"At the end of Season 01, players can continue ranking up from wherever they ended up on the Prestige Ranks. This allows players who may not have enough time to level up to catch up in later seasons, while also not resetting the progress of anyone who reached the Max Rank during that season."

Modern Warfare 2 Military Ranks explained

Modern Warfare 2 Military Ranks can be earned from 1 to 55, earned by playing the game and completing challenges. Earning Military Ranks is key to the core progression cycle in MW2, as it'll help you unlock new weapon platforms, loadout items (like Killstreaks and Perks), and more. 

Here's how you can earn more XP fast in Modern Warfare 2 and increase your Military Rank:

• You can gain XP from participating in multiplayer matches, and it can be earned by doing everything from getting kills, to calling in Killstreaks, and playing the objective.
  
• You can earn XP by completing Daily Challenges in multiplayer and spec ops. Should you complete all three of the daily challenges you are assigned by the game, you'll unlock a bonus challenge which will offer 3x XP.
  
• XP can also be earned in Modern Warfare 2 by completing career milestone challenges. These are typically completed gradually over-time, as you master different weapons and modes. 

The Modern Warfare 2 Hardcore playlist is also coming online on November 16, so you've still got some time to pull together the best M4 loadout in Modern Warfare 2.

The Warzone 2 Battle Pass (which is also the Modern Warfare 2 battle pass) is split into sectors that players can navigate across for different rewards, or focus on a singular sector for more rewards. So rather than a straight line of progression, it's more about unlocking sectors, which then make the sectors around that accessible. Then you can unlock those new sectors, or invest more heavily in the ones you've already unlocked, depending on which has the rewards you're interested in. It's not as complex as it sounds, don't worry, and we'll cover this tile-based system of a battle pass below, along with all Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass rewards you can get from it. With that in mind, let's cover how the MW2 and Warzone 2 battle pass works, and how you want to go about completing it.

It's worth noting that while Modern Warfare, Black Ops Cold War, Vanguard, and Warzone all shared Battle Pass progression and content, the release of Modern Warfare 2 has marked a completely new start. Developer Infinity Ward is wiping the slate clean with Season 01 of the Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass, as the various special unlocks – Operator skins, Emblems, Calling Cards, and Weapon Blueprints – and so on will all be unique to the new multiplayer and battle royale. Although it remains to be seen whether any guns you can unlock will be able to stand up against the best M4 loadout in Modern Warfare 2 that has dominated early proceedings.

Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass release time

The Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass release time was at 6am PT / 9am ET / 2pm GMT on November 16, 2022, which means it's live right now. That's slightly before the release of Warzone 2, but around the same time because the two games are set to share Battle Pass progression, so the launch of Modern Warfare 2 Season 01 has been timed to ensure regular multiplayer and battle royale players are on a fairly even footing from day one.

Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass price

The Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass price is once again 1,000 COD points – around $10/£10. A returning feature is the ability to skip tiers, which costs 150 COD points per square. Additionally, the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Vault Edition includes the Season 01 Battle Pass and 50 tier skips, so be prepared to see some sweats with a lot of unique skins and emblems come November 16.

Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass progression

The Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass will share progression between Warzone 2 and Warzone mobile, which is set to release in 2023. This means that, regardless of whether you're jumping into regular multiplayer or battle royale, all of your successes will ultimately contribute to your overall battle pass level. It's possible that each game could have its own unique battle pass rewards, although the vast majority of unlocks should carry between the three games. If you want to speed up your progression, we've got some separate pointers on how to earn more XP fast in Modern Warfare 2.

How the Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass works

The Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass will work differently to previous iterations, as seen in everything from Modern Warfare to Black Ops Cold War to Warzone. Where previously the Battle Pass system offered a linear progression of free items – including weapons, operators, and more – which unlocked as you played, the Season 01 pass for Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 is different.

Rather than a linear stream of tiers to move through, the Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass will now take the form of a multi-sector map. You'll be able to unlock items using earned Battle Token Tier Skips all over the map (which is themed differently, depending on the Season). You'll start at Sector A1 in the bottom left corner, then once you've spent five Battle Token Tier Skips to unlock all of the rewards there you can proceed to Sectors A2 and A3, continuing your progress across the map as you complete more sectors.

Each Battle Pass map will have at least 20 sectors, with five items contained within each. You can use your Battle Token Tier Skips to either unlock adjacent sectors or continue earning items within an unlocked sector. Infinity Ward says this about the new Battle Pass system: 

"Essentially, these tokens can be used to unlock specific items within the Battle Pass at your own pace — whether it is a new free functional weapon or a cool new Operator Skin, you have control over what gets unlocked earlier on the road to 100% map completion. Are you looking for a particularly impressive Operator Skin, Weapon Blueprint, or one of the new weapons? Then pick the appropriate Sector and start acquiring tokens to unlock those items!"

All Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass rewards

The Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare Battle Pass rewards are unlocked by moving across the map, and there are 20 main sectors available to open up via sequential process plus a bonus sector you can visit from the start. Each has five rewards available – four to choose from then a High Value Target (HVT) that can only be collected once those four are claimed, after which you can move on to the next sector. If you manage to complete all 20 main sectors then you'll unlock the Victory Sector, which features the gold-plated "Olympus King" Zeus Operator Skin, "Mortal's Bane" Weapon Blueprint, plus 300 COD Points to unlock.

Here are all of the Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare Battle Pass rewards you can unlock in Season 01:

• Bonus Sector A0
• 10% Battle Pass XP Boost
• Myth Maker Vel 46 submachine gun weapon blueprint
• Articulate Response .50 GS handgun weapon blueprint
• Chronophobia gun screen
• HVT: Zeus Operator

• Sector A1
• Aerial Entrance calling card
• 1 Hour Double Weapon XP Token
• Hired Sniper emblem
• Paying Rent charm [FREE]
• HVT: The Orbiter Kastov 545 assault rifle weapon blueprint
  
  
• Sector A2 (requires Sector A1 complete)
• Letter Opener Combat Knife melee weapon blueprint
• Scaling Assassin emblem
• Gathered Gents calling card
• War Tracks: Let's Ride war track [FREE]
• HVT: Dark Chariot vehicle skin
  
  
• Sector A3 (requires Sector A1 complete)
• 1 Hour Double XP Token
• Bellicose Bryson 890 shotgun weapon blueprint
• Tactical AF large decal
• 100 COD Points [FREE]
• HVT: Barrage Rangers I Operator skin
  
  
• Sector A4 (requires Sector A2, A7, or A8 complete)
• 100 COD Points
• 30 Minutes Double XP Token
• Damysus X13 Auto handgun weapon blueprint [FREE]
• Wavemaker vehicle skin
• HVT: Deluge Calisto Operator skin
  
  
• Sector A5 (requires Sector A3, A9, or A10 complete)
• Back To Back emblem
• Hired Sniper calling card
• Ignition Basilisk handgun weapon blueprint
• Endless Black gun screen [FREE]
• HVT: Hostile Takeover EBR-14 marksman rifle weapon blueprint

