Activision Blizzard’s new quarterly report reveals fantastic numbers for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. As a player, however, the release was a little different – bumpy and unfinished. Why is the shooter still breaking franchise records?
How successful was CoD MW2? The new quarterly report reveals broken records for Modern Warfare 2 for the premium titles in the series, i.e. the annual paid titles (via investor.activision.com). The latest shooter in the series can set two big exclamation marks here:
Activision Blizzard does not give exact figures, but comparisons are made with the values from previous years. After 2 rather weak years, Call of Duty is growing again, which also applies to the Blizzard games.
The approximately 60% increase in income compared to the previous year from the operative business for the Activision part of the company is exciting. A real house number and since Activision consists almost entirely of Call of Duty, the increase is almost entirely due to the franchise.
Warzone or CoD: Mobile also count here. But the direction is clear. The release of CoD MW2 was really bad in the eyes of many players – how does that fit together?
With Season 2, Warzone 2 comes with a new map. Check out the teaser here:
CoD Warzone 2: Ashika Island – Teaser
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How did the release of CoD MW2 go? We followed the release closely on MeinMMO, spent a lot of time in the community and maintained a server down article for a long time. Because the servers were very changeable the entire first weekend.
There was also great criticism of the missing features that were actually included in every CoD release. In the beginning you couldn’t see any statistics – in Warzone 2 this is still not possible today.
The lack of hardcore modes was also a big disappointment. They are only coming with Season 2, which has been postponed for 2 weeks. In addition, the first content drops from Season 1 for CoD MW2 consisted of two old maps that were warmed up.
On top of that came the usual little bugs, glitches and bugs that accompany almost every major release.
Overall, the release went as bad as it hasn’t done in years. Especially with the server problems, you didn’t reach the usual CoD level, sometimes you couldn’t play for a long time or invite your friends to the squad.
You can read what is already known for Season 2 here:
CoD MW2 & Warzone 2: Season 2 comes with a new Rebirth map – release, update, weapons
So why was CoD MW2 so successful? Call of Duty is an incredibly large franchise with annual full-price titles. It falls short to only look at one year. Because for many players, 2022 was another CoD year to look forward to.
Call of Duty landed the coup in 2019 with the reboot of Modern Warfare. Along with the release of Call of Duty: Mobile (before) and Call of Duty: Warzone (after), new standards were set. After the problem CoD Black Ops 4 (2018), the turnaround was achieved with a reboot.
Similar factors are now playing a role again. We live in an era of “sequels,” whether in gaming or other parts of the media landscape. Many CoD MW 2019 players were just waiting for the successor to come. And were rewarded.
In addition, there is the “Warzone effect”. The first part of the free Battle Royale used the technology of CoD MW 2019 and attracted many millions of new players to the world of Call of Duty. Warzone 2 uses the technology of CoD MW2 and all these players already knew the advantages of owning the premium title MW2 in Warzone.
It was a calculable success that could have been even better. Then with the lousy release, CoD MW2 got in its own way.
What’s next? It’s currently harder to assess than ever with Call of Duty. A very credible report has been circulating for a long time that no completely new CoD will appear in 2023.
Activision writes in the latest report: “Across the Call of Duty franchise, our teams are working to amplify the success of the fourth quarter, with our plans for 2023, including even more engaging live services across all platforms and the next full annual premium -Release in the Blockbuster series”.
There is currently a debate about what that could mean. Some clearly see the announcement of a new CoD title here. The author of the “No CoD 2023” report, journalist Jason Schreier, goes on to say that this could be more of DLC content, not a standalone CoD.
The first theories are already emerging that the next CoD reboot is coming up soon and that the popular Black Ops series is daring to restart. Given the successes of Modern Warfare, that might actually be an option.
What is your opinion on the topic? Leave a comment on the topic. Would you rather read more about CoD, have a look here: CoD Warzone 2 breaks with old damage rules – Some weapons are 40% stronger than in CoD MW2 multiplayer