Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remasteredhas finally arrived, though its PlayStation 4 exclusivity has caused some anger in theCall of Dutycommunity. The remaster restores the entirety of the original campaign, with updated graphics and effects, though without any multiplayer or Spec Ops functionality. Needless to say,Modern Warfare 2is one of the most famous titles in the long-runningCall of Dutyseries and helped secure theModern Warfaresub-series of games as a staple of the franchise.
Fans of the series have been hoping for a remaster of such a classic title’s campaign for years, and for those on PlayStation 4, that wait is finally over. Those hoping to play theremasteredMW2campaign on PC and Xbox One, however, will have to wait until April 30th for the game to unlock on their own systems. The reason for this timed-exclusivity is a long-running deal with Sony, and it isn’t the first time Activision have made such an arrangement for itsCall of DutySeries. To help put the latest news into context, here’s a breakdown of the major timed-exclusives in the franchise’s history and how fans reacted to them.
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The Microsoft - Sony Switch
While Sony is the currently the company that benefits from aCall of Dutyexclusives deal, it used to be its chief rival. Way back in 2010, Activision signed a multi-year deal with Microsoft that meant that allCall of Dutyadd-ons and map packs would come to Xbox Live before its competitors.
This deal, which initially covered the DLC ofCall of Duty: Black Opsbefore extending over multiple other titles, was first struck as an agreement between the two companies over theModern Warfare 2Resurgence map pack. This timed exclusivity with one of the biggest game franchises out there was a huge deal for the Xbox 360 and pretty much defined the “console wars” of the time.
The deal continued past the launch of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, applying toCall of Duty: Ghostsin 2013 andAdvanced Warfarein 2014. However, Sony’s apparent supremacy in the new generation gave the company the clout it needed to gainCall of Dutyexclusivity from mid-2015 until the present day.
The Sony Years
There have been five major releases in theCall of Dutyfranchise since it signed the exclusivity deal with Sony, and all have been affected by it in some way. The game that started the deal,Black Ops 3had all its downloadable content released on PlayStation 4 as timed exclusives. Its sequel,Black Ops 4, did the same, as well as giving PlayStation 4 users sole access to the title’s firstmultiplayer beta weekend.
Likewise, the beta for thefuture-techInfinite Warfarealso began as a PlayStation 4 exclusive, as did its DLC expansions. While these early PS4-only events were generally only a week or so long, it was at this point that Activision began to increase the length of its timed-exclusives.
In 2017, it was announced that the DLC packs forCall of Duty: WW2, the series' first ever return to itsroots in the Second World War, would be available to PS4 players a full month ahead of PC and Xbox One players. Unlike recent exclusivity announcements, however, there was little anger from the community at the time. It seems manyCall of Dutyfans had accepted timed DLC exclusives as a part of the franchise, and didn’t find them particularly unfair.
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Modern Warfare Spec Ops
That attitude all changed with the latest - and some fans might say, most egregious - ofActivision’s exclusivity deals, currently imposed onModern Warfare’s Spec Ops Survival mode. As the latest title in theCall of Dutyseries, the soft rebootModern Warfarehas been hailed by many as a return to what made the sub-series great. It was quickly revealed however that the return to the classic series also meant a return to Activision and Sony’s exclusivity policies.
Admittedly, the Spec Ops Survival mode isn’t a huge deal compared to some of thegame-modes and projects attached toModern Warfarethat could have been made exclusive, like Warzone, but what has particularly angered fans is the length of the exclusivity. Spec Ops Survival mode will remain solely available on the PlayStation 4 until October 1st 2020, a full year after its original release. Compounding the issue has been developer Infinity Ward’s dismissive response, with Narrative Director Taylor Kurosaki tweeting that there are “decisions that are above all our pay grades that have to be considered.”
While it’s true that Spec Ops Survival is only one small part of the Spec Ops game-mode, the sheer length of the timed-exclusive is cause for concern amongCall of Dutyfans. What’s worrying many is the idea that the Spec Ops Survival deal may be an experiment of the results of a longer timed-exclusive, and that if those results are financially viable toActivision and Sony, such arrangements may become the norm in the future.
Modern Warfare 2seems to corroborate this and arguably comes at a bad time, given the sheer number of self-isolating games. Regardless, it’ll be interesting to see how this relationship developers over the next few years as the gaming industry moves more toward the next generation of gaming.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remasteredis out now for PS4, with a PC and Xbox One version launching on April 30.
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