• Sector A6 (requires Sector A3, A5, or A10 complete)
• Scorpion weapon sticker
• 30 Minutes Double Weapon XP Token
• World's Best Merc charm
• King's Skull large decal
• HVT: BAS-P submachine gun weapon [FREE]
  
  
• Sector A7 (requires Sector A4, A8, or A11 complete)
• Gunfighter Coffee Company weapon sticker
• 30 Minutes Double Weapon XP Token
• Shooting Target charm
• Xten large decal
• HVT: Victus XMR sniper rifle weapon [FREE]
  
  
• Sector A8 (requires Sector A4, A9, or A11 complete)
• Time To Strike emblem
• Scaling Assassin calling card
• Jack Of All P890 handgun weapon blueprint
• Down The Barrel loading screen [FREE]
• HVT: Espionage Lachmann Sub submachine gun weapon blueprint
  
  
• Sector A9 (requires Sector A5, A8, or A12 complete)
• 15 Minutes Double Weapon XP Token
• 15 Minutes Double XP Token [FREE]
• Send It LM-S marksman rifle weapon blueprint
• Obsidian Rider vehicle skin
• HVT: The Unseen Kortac Group I Operator skin
  
  
• Sector A10 (requires Sector A5, A6, or A13 complete)
• 100 COD Points
• 30 Minutes Double XP Token
• Hacksaw Fennec 45 submachine gun weapon blueprint (Our best Fennic 45 Warzone 2 loadouts in Modern Warfare 2 explain what to do with this one once you've got it)
• Offsite vehicle skin [FREE]
• HVT: Low Drag Reyes Operator skin

• Sector A11 (requires Sector A7, A8, or A14 complete)
• 100 COD Points
• 45 Minutes Double XP Token
• Vigilant Expedite 12 shotgun weapon blueprint [FREE]
• Company Lease vehicle skin
• HVT: Zero Zero Operator skin
  
  
• Sector A12 (requires Sector A9, A15, or A16 complete)
• 100 COD Points
• 30 Minutes Double XP Token [FREE]
• Terminal Velocity Vaznev-9K submachine gun weapon blueprint
• Hostile Takeover vehicle skin
• HVT: 100 COD Points
  
  
• Sector A13 (requires Sector A10 or A17 complete)
• Nice Nods weapon sticker
• .50 Cal charm
• 45 Minutes Double Weapon XP Token [FREE]
• Warfighter large decal
• HVT: Body Count MCPR-300 sniper rifle weapon blueprint
  
  
• Sector A14 (requires Sector A11, A15, or A18 complete)
• Plane Sight calling card
• Sole Survivor emblem
• 100 COD Points
• War Tracks: Homefront war track [FREE]
• HVT: Executive Whip vehicle skin
  
  
• Sector A15 (requires Sector A12, A14, or A16 complete)
• Leg Day loading screen
• Corinthian Helmet weapon sticker
• Sold! charm
• River Shadow vehicle skin [FREE]
• HVT: Basileus Victus XMR sniper rifle weapon blueprint

• Sector A16 (requires Sector A12, A15, A19, or A20 complete)
• Fractured large decal
• 1 Hour Double XP Token
• Chiron Kastov-74U assault rifle weapon blueprint [FREE]
• War Haul vehicle skin
• HVT: War Bull Gus Operator skin
  
  
• Sector A17 (requires Sector A13 or A20 complete)
• 45 Minutes Double XP Token
• Corner Cover calling card
• 100 COD Points [FREE]
• 100 COD Points
• HVT: Payload Stiletto Operator skin
  
  
• Sector A18 (requires Sector A14, A15, or A19 complete)
• Sole Survivor calling card
• Gathered Gents emblem
• Closer Minibak submachine gun weapon blueprint [FREE]
• Sweet Dreams Operator finishing move
• HVT: Blackout Roze Operator skin
  
  
• Sector A19 (requires Sector A15, A16, or A18 complete)
• Weapons Up loading screen
• Tactique Verte large decal
• 1 Hour Double Weapon XP Token
• 100 COD Points [FREE]
• HVT: 100 COD Points
  
  
• Sector A20 (requires Sector A16 or A17 complete)
• Catching Air loading screen
• Best Merc Ever weapon sticker
• ETO charm
• Dark Horse vehicle skin [FREE]
• HVT: Tokoloshe BAS-P submachine gun weapon blueprint

• Victory Sector (requires Sectors A1 to A20 complete)
• Mortal's Bane M4 assault rifle weapon blueprint
• 100 COD Points
• 100 COD Points
• 100 COD Points
• HVT: Olympus King Zeus Operator skin

New details of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's debut Season One have just been revealed, including new maps, weapons, Operators, and more.

Infinity Ward offers details on all the content debuting in Modern Warfare 2's new season. Chiefly, Shoot House and Shipment, two classic maps from Call of Duty's extensive portfolio, will make a grand return as hectic, action-packed maps.

As with every new season, there's a new Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass. There's a twist this time, though - you can select the order in which you unlock both free and paid-for items, meaning if you're not willing to shell out the money for the Battle Pass, you can unlock all the free items as soon as possible.

Next, four new weapons are arriving in Modern Warfare Season One and six more Operators. 

Multiplayer is also getting bolstered in the form of Call of Duty League Moshpit mode, where you can practice on maps with the corresponding Ranked rulesets before the Ranked mode eventually launches later on in a future Season.

Finally, Raid Episode One makes a big splash in Season One, continuing the story of Modern Warfare 2. This new in-game mission is said to be a "daunting" challenge, so even if you're a Call of Duty veteran at this point, you might want to use the time between now and the Raid launching to hone your skills.

Ahead of Warzone 2 launching next week, you can re-live your Warzone memories using a personalized highlight reel from developer Raven Software. 

The Modern Warfare 2 patch notes for Week One have gone live, confirming all of the major changes made in the 1.08 update, including fixes so players can now edit their Profile Showcase and unlock camos correctly during progression, while certain map exploits and bugs have been squashed to balance gameplay. Infinite Ward have made various other tweaks, including a subsequent update to reset players’ Weekly Star counts in Special Ops so Weekly Stars can be earned. The groundwork has been laid for the upcoming Season 01 launch, and with the belated release of the official patch notes we now know all of the improvements made to Modern Warfare 2 with this update.

One interesting thing to note with this update is the wide variety of file sizes being reported for the patch, as while PlayStation and PC players are saying theirs is generally in the 500MB-1GB range, those on Xbox are finding they have to download 30-50GB to get up and running again – so if you're on Xbox Series X or Xbox One, you should check for the new update ASAP if you don't want to be locked out of the game for an extended time, as even the single player campaign requires an online connection. For a round up of the changes this should provide, read on for the Modern Warfare 2 patch notes.

