Call of Duty: Activision Shuts Down a Fan-Made Project; Modern Warfare II To Bring Back a Classic Map

Activision has sent a cease and desist letter to a small studio that has been working for years on a Call of Duty project. This fan-made sm² project was built by fans of the original Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, which came out in 2009. The developers had shifted from the original game’s engine (IW4) to the Modern Warfare Remastered engine (H1) only a month ago due to technical reasons. Now, the small group of developers has eventually shut down their development.

The project was built to offer the best bits of all Call of Duty games since MW2, and they were developing it for the last two years. The sm² project also released several videos on YouTube, highlighting the progress they have made.

Call of Duty’s old map to return

Infinity Ward multiplayer design director Geoff Smith has teased that an old Call of Duty map will soon make its way to Modern Warfare II. He told Dexerto, “We’re bringing an older one back that some [Call of Duty League] guys, they really liked when they were at our office. We pivoted around and that’s coming pretty soon.”

Smith also addressed the criticism faced by Infinity Ward for bringing back old maps instead of introducing new ones. Smith hit back at that by saying that when the studio does bring new maps, they are not accepted by the fans who prefer old maps.

He said, “It feels almost like it takes some time to get used to something new. Then suddenly two years later they’re like, ‘Oh man, Hackney Yard was a great map,’ but during the launch of it you’re like ‘That was a piece of crap.’ You build those memories with your friends and eventually, you have these rose-tinted glasses of these maps.”

Shipment Map was an accident

Smith also let slip that one of the loved maps of the franchise, Shipment, was added as an accident. The inclusion of a map featuring empty shipping containers was “truly an accident”, said Smith. Shipment was introduced as a map in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare at launch, back in 2007.

He said that the map was designed solely for split-screen multiplayer but got added to the “playlist script” for internal testing. However, the multiplayer lead at that time forgot to remove the map from the playlist. “Our MP lead at the time, when we went live, forgot to [pull] it out and there was no going back,” Smith said.

Black Ops 4 early cutscenes revealed

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 was released as a multiplayer-only title that did not feature a single-player campaign. Now, a minute-long video has surfaced online that shows early weapon animations, first-person cutscenes, 3D animations, and more. These are cutscenes and animations from Black Ops 4’s cancelled 2v2 career campaign.