Modern Warfare 2 ditches COD name

By Tom Bramwell Published 27 March, 2009

Activision says COD4 has sold 12m units.

Activision has confirmed that Modern Warfare 2 will launch worldwide on 10th November this year, and seems to have confirmed that it will no longer carry the "Call of Duty" name.

The press release establishing the date - following on from the GDC teaser trailer that originally announced it - studiously avoids referring to the game as "Call of Duty".

"Modern Warfare has taken on such a life of its own, it has become our focus now," an Activision US representative told GameSpot. Activision UK said it had nothing to add to the US response.

The release also said that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - the first Infinity Ward game in what now appears to be a spin-off series - has sold more than 12 million units worldwide based on figures from NPD and GfK/Chart-Track.

If Modern Warfare is now its own series, the expectation is that Call of Duty will continue to play out in the hands of Infinity Ward's stablemate Treyarch, which developed last year's phenomenally successful and warmly received World at War.

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About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (23) Latest comment 7 months ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • S.J.Rogers #1 3 years ago

    Cant wait...

    :-)

    /Loads M16 A4.

  • bad09 #2 3 years ago

    So even Activision see they are milking the COD franchise to death :)


    Anyway all I can say is thank you Activision. Thank you for releasing every COD game just in time for my birthday, I never have to pay for a COD game!

  • aphexstwin #3 3 years ago

    im a bit of a fan of the series but i wish the multiplayer had rank restricted servers and a points-per-hour system akin to bf2mc to make it easier on the noobs, thats one of the only things keeping me from getting waw. the other is my brother in law, he wont play it unless hes wearing his sensitive headphones (cant remember the brand) and his rapid fire pad. and the hyper annoying perks system which is a reward for killing noobs.

  • videogangs #4 3 years ago

    As long as the way things are going doesn't jeopardise the competetive PC scene, I think this is good news. Hopefully Treyarch are brave enough to step outside the WW2 theatre next time around, and I think IW are realising the benefits of giving them more development time/resources.

    Bring on MW2, I'll be putting my old clan back together in advance of it's release I think.

  • Fab4 #5 3 years ago

    IW and Treyarch are both owned by Activision, so 'code pilfering' won't be a problem...apart from giving up on virtually all creativity.

  • bluem4gic #6 3 years ago

    "If Modern Warfare is now its own series, the expectation is that Call of Duty will continue to play out in the hands of Infinity Ward's stablemate Treyarch, which developed last year's phenomenally successful and warmly received World at War."

    World at Wank more like!

    Treyarch could'nt develop a decent shooter if they had a colt 45 aimed point blank at their head!
    Edited by 2 at 27/03/09 @ 09:21

  • Fab4 #7 3 years ago

    Which is a shame, as CoD3 was a great game...full of creativity, not least on the networking side of things. How IW/Activision could go from a P2P hosting system back to the shit that is client/server, is beyond me. They laughingly said CoD4 had 'host migration'...yeah, if you call ending the game and starting a complete new one migration. I was playing a 1hour game last night on CoD3 and had 5 changes in host during that time...that's how it should be in this day and age.

  • Quint2020 #8 3 years ago

    AICMFP

  • Freek #9 3 years ago

    So now IW is doomed to just make making FPS games about terrorism each year?

  • Rirekon #10 3 years ago

    @ bluem4gic;
    Bit harsh! Admittedly CoD 3 was pretty poor but World at War is really good and in some respects better than Modern Warfare - though of course I'm eagerly awaiting Modern Warfare 2 as I'm a big fan of IW's community work

  • rhinoxious #11 3 years ago

    It's a good idea to divide the series in two, financially speaking at least.

    Looking forward to more COD4 style MP, though I can't see it being as much fun the second time around, as they're unlikely to mess too much with a successful formula.

    Can't say I'm too bothered about the corridor-based/respawning/checkpoint-fest of SP.

  • metalangel #12 3 years ago

    Sort the perks out (Juggernaut and Martyrdom can fuck right off), balance the kill streak bonuses (if I can kill seven people in a row, I obviously don't need a helicopter gunship's help!) and we'll talk.