Modern Warfare 2 1.08 patch notes

The 1.08 update went live on November 3, but initially Infinity Ward didn't provide any official Modern Warfare 2 patch notes to go with this. The only details issued were via Twitter saying that they have "recently released an update that fixed an issue that prevented players from editing their Profile Showcase, additionally we've also fixed various map exploits and bugs across the game" and players should "stay tuned as we provide further game updates" while referring to their official Trello board. Any Modern Warfare 2 patch notes are due to appear there, though the relevant section is marked as "Coming Soon" so this hasn't been implemented yet.

However, late on November 4 we did get an official set of Modern Warfare 2 patch notes from Infinity Ward, laying out the Week One changes in more detail. The main issues addressed are as follows:

• Various fixes for crashes across all platforms to provide additional stability
• Fixes to address framerate drop, freezing, stuttering, and lag issues
• Resolved issue with certain camos not unlocking correctly with progression
• General performance improvements

PC players have also received a recent NVIDIA hotfix to resolve some critical issues, so if you're on that platform then ensure you're using the 526.61 drivers, and the PC benchmark map has been refreshed so you should see more accurate FPS information.

In terms of weapons, nothing has been changed for now, however there's lots of weapon performance and usage data currently being collected and a detailed weapons balancing update will be released to coincide with the Season 01 Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass. This update has reenabled the Modern Warfare 2 weapon tuning feature, meaning you can once again fine-tune any attachments on the guns you've mastered without experiencing crashes as a result.

In Multiplayer, the enemy and live ping remains disabled until the start of Season 01 due to a bug that sometimes causes the ping to remain after death, though keyboard and mouse players can still danger ping. The Breenbergh Hotel map has been added to Third Person Moshpit, while various exploits and geometry bugs have been patched in existing Modern Warfare 2 maps to remove unfair advantages players have been taking advantage of.

Finally, the UI is continuing to be refined and there are details of changes coming soon for Season 01, which is good news as Modern Warfare 2 menus are confusing the hell out of players still. Future fixes are in the works to address the Riot Shield making players invulnerable to the copper gunner and VTOL, availability of the DDOS Field upgrade, and helicopter height which can allow it to leave the map in some cases, but we'll need to wait for the next set for Modern Warfare 2 patch notes to find out how they are being resolved.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 players who have picked up promotional packs of Jack Link's jerky products are discovering that unscrupulous players are stealing the codes before the packs have even been sold. 

As first spotted by our friends over at PC Gamer, promotional packs of Jack Link's - identified by the distinctive Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 branding - have been sticking the double XP codes to the packs rather than printing them inside. Consequently, some less-than-honest folks have been visiting their local stores and stealing every code in an attempt to auction them online.

"On the ground reporting from Walmart on the Jack Links beef jerky double XP codes for Modern Warfare 2 being stolen from every store I can find," tweeted Modern Warzone.

"If you want to buy Jack Links for 2X XP make sure you buy a bag that hasn’t had its code stolen."

To ensure your pack has a code, double-check that a small little booklet is attached to the front of your pack covering up the black and white logo. If it's not there, your code has already been removed. (If that has happened, you may try contacting Jack Links' customer service and - providing you have proof of purchase - they may be able to issue a new one).

"In a post-Warzone world, the mainline Call of Duty games have felt directionless," we said in our Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 review. "It's as if they struggled to reckon with the standard set by Modern Warfare, and with a battle royale that thrived in the years it was allowed to build upon those foundations.

"Modern Warfare 2 is both the natural evolution of where Infinity Ward left off in 2019, and a fantastic starting point for Warzone 2. Admittedly, the faster, more unflinching approach to firefights won't be for everybody, but it's a hell of a time if you can lock in with its rhythm."

It's not been a particularly smooth launch, though. There's been a flurry of issues Modern Warfare 2 has experienced since launch, including a bug that forced Infinity Ward to disable Modern Warfare 2's attachment tuning after players began reporting crashes. It took until November 4 to be brought back online.

Infinity Ward also recently disabled its ping system after complaints about a "wallhack" bug began to surface. While there's been no formal word from Infinity Ward or any updates posted on the Modern Warfare 2 social media channels, players noticed that the ping system had stopped working just a few hours after the game launched. 

Most recently, IW confirmed it was giving bonus XP tokens to "all players that currently own or purchase any version of the MWII Vault Edition" after "confusion" arose about an in-game store exclusive reward.

Ready to get in on the action? We've got you covered in our Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 guide. 

Modern Warfare 2 players are calling on Infinity Ward to fix its "broken" aim assist.

Players have been peppering developer Infinity Ward's social media channels and subreddit communities to flag the issue, saying that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's aim assist - designed to give a more equal playing field for players on consoles and PC - is too "overpowered" and requires rebalancing for players on crossplay servers.

"Been a lot of discussion about Aim Assist," said one Redditor, who had the post locked by the board's moderation team. "Would like to see others try exactly what I do in this video and see the results. This is broken."

been_a_lot_of_discussion_about_aim_assist_would from r/ModernWarfareII

Not everyone agrees, though. Some users have shared videos of themselves trying to replicate the issue and insist there is no "aim bot", which makes for some very divisive commentary in the responses from posters on both sides of the issue.

It's one of a myriad of issues Modern Warfare 2 has experienced since launch, including a bug that forced Infinity Ward to disable Modern Warfare 2's attachment tuning "until further notice" after players began reporting crashes. It was only re-enabled yesterday (November 4).

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward also recently disabled its ping system after complaints about a "wallhack" bug began to surface. While there's been no formal word from Infinity Ward or any updates posted on the Modern Warfare 2 social media channels, players noticed that the ping system had stopped working just a few hours after the game launched. 

"In a post-Warzone world, the mainline Call of Duty games have felt directionless," we said in our Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 review. "It's as if they struggled to reckon with the standard set by Modern Warfare, and with a battle royale that thrived in the years it was allowed to build upon those foundations.

"Modern Warfare 2 is both the natural evolution of where Infinity Ward left off in 2019, and a fantastic starting point for Warzone 2. Admittedly, the faster, more unflinching approach to firefights won't be for everybody, but it's a hell of a time if you can lock in with its rhythm."

With Modern Warfare 2 out now, you may be looking to get a little head start online. Whether you're trying to find season one of the battle pass, having trouble accessing your Vault Edition content, looking to build a better M4 assault rifle, or just need help figuring out the crossplay setting in MW2, we've got you covered in our Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 guide.

These Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 error codes should help you if you have any problems getting a game.

Modern Warfare 2 almost let me play Warzone 2 a week early, and now I'm desperately searching for another way into Al Mazrah. 

There appears to be a bug that's mistakenly throwing players across all three platforms into a game of Team Deathmatch on Al Mazrah – which isn't a map, but rather a location where a number of maps are set, and the space we'll be stalking in the refreshed battle royale come November 16. It's unclear if this was caused by a Modern Warfare 2 update or, in my case, an Xbox system update, but it's very much a thing. 

I was able to see the beautiful loading screen for an Al Mazrah Battle Royale until I eventually received one of the Warzone 2 error codes – Dev Error 6144. Interestingly, from there you can just about make out the new Warzone 2.0 launcher in the background (it's very yellow), and I was given the option to open or join a Warzone 2 private match. I tried to create one and it crashed the game – go figure. You can view the video right here if you want, although (thankfully) it did not capture how audibly excited I was for about 30 seconds. 

Other players on social media are reporting similar instances of limited access followed by crashes, although none have yet been able to penetrate the loading screen and actually play Warzone 2 early. If you'd like to try for yourself, here's what I'm rocking: I'm on Xbox Series X and jumped into a Quick Play playlist limited to TDM, Hardpoint, and Domination; from there, Modern Warfare 2 became the biggest battle royale tease of 2022. 

As much fun as I'm having chasing Modern Warfare 2 mastery camos, I am pretty eager to see more of Warzone 2. Having spent hundreds (if not thousands, I'd wager) of hours playing Call of Duty: Warzone as my only social outlet throughout lockdown, I'm keen to see a revised iteration of Infinity Ward's battle royale. 

And, honestly, I'd have quite cheerfully explored Al Mazrah on my lonesome this afternoon – plotting out the best routes to weapon drops, strongholds, and gas stations ahead of the action actually going live next week alongside Season 01 of the Modern Warfare 2 battle pass. 

Anyway, if anybody needs me, I'll be frantically rebooting my copy of Modern Warfare 2 in the vague hope that it'll give me another glimpse of Warzone 2. After all, that's gotta beat being thrown into another game of TDM on Santa Sena Border Crossing. 

Having fun with the latest Call of Duty but looking for a little extra firepower? Why not check out our pick of the best Modern Warfare 2 loadouts.

Modern Warfare 2 weapon tuning allows you to make tiny adjustments to the attachments on any gun you've reached the top mastery level with, so you can really drill down into the minute details and fine-tune everything to best match your abilities and playstyle in the shooter. The jury is still out on how much of a significant difference these small-scale tweaks actually have on your overall performance in Modern Warfare 2, but it doesn't hurt to try out these settings and see whether they make things just a little bit better for you.

Previously, Modern Warfare 2 weapon tuning was disabled by Infinity Ward, as there was an apparent issue with the game crashing when players equipped five tuned attachments at the same time. Following an investigation and update, Infinity Ward have announced that these problems have been resolved and weapon tuning is reenabled, which means you can get back to using it again on your mastered weapons. If you've maxed out any of your guns, then here's how to use Modern Warfare 2 weapon tuning to adjust the attachments.

How to access Modern Warfare 2 weapon tuning

To access Modern Warfare 2 weapon tuning, you need to reach the maximum level on the progression track for the particular weapon you want to customize. You increase your weapon level by using it in matches, and the maximum varies from gun to gun – for example, you unlock weapon tuning at progression level 20 for the M4, though it's lower for some and higher for others on the Modern Warfare 2 gun list. You can check this stat by highlighting the weapon in a custom loadout, following the Platform Weapon Progression prompt under the name of the gun, then hitting the See Track button under the weapon and scrolling all the way to the right until you see the nut icon.

To actually use Modern Warfare 2 weapon tuning to make changes, highlight the gun in your loadout then follow the prompt above it to visit the Gunsmith. Here you can add unlocked attachments to your gun, then if you hover over one of them you'll see a prompt for weapon tuning. Select that and you'll enter the tuning screen, where you can tweak variables to see how they affect the stats, and if required jump straight into the Firing Range so you can test out your changes without having to jump into a live match. Any Modern Warfare 2 weapon tuning you apply that you're not happy with can easily be reverted, by following the Remove Tuning prompt on the tuning screen, though if you get the settings just right then you can try slotting it in to one of the best Modern Warfare 2 loadouts available.

Modern Warfare 2 is brutal and utterly unrelenting. Developer Infinity Ward hasn't exactly steered Call of Duty into simulation territory here, although a quicker time-to-kill has allowed the series to establish an uneasy alliance with the form. The result is a lightning-fast FPS where every shot counts, and where death is but a misplaced bullet or mistimed reload away. Throughout the campaign, that tension establishes thrilling theatrics; and in multiplayer, it leads to frustration and jubilation, the pendulum swinging between the two for every earned respawn and killstreak. 

That just a couple of bullets can act as separation between life and death is a culture shock for Call of Duty – one that is made satisfying by the quality of weapons, ballistics, and animations. There's a snap to the SMGs, a real throttle to the Assault Rifles, and those Marksman Rifles pack one hell of a punch. There's a greater emphasis on placement and positioning, and on tempering your instincts to move quickly and shoot at passing shadows. Modern Warfare 2 makes you fragile, but it gives you all the tools you need to become powerful.

Back in action

The Modern Warfare 2 campaign doesn't rewrite the rulebook, as its predecessor did so astutely in 2019, though it does attempt to reinforce the rules of engagement. Move slowly and shoot quickly; think tactically and take any advantage that you can find. This is the bedrock of an awe-inspiring 17-mission tour of Mexico, Spain, Amsterdam, and beyond. Not to mention the foundation for the Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer experience and Warzone 2 – both built atop the IW 9.0 game engine, and a refined set of mechanics and systems which are introduced gradually throughout your campaign to halt another global catastrophe.

In many respects, Modern Warfare 2 has been entrusted with showcasing the future of the franchise. It's a lot of weight for Infinity Ward to bear, though the studio shows no signs of buckling beneath the pressure. If anything, the Modern Warfare 2 campaign demonstrates that the series is heading in a good direction after an uneasy couple of years. Black Ops Cold War was a misfire and Vanguard a stopgap against irrelevancy in an increasingly competitive market, and yet here we see a shooter that is firing on all cylinders. 

It's worth pausing here to talk about the visual fidelity, as it is genuinely astounding. Modern Warfare 2 is one of the best-looking new-gen experiences available, expertly demonstrating the capabilities of the Xbox Series X and PS5. Cutscenes are rendered at near photorealism, with character models finding firm ground in the uncanny valley; the use of light and shadow is awesome, as is the contrast drawn through night and interior levels; and both the topography and terrain of mission environments feel true to life, with Infinity Ward doing all that it can to mask that its playspaces are little more than wide corridors with incredible draw-distances. 

In the past 20  years, Call of Duty campaigns have had us do it all – we've sniped at enemies between asteroids in space and crawled through dirt in the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. While Modern Warfare 2 isn't able to produce a scenario that is altogether new, it does make some old favorites feel fresh again. The campaign opens on a high, with a new rendition of 'Safe House' – pushing you through claustrophobic corridors lit by the grainy hue of night vision goggles. And, thankfully, Modern Warfare 2 never veers towards its predecessor's worst impulses from there, steering clear of QTE-torture, and is all the better because of it.

Instead, you'll find true iterations of 'All Ghillied Up' and 'Death from Above'. Incredible assaults on wonderfully-staged military compounds, prison complexes, and oil rigs, and a tight mixture of scenarios that work to emphasize that a shift in strategy is required to survive. AI press positions aggressively, flanks are difficult to prise open, and recoil management is as big of a threat as armored enemies. It's also worth noting that MW2 doesn't produce anything as thematically ambitious as Call of Duty: WW2's 'Liberation', nor anything as overtly controversial as 'No Russian' – which thrust the original MW2 into the headlines in 2009. 

An unexpected success of the campaign – for all its expertly crafted, formulaic familiarity – was just how much character Infinity Ward was able to bring to Task Force 141, and their allies in Los Vaqueros. The stars are undoubtedly Soap and Ghost, with Price and Gav left largely to the sidelines so that Modern Warfare 2 can explore a budding friendship within the elite unit. 'Alone' sees the pair stealthily navigating hostile territory without equipment, crafting makeshift weapons and bad military jokes – a timed dialogue option allowing you to control the tenor of the conversation. Later, you guide Ghost through a compound via CCTV cameras, the two sharing kind words of expletive-riddled encouragement throughout. It's a welcomed change of pace for a series that rarely allows its characters time to respawn, let alone the chance to establish some camaraderie.  

Slow down to survive

If the Modern Warfare 2 campaign settles into its tightest rhythm as you're methodically rationing rounds, reacting to threats on little more than a hair-trigger impulse, then the multiplayer finds a similar beat. Call of Duty has never asked its players to slow down – quite the contrary, it has incentivized sprinting between firefights with one eye pinned to the mini-map since 2005 – but Modern Warfare 2 is quick to punish those who instinctively lean on the left stick. 

TTK is so fast that it leaves little margin for error. Whether you're chasing a positive K/D in Team Deathmatch, defending hotspots in Hardpoint and Domination, or quietly cursing teammates who refuse to play the objective in the new, and relatively lackluster Prisoner Rescue and Knockout modes, smart positioning and tempered firing patterns are everything. Sprinting sounds a death knell, signaling your position to surrounding soldiers with impressive clarity. The sharp snap of a reload is satisfying, though doing so the second a single bullet is fired from the chamber will often leave you unequipped to respond to emerging challenges. 

Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer is fun because of these changes, until it isn't. The skill ceiling has been raised quite significantly, with players no longer able to rely on the basic mini-map for direction without an active UAV; the shorter, sharper engagement time is more intimidating, if not outright punishing at times. An interesting metagame has started to emerge too, where a Pistol can feel more viable if aimed above the shoulders in close quarters than a Shotgun, while a tailored Marksman Rifle feels more versatile at mid-range than a properly-balanced SMG. Of course, as is the Infinity Ward way, the Assault Rifle remains the undisputed king of the battlefield – regardless of the range of engagement. 

One or two properly placed trigger pulls, and you're one-notch closer to calling in a killstreak – as far as Modern Warfare 2 is concerned, the days of spraying and praying are long behind Call of Duty. If you can get on board with the more tempered approach to movement, you'll likely enjoy the change of pace. Although there is a risk that the gulf between players in matchmaking will widen significantly, due in no small part to needlessly complicated weapon customization and progression systems. There are too many options, hidden behind too many cumbersome menus. 

Weapons can be equipped with five separate attachments, which reigns in the focus versus Vanguard's 10, although it's such a mess that any benefit is lost. While some attachments are shared universally between weapon classes, others are not, with Modern Warfare 2 forcing you to play with weapons that you don't like to unlock additions for the ones that you do. It's easy to become overwhelmed by the process of building a loadout, and I'm never really sure if what I'm adding or subtracting to a weapon is making a discernible difference to its weighting or control. That is compounded by your capacity to further fine-tune individual attachments once you've leveled out a weapon, and the min-maxing can quickly become tiresome. As can the revised approach to Perks, in which two are equipped passively and a further two unlock at certain thresholds mid-match – a restriction which feels almost antithetical to the freedom you're afforded elsewhere, forming a system that impacts every player, but will satisfy few. 

In a post-Warzone world, the mainline Call of Duty games have felt directionless. It's as if they struggled to reckon with the standard set by Modern Warfare, and with a battle royale that thrived in the years it was allowed to build upon those foundations. Modern Warfare 2 is both the natural evolution of where Infinity Ward left off in 2019, and a fantastic starting point for Warzone 2. Admittedly, the faster, more unflinching approach to firefights won't be for everybody, but it's a hell of a time if you can lock in with its rhythm. 

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 campaign was reviewed on Xbox Series X, with a code provided by the publisher. 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's developer accidentally made an official to-do list publicly editable, meaning fans could make edits to the list of tasks the team has in progress. 

As spotted by @charlieINTEL on Twitter, Infinity Ward launched a new Trello board recently to keep fans up to date with what the developer is currently working on for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Trello is an online organization tool that allows its users to keep track of tasks by making lists and categorizing them. 

The only problem is that Infinity Ward accidentally made the board publicly editable, meaning anyone - regardless of whether they worked on the game or not - could temporarily contribute and make changes to the lists on the developer's official list. As you can imagine, fans took full advantage of this and left several messages for Infinity Ward staff, which you can see for yourself below. 

It looks like many of the notes left by fans are complaints or suggestions for Modern Warfare 2. Many of these come down to problems with SBMM in Modern Warfare, as well as requests for Dead Silence to be a perk, and a double XP event to be announced soon. 

Aside from all of the player shenanigans, the board also features actual projects the developer is working on. This includes playlist updates, and fixes for multiplayer, singleplayer, Special Ops, and more, such as reinstating Modern Warfare 2 weapon tuning. Unfortunately, for those who wanted to check out the board for themselves, Infinity Ward has since shared the correct link to its Trello board and cleared up all of the fan edits. 

In other Call of Duty news, it has today been revealed that Modern Warfare 2's launch is the biggest in Call of Duty history. This news comes not even 24 hours after it was announced that Modern Warfare 2 is the biggest Call of Duty launch ever on PlayStation. Clearly, despite its faults, people are still really enjoying the game.

Need something other than Call of Duty to play? Take a look at our best FPS games for inspiration. 

Activision says that the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the biggest in the series' history.

In a statement issued today (via BusinessWire), the developer said that the game "set a new franchise opening weekend record" across its first three days, besting even the five-day record set by Modern Warfare 3 in 2011. As well as raw sales figures, players set "player participation franchise records," besting numbers of unique players and hours played.

Call of Duty general manager Johanna Faries also stated that the launch was "the highest-grossing entertainment opening of the year," beating movie hits including Top Gun: Maverick and Doctor Strane in the Multiverse of Madness. Faries also promised "an unprecedented level of support for the Modern Warfare universe." Some of that will come from the launch of Warzone 2 later this month, as well as the Modern Warfare 2 Hardcore mode.

We already knew that Modern Warfare 2 was off to a good start, as the game had broken franchise records on PlayStation as well as Steam, which it returned to after several years as a Battle.Net exclusive PC release. That said, it's not been entirely smooth sailing, as Infinity Ward has been forced to disable ping systems and attachment tuning. Broadly, however, the reception has been pretty positive, and with the Warzone sequel on its way, Modern Warfare 2 is likely to get a significant boost in the coming weeks.

Just getting started? You might want to take a look at our guide to the best Modern Warfare 2 M4 loadout for an early advantage.

Today finally sees the full release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and while it's a day that fans of Activision's shooter series have long been looking forward to, the occasion has been slightly sullied for some who've opted for the Vault Edition on PlayStation consoles. 

This $100 version comes with a one-season Battle Pass, 50 tier skips, unique Operators, and other goodies. But after booting up the game, many players have found that this extra content isn’t showing up. 

need_help_preordered_the_vault_edition_but_its from r/modernwarfare2

Luckily, Infinity Ward has a quick and easy fix if you find yourself missing any Vault Edition items or the Oni Operator, earned by pre-ordering the game digitally through the PS Store.

In a tweet, the Modern Warfare 2 developer explained that you’ll need to restore licenses to solve the issue. To do this, simply go to your PlayStation console’s settings menu and find “Users and Accounts”. This will bring up a list of sub-categories, and you’ll want to select “Other”. Then navigate to “Restore Licenses”, and voila, the Vault Edition extras and pre-order content should now be visible.

Looking at the comments on the Modern Warfare 2 subreddit, this seems to have fixed the issue for most players, although some note that the content didn’t appear until after they’d restarted their console, so it’s worth giving that a try if you’re still having issues.

In other Modern Ware 2 news, players who received early copies of the physical version have reported that the PS5 disc contains just 72.23MB of data, meaning that basically the whole game still has to be downloaded, which isn’t great news if you’ve not got super speedy broadband.

Earlier this year, we spoke to Infinity Ward about how the Modern Warfare 2 campaign seeks to strike a balance between provocation and pleasure.

Despite the game releasing not even a full 24 hours ago, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 players are already divided about the M4.

As evidenced on Twitter, there's a clear split between players who have already mastered the weapon and those who feel that the weapon is completely broken when folks are wielding the best M4 loadout in Modern Warfare 2. In fact, there's been an influx of players unlocking the gold camo for the M4 over the last few hours which may indicate that it's one of the easier challenges currently in the game. 

If you didn't know, in Modern Warfare 2, players can complete 'Camo Challenges' which give each of the guns in the game a new skin. There's a number of different patterns up for grabs but perhaps the most enticing is the Gold camo that gives the weapon a shiny, gold finish. To unlock this skin, players need to first complete all the base camo challenges before unlocking the final challenge which will award the gold skin. 

This formula is the same for each of the weapons in Modern Warfare 2, but it seems as though a lot of players' first gold camos are for the M4. Unfortunately, not everyone is getting on as well with the gun as these players. For example, a lot of people have been reporting numerous issues with the weapon shortly after launch. So much in fact that one player has taken it upon themselves to tell developer Infinity Ward directly to "nerf the M4."

Although not ideal, there's still time for Activision/Infinity Ward to roll out fixes and improvements for the game now that it has launched. In fact, Over the last few hours, Infinity Ward has put out a number of tweets to let fans know that it is aware of some of the problems players are experiencing and is now investigating them. For example "audio continuity issues on PS4" and "crashes when partied up."

Already loving Modern Warfare 2? Take a look at where it placed in our list of the best Call of Duty games. 

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer releases in just a few hours, so you don't need to hold on too much longer until we can play MW2 multiplayer.

Activision is breaking up how the new Call of Duty game releases, with the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 campaign being available through early access since October 20. As we’ve come to expect with major launches, we saw our fair share of crashes and error codes that needed to be ironed out. As such, we imagine the full Modern Warfare 2 launch will be met with much of the same – we’re sure Activision has ironed out plenty already, though the influx of multiplayer players will no doubt be hard to suppress. 

Thankfully, Activision and Infinity Ward have laid out when you can pre-load and play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer, so you can keep on top of everything in your immediate control, just expect some turbulence when multiplayer unlocks.

Call of Duty: MW2 multiplayer preload time

You can preload Call of Duty: MW2 multiplayer right now, Preloads for Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer are already available for PlayStation and Xbox, though you’ll have to wait until 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST on October 26) to download the multiplayer on PC. Infinity Ward confirms in a blog post that Modern Warfare 2 requires at least 72 GB on PC to download the full game, so you best prepare your hard drive.

MW2 release date 2022 times

Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer releases alongside the full game, with rollout beginning at 4am PT / 7am ET / 12pm BST on October 27 for Xbox and PlayStation platforms.

The rollout concludes at 9pm PT on October 27 and midnight ET / 5am BST on October 28, at which point multiplayer unlocks also on PC. There will be a few things absent at launch, however, including the classic Modern Warfare 2 Hardcore mode, which is simply 'coming soon, and the Modern Warfare 2 Battle Pass which will arrive later on November 16th. 

If you haven’t already, you might want to ensure you have all the Modern Warfare 2 campaign rewards as they’ll net you a host of bonuses to carry into multiplayer. You can check out our Call of Duty MW2 pre-orders guide for everything you need to get access to the campaign early. 

We’ve been working on our Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 review, finding the campaign to be “thrilling from start to finish".

Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward is warning players not to change their region to bypass local launch times. 

A tweet posted by the Modern Warfare 2 developer warns players trying to sneak into another region to get earlier access that they may be hit with unexpected penalties. That could include but is not limited to connection issues and being locked out of the game until their official launch time. 

Region swapping for location-based launches has often been a tactic by players trying to get into games as early as possible and bypass restrictions. It's why, around the launch of a major game like this, New Zealand will often see an unprecedented upswing in the number of gamers in the country. 

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 release time, be it the non-early access campaign or the multiplayer, depends on several factors, including your location and platform. On Xbox and PlayStation consoles, the game opens up at midnight on Friday in your region. 

However, if you're on a PC, you don't have to worry about changing your VPN region at all as there's a universal launch time for the multiplayer. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 opens its multiplayer servers at 5AM BST/12AM EST/ 9PM PST (Thursday).

There's plenty of reason to jump into this year's Call of Duty when you are finally allowed in too, as our review-in-progress states: "Modern Warfare 2 campaign demonstrates that the series is heading in a good direction after a difficult few years".

Assuming you're playing in the right region then take these Modern Warfare 2 safe codes for when you need them. And if you're looking for more shooters to play? Check out our list of the best FPS games. 

