As I'm sure you've heard by now, Activision has released a surprise remaster of 2009's Modern Warfare 2. And by "surprise," I mean there was a ton of compelling evidence pointing to existence of the game months ago. And by "remaster of 2009's Modern Warfare 2," I mean a remaster of the game's campaign... there's no multiplayer to be found.
That's right, Modern Warfare 2 Remastered takes players back through the single-player campaign only. This in itself isn't exactly the worst news. After all, the reduced content is reflected in the game's £20 price tag, so it's not like you're paying full whack for half the game you remember. But there's more to the decision than just leaving multiplayer out for the sake of it, according to Activision.
In a new blog post, Activision explained that Modern Warfare 2 Remastered doesn't include multiplayer because it wants to focus on building "one unified online multiplayer playground" with 2019's Modern Warfare reboot.
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"Beginning with Modern Warfare last year, the focus has been to bring players together seamlessly in one unified online multiplayer playground," the publisher wrote.
"With cross-play, releasing new post-launch maps, modes, weapons and more content drops for free, and launching Warzone, the Free-to-Play, Free-for-Everyone new Call of Duty experience, the Modern Warfare universe will expand, bringing new experiences to players."
This tracks with previous reports from a reliable source who claimed the remaster was campaign only so as to support Infinity Ward's ongoing efforts not to split the playerbase - something the developer has been doing by releasing all of the Modern Warfare multiplayer content for free on all platforms at the same time.
This same source also suggested that instead, many of the Modern Warfare 2 maps would be released as part of Modern Warfare's ongoing content drops. We already have the likes of Rust and Shipment, but it sounds like fan-favourites like Terminal and Favela are on the way too.
Sure enough, Activision confirmed as much in its blog post: "Rather than release a separate, multiplayer experience as a standalone pack, Activision and Infinity Ward are looking to bring more classic map experiences to new life within the Modern Warfare universe as it continues to grow and build over time."
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"In the meantime, we can look forward to enjoying this return to the one of the greatest single player experiences ever, beautifully remastered by Beenox. And also continue to enjoy the full Modern Warfare universe experience whether you're jumping into Multiplayer or dropping into Warzone."
In other exciting Modern Warfare-related news, it also sounds like Activision is planning to drop a remastered version of the Modern Warfare 3 campaign later this year. While that's completely unconfirmed at this point, 2019's Modern Warfare does seem to be shaping up as something of a "greatest hits" compilation for the entire franchise, so watch this space.
Featured Image Credit: ActivisionTopics: Modern Warfare 2, Infinity Ward, Call of Duty, Activision