''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II'' is a 2022
first-person shooter game developed by
Infinity Ward
Infinity Ward, Inc. is an American video game developer. They developed the video game '' Call of Duty'', along with seven other installments in the ''Call of Duty'' series. Vince Zampella, Grant Collier, and Jason West established Infinity W ...
and published by
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
. It is the nineteenth installment of the ''
Call of Duty
''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter military video game series and media franchise published by Activision, starting in 2003. The games were first developed by Infinity Ward, then by Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games. Several spin-of ...
'' series, serving as a sequel to
the 2019 reboot of the ''Modern Warfare'' sub-series. The game was released on October 28, 2022, for
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
,
PlayStation 5
The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...
,
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
,
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
, and
Xbox Series X/S
The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are the fourth generation of consoles in the Xbox series, succeeding the previous generation's Xbox One. Released on November 10, 2020, the higher-end Xbox Series X and lower-end Xbox Series S are part o ...
.
Like its predecessor, the game takes place in a realistic and modern setting. The campaign follows multi-national special operations unit Task Force 141 and
Mexican Special Forces unit Los Vaqueros as they attempt to track down terrorist leader Hassan Zyani, who is in possession of American-made
ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are powered only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) typic ...
s. Powered by a new version of the
IW engine
The IW engine is a game engine created and developed by Infinity Ward, with the current iteration developed in its studio in Kraków, Poland for the Call of Duty, ''Call of Duty'' series. The engine was originally based on id Tech 3 by id Softwa ...
, ''Modern Warfare II'' continues to support
cross-platform multiplayer and also features a
free-to-play
"Free-to-play" ("F2P" or "FtP") video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content for free. The term "free-to-play business model" or simply, "free-to-play model", refers collectively to business models tha ...
battle royale
Battle Royale may refer to:
* Battle royale, or battle royal, a fight among many combatants
** Battle royal (professional wrestling)
Fiction and literature
* Battle royale genre, a narrative genre of films, manga, anime and visual novels inspire ...
mode, ''
Warzone 2.0'', a follow-up to the original ''
Warzone
War zone or warzone may refer to a zone of war, or to:
Film and television
* ''The War Zone'', a 1999 film starring Ray Winstone
* ''War Zone'' (film), a 1998 documentary about street harassment directed by Maggie Hadleigh-West
* "War Zone" ('' ...
'', all within a single cross-game launcher, known as ''Call of Duty HQ''.
''Modern Warfare II'' received generally favorable reviews from critics. It was a commercial success and broke several records for the series, including becoming the fastest ''Call of Duty'' game to generate in revenue. A sequel, titled ''
Modern Warfare III'', was released on November 10, 2023.
Gameplay
''Modern Warfare II'' introduces several design improvements and changes to the series gameplay, such as advanced AI systems in the campaign and co-op modes, water physics, swimming mechanics, and an overhauled vehicle system. New gameplay features and movement tactics include dive to prone, mantle, and ledge hang along with the removal of slide canceling. New vehicle gameplay features include leaning out of vehicle windows, mantling onto a vehicle roof, and hijacking.
The levelling and Gunsmith system has been revamped, allowing players to fine-tune specific attachments to suit their playstyles. It also offers weapon platforms that branch progression to reduce repetitiveness, as well as featuring a firing range for practice.
''Modern Warfare II''s multiplayer component features several new game modes: Knockout, in which two teams attempt to capture a package with limited lives; and Prisoner Rescue, in which an attacking team attempts to extract a hostage while a defending team prevents them by fortifying defenses around the hostage.
Third-person game modes were confirmed in September 2022.
The cooperative Special Ops mode also returns, featuring two-player missions.
"Raids", an additional 3-player activity, was added to Special Ops post-launch.
Additional multiplayer modes were also released as part of post-launch seasons, including the 2v2 "Gunfight" mode, which was previously featured in
''Modern Warfare'' (2019) and ''
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War'' (2020).
Like the previous game, ''Modern Warfare II'' features a free-to-play
battle royale game mode called ''
Warzone 2.0'', which is introduced with the first seasonal content update for the game on November 16.
In addition to the traditional battle royale mode, ''Warzone 2.0'' also introduces DMZ, a new extraction game mode in which teams of trios battle against each other as well as AI combatants, while attempting to complete missions and extract loot from the playable map.
''Warzone 2.0'' would later be shortened to ''Warzone'' during Season 4.
Synopsis
Characters and settings
''Modern Warfare II'' is a continuation of the
2019 reboot entry, with the campaign taking place in late 2022. The game takes place in both real and fictional locations, such as the fictional Mexican city of Las Almas,
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
, the
Mexico–United States border
The international border separating Mexico and the United States extends from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from urban areas to deserts. It is the List of ...
,
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...
,
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, Urzikstan, and the new United Republic of Adal (URA), the capital of which, Al Mazrah, serves as a major locale within the campaign and multiplayer modes, as well as the new map for the free-to-play ''
Warzone 2.0''. The game's plot is partly based on real-life events, such as the
assassination of Qasem Soleimani
On 3 January 2020, Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian major general, was Targeted killing, killed by an American drone strike ordered by U.S. president Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq, while travelling to meet Iraqi prime mi ...
.
The central protagonists of the game are Task Force 141, a multi-national special operations unit formed by
SAS Captain John Price (
Barry Sloane
Barry Sloane (born Barry Paul Sloan;''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005''; at ancestry.com 10 February 1981) is an English actor. He has appeared in numerous television shows, and in the RTS Royal Television Socie ...
), comprising: Sergeant Kyle "Gaz" Garrick (
Elliot Knight
Elliot Knight is an English actor. He made his acting debut as the title character on the Sky1