    COD3 MP FTW!

  • Turrican #13 3 years ago

    This is a money decision. If both studios turn out products quicker they can now release a new Call of Duty and a Modern Warfare in the same year and make more cash. One doesn't have to wait for the other this way too.

  • Redeye #14 3 years ago

    "This is a money decision. If both studios turn out products quicker they can now release a new Call of Duty and a Modern Warfare in the same year and make more cash. One doesn't have to wait for the other this way too."

    Wins the thread. Kock-end must be rubbing his wallet with glee.

  • RedSparrows #15 3 years ago

    once again I must sneakily endorse COD3's multi whilst being underwhelmed at CoD4s

    (etc)

    :)

  • metallicorphan #16 3 years ago

    meh i reckon IW will put the name back in nearer to the date,i mean look at Bioshock 2,it hasnt got a clue if it wants Sea of Dreams as its subtitle

    Call of duty 3 was alright,weapons weren't balanced they didnt include the Gewerh for the German side but included the Gerand on the American side,so everyone chose the American side,the fact that it was always American Vs Germany...and Poisson was nothing but a spawn killtrap if you spawn up at the houses and the enemy tanks were at the bridge...and everyone,always played that map,so it got very boring very quickly

    shame because it could of been a belter of a game online

    why people ...were disspointed at W@W being a COD4 clone in WWII...everybody,and i mean everybody knew the game was using the COD4 engine..we all knew it was WW2,we all knew there was gonna be perks..yet people bought the game and then people moaned

  • Fab4 #17 3 years ago

    The most powerful gun in CoD3 is the unscoped Kar98...it just takes time to get good with it. Its equivalent gun on the US side, the M1, runs out of ammo very quickly, and because most support gunners are selfish bastards who dont know how to drop ammo for others, you have to go scavanging if you want to stay in the fight.

    If i'm put on the US side, i'll go out of my way to pick up a Kar98 from poor soul's dead body.

    Edit: As for maps...well Eder Dam is just as popular as Poisson, but its also not difficult to get games on any of the other maps...apart from the map packs...which is a shame as they are quality maps which piss over anything CoD4 or WaW offered.
    Edited by 1 at 28/03/09 @ 06:44

  • metalangel #18 3 years ago

    The weapons are pretty balanced in CoD3. The normal K98 is lethal with practice, whereas the Garand spams the shots but needs multiple hits. The Thompson and BAR have tiny clips which go some way to offset their power vs the German equivalents. The Stg44 in particular is better than many think, so long as you remember to fire in bursts. In fact, I would go so far as to say the only unbalanced weapon are the support machine guns on both sides - the drop n' fire facilitated by the left trigger is so effective that I have seen many games feature nothing but support gunners on both sides.

  • TRUTH #19 3 years ago

    Personally I though CoD 3 was the best - 4 was overrated and less exciting then 3 and 5 is just naff!...Many gamers i know also say 3 is the best !!!

  • metallicorphan #20 3 years ago

    all good arguements(and i'd forgot about Eder Dam)
    there is one map i love in COD3,not sure what its called though..there is a river,a church,bunkers...and some kind of farm with stables
    ...however,i think COD2 was the best,LOL

  • Fab4 #21 3 years ago

    " all good arguements(and i'd forgot about Eder Dam)
    there is one map i love in COD3,not sure what its called though..there is a river,a church,bunkers...and some kind of farm with stables"

    Sounds like Merville.

  • bluem4gic #22 3 years ago

    As far as I concerned there are only COD1 CODUO COD2 and COD4 MW

    End of

  • codnation #23 2 years ago

    nah, they changed it back!

    Discuss MW2 over on the modern warfare 2 forums at http://www.codnation.net

  • james-mw3-mw3 #24 7 months ago

    Infinity Ward decided that MW3 will immediately follow the events of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Every country is under attack, the press won't like Call of Duty: MW3 direction. Hopefully the new Modern Warfare 3 weapons, perks and killstreaks will make up for it!