The Modern Warfare 2 status installing glitch can be quickly fixed by opening the quick menu options and then backing out if you get stuck. It's causing issues for early access players, particularly those on PlayStation, as it's preventing access to the single player campaign. It seems that since the 1.03 update some players are receiving Modern Warfare 2 error codes stating that their data is corrupt or didn't download properly, before being presented with a MW2 status installing progress bar that never moves or completes. Clearly this is a problem if you want to reach the Campaign Early Access in Modern Warfare 2, but don't stress as there's a simple solution at hand. If you're stuck on Modern Warfare 2 status installing on PS5 or a different console, here's what you need to do to fix it.

How to fix the MW2 status installing issue

If your Modern Warfare 2 is stuck on status installing indefinitely, then there is a simple fix which should resolve this issue. As posted by Infinity Ward, "PlayStation players encountering a locked game tile or issue accessing campaign early access should open QUICK SETTINGS (options button) — and then back out. This will trigger a return to the correct menu. This will be addressed in an upcoming update." So, to confirm those steps:

1. Press the Options button when you see Modern Warfare 2 status installing to pop up the side menu, as shown above.
2. Select any menu option – QUICK SETTINGS is at the top so easiest to pick.
3. Back out of the menu and you'll be taken to the Campaign Early Access screen.
4. Continue, and you'll go through a few more notifications before reaching the single player campaign.

This should bypass the problematic screen and prevent you from being stuck on the Modern Warfare 2 status installing progress bar, however if that doesn't work there are a couple more options you can try. First, quit out of the game and confirm that it's been completely exited, then reload it to see if you can progress any further this time. If that doesn't help, try completely powering down your console (turn off rather than enter rest mode), wait a few minutes, then reboot and give it another go. Whatever the outcome is for you, know that Infinity Ward are working on a permanent fix to be confirmed in future Modern Warfare 2 patch notes, so the MW2 status installing problem won't persist for long.

Assuming you get it all working, keep hold of these Modern Warfare 2 safe codes. You'll want them when you can't open the safes you find!

The recently-launched Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 campaign sees players "de-escalate civilians" by pointing a gun at them, and it's turning into the new 'press F to pay respects.'

As pointed out by @yacobg42 on Twitter, there's a surreal moment in the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 campaign where players walk through a trailer park and are asked to "de-escalate" a heated moment situation. Instead of using the traditional techniques though, they are instead prompted to hold R2 to point their guns at random civilians, which seems a bit extreme. 

Another Twitter user has pointed out how bizarre this situation in the game is by quote retweeting the original tweet and adding: "Hold L2 to de-escalate civilians is the new Press F to pay respects," referencing another iconic but equally out-of-place QTE moment in the Call of Duty series that required PC players to literally hit a key to pay their respects at a funeral. 

The Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 campaign went live at the end of last week. Its launch, unfortunately, didn't go exactly to plan as players who tried to access the game via Steam had to deal with 'connection timed out' errors. Thankfully, this was quickly ironed out and allowed players to get stuck back into the campaign and witness the moment we're talking about above. 

In other Call of Duty news, developer Infinity Ward and publisher Activision Blizzard have revealed that the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Raids begin in December. Not much is known about the mysterious mode right now but what we do know is that it will be a part of Spec Ops mode and will become available to players on December 13. 

Can't get enough of the Modern Warfare 2? Take a look at our list of the best Call of Duty games to see where it placed.

Modern Warfare 2 has an incredibly realistic version of Dutch city Amsterdam, so much so that I can almost smell the stroopwafels and weed.

While you'd expect Modern Warfare 2 to have incredible graphics and intense combat, I certainly didn't have "wildly realistic Amsterdam" on my Call of Duty bingo card. It's clear that Infinity Ward is making the most of current-gen graphics, so PS5 and Xbox Series X/S owners should really enjoy these visuals. Check out a snippet of the surprisingly serene Call of Duty scene below, and read on for more. 

The lighting, the leaves in varying fall colors on the trees, the slightly slick surface of the bricks, the wake on that boat going through the canal - all of it is so visually impressive that it's almost unbelievable. Add in the gentle sounds of rushing water, tourist chatter, and flapping birds, and it's like I'm back on the holiday I took midway through my Masters program.

Funnily enough, one Dutch citizen is (jokingly) outraged over the lack of "cultural sensitivity" in Infinity Ward's take on Amsterdam. They point out several issues in a semi-spoilery Twitter thread, including the fact that none of the cars have license plates, the public urination fine is incorrect, and an NPC is illegally feeding ducks in the canal. You can't please everyone.

This breathtaking look at a campaign mission is thanks to Modern Warfare 2's campaign releasing on October 20 for those who have pre-ordered the game. If you haven't taken advantage of the Modern Warfare 2 pre-order bonus, you can experience virtual Amsterdam in all its glory when it launches on October 28th. 

If you're looking for more of the best FPS games out there, we got you covered.

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.

If you're looking for more of the best FPS games out there, you know where to click.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward is cautioning content creators to be mindful of what information they might inadvertently share to the public when streaming the game.

In a tweet sent out Wednesday, the studio urged Modern Warfare 2 streamers to only show their face cams when loading into the game. Apparently, there's some kind of login screen that displays your email address and Activision ID when starting the game, so it'd be pretty easy for an unwitting creator to accidentally expose their personal information for the world to see (and potentially use maliciously). 

"Call of Duty Content Creators: If you are going to stream Campaign Early Access, please go full face cam when loading into the game," reads Infinity Ward's tweet. "There is a screen that has your email/ATVI ID, so please protect your personal information."

It's a little unusual for a AAA studio to be warning content creators against doxxing themselves, but if it prevents a potential problem, it's hard to complain. Of course, folks online were quick to point out that Infinity Ward and Activision could take matters into their own hands by simply removing the sensitive information from that particular in-game screen. Regardless, for the time being it's probably best to take heed of this PSA and keep a close eye on what screens you're streaming out.

The Modern Warfare 2 campaign preload and early access period begins tomorrow, October 20, for anyone with a digital pre-order. If you're gearing up for the campaign and don't want to wait a second longer than you have to, it's also available to everyone to preload on all platforms right now. The game launches for everyone else a week later on October 27.

Find out where your favorite entry ranked on our list of the best Call of Duty games.

Infinity Ward and Activision Blizzard have revealed the launch details for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2's Spec Ops and the mysterious Raid mode.

Spec Ops will be available at the Modern Warfare 2 launch on October 28, with three missions available. Bad Situation is a stealth-focused mission about recovering intel, Vehicle Escape has you manning a car to destroy SAM turrets, and Observatory Defense is effectively a survival mode where you can spend money between waves to get more gear.

These Spec Ops missions were apparently designed to be highly repayable. As part of that, you'll be able to earn stars through missions and "mission-related challenges" to level up a series of kits - similar to sets of perks, field upgrades, and killstreaks in multiplayer - for better gear. You can get more details on how it works on the official site.

Raids will be a part of Spec Ops mode, and the first of these will launch on December 14. If you're wondering exactly what Raids will look like, well, so are we. The devs said earlier this year that the mode "tests teamwork and strategic puzzle-solving in between bouts of intense combat," and that's about all we know.

For now, the devs "highly recommend completing all three Special Ops missions with three stars and have at least one kit leveled up to Rank 5" before Raids launch on December 14.

Modern Warfare 2 campaign preloads get underway on October 19, ahead of pre-order early access on October 20. Modern Warfare 2 launches in full - with multiplayer and Spec Ops - on October 28.

For more of the best FPS games, you can follow that link.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is reportedly set to bring back classic Call of Duty maps as premium DLC.

This is according to reports from noted Call of Duty leakers TheGhostOfHope and Tom Henderson of InsiderGaming, who both claim a "greatest hits" map pack will be available in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as paid DLC. The reports don't name a release date, but both claim the maps will likely be added as part of the game's year 2 roadmap.

Additionally, TheGhostOfHope said that Modern Warfare 2 will be getting remastered versions of all or most of the maps from the original 2009 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. This report suggests that the bulk of the new maps will be from Modern Warfare 2's namesake, but there will also reportedly be maps from other classic Call of Duty games, including those developed by Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer. TheGhostOfHope indicates all of the maps will be bundled into one expansion and made available to players as paid DLC.

It's worth noting that TheGhostOfHope has also reported that Sledgehammer Games is going to work on Advanced Warfare 2, though that claim has been disputed by other Call of Duty insiders like ModernWarzone and Charlie Intel. There have been no disputes regarding the DLC report, however.

Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that Call of Duty would be skipping its annual entry in 2023 for the first time 2004, which would give Modern Warfare 2 double the usual time to grow and introduce new content. While Call of Duty DLC is usually free, a paid expansion isn't without precedent. Black Ops 3 introduced the Zombies Chronicle DLC back in 2017, which cost $30, and paid map packs were regularly released for older Call of Duty titles.

Find out where the original Modern Warfare 2 ranked on our definitive list of the best Call of Duty games available now.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is doing everything it can to make you slow down. It's quite the shift, particularly as Infinity Ward (and the litany of Activision studios that have followed in its footsteps) has spent the better part of 17 years conditioning us to navigate online battlefields with highly specific tactics. We were taught to sprint between firefights with two eyes glued to the mini-map, to reload our weapons the second a single bullet is fired from the chamber, and to aggressively press every opportunity to push at a frontline – as it was in Call of Duty 2; so it remains in Vanguard.

If you played the Modern Warfare 2 beta, you'll know that engaging in combat as you would in any other Call of Duty invites a frequency of frustration to play sessions. Improved audio fidelity ensures that sprinting sounds a death knell, signaling your position with impressive clarity to surrounding soldiers. Mini-map functionality has been drastically altered, and using it as a navigational guide will lead you to stumble clumsily between engagements. Checkpoint reloading has added additional consideration to swapping out a magazine at first opportunity, and the time-to-kill (TTK) is so drastically fast that firing at the first sight of an enemy invites little more than swift retribution.  

To survive – let alone thrive – in the core 6v6 Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer experience, you need to slow down, check your corners, and carefully place your shots. It's a defiant change to a long-established pace of play, and I'm a big fan of it. 

Fight smarter, not harder

Unsurprisingly, such fundamental changes have already sown division amongst the more vocal corners of the Call of Duty community. But the truth is, something fundamental had to change. You need only look back at the reception to the last decade of games as evidence of that. Advanced and Infinite Warfare were strong responses to the tepid reception of Ghosts, though were ultimately judged by the masses as having taken one too many steps into the future. WW2, Black Ops Cold War, and Vanguard have essentially been accused of the reverse – relying too heavily on incrementalism, rooting Call of Duty's multiplayer so heavily in the past that it was at risk of losing its relevance entirely. Where can the series go when evolution is met with the same derision as regression?   

And so Activision has invested heavily in the series' one true success story of the last generation – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The 2019 reboot set a new standard for visual and audio fidelity in the genre, and its wonderful technical and mechanical design set the foundation for Warzone – the one true Fortnite contender in the battle royale scene. Modern Warfare 2 is similarly ambitious. Movement and map traversal is weighted and well-balanced, gunfeel is fantastic and recoil patterns suitably nuanced, and I could spend all day talking about the depth of the sound design. All of this makes for a more methodical, tactical experience – without diluting the carnage that has always been at the heart of COD.

There will be continuing calls in the coming weeks for Infinity Ward to reverse the biggest changes. To alter the mini-map (players are no longer highlighted when they shoot), to amend the controversial perk system (four can be equipped, with two activating once enough points have been accrued within a round), for the TTK to be made slower globally, and for the sound of footsteps to be reduced in the mix. Honestly, I hope Infinity Ward stands its ground, and takes stock of the reception a few weeks after launch. People fear change, even if it's in their best interest.  

Infinity Ward has found itself in a similar position before, after all. It tried to release 2019's Modern Warfare with no mini-map in default multiplayer modes, a change that would have forced players to be more aware of visual and audio cues and use the compass guide that's displayed across the top of the screen to chase noisy players. Naturally, this was reversed ahead of launch after blowback from Call of Duty's loudest critics, but it introduced an interesting shift to play nonetheless – no longer was Call of Duty effectively played in the top-left corner of the screen, and it was all the better because of it. A similar, but less drastic, change has occurred in Modern Warfare 2, where the revised mini-map no longer tracks active gunshots with flashing red dots. 

This feeds into a wider piece, and can not be so easily changed. By asking you to focus less on the mini-map, you're required to have more situational awareness of what's happening in front of (and around) you. Sprinting wildly around the map is something that you can do, but footsteps are easily detected and death follows swiftly. That's largely because the faster TTK is really punishing, forcing the tactical assessment of player movement and your own positioning before pulling the trigger. When each of these elements clicks into place, it create the change that so many Call of Duty players have been craving. And for my money, the act of moving more slowly and purposefully is incredibly satisfying. 

There's a real joy to be found in locking down wide areas with an LM-S marksman rifle – headshots for those who dare sprint between points of cover before checking their corners. And fun to be had in sweeping through buildings with tight bursts of the M4 Assault Rifle, punishing all those who fail to be mindful of their footsteps. I've never been a big fan of the shotgun in Call of Duty, but even that had its moments when patiently clearing and defending buildings in objective-based game modes. What I'm saying is that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a hell of a time, if you're willing to lock in with its rhythm. It's slower, it's more tactical, and it's perhaps the most fun I've had with a Call of Duty pre-release in a number of years. 

Call of Duty players are wary of change, and Infinity Ward knows this and I totally get it – I've certainly been there before. But if the Modern Warfare 2 beta proves anything, it's that the studio may have finally found a way to alter the dynamics of play without dragging the wider community too far from its comfort zones. I'm all in.

Modern Warfare 2 is set to launch on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, and Xbox One on October 28. Two weeks later, Warzone 2 will usher in a new era of battle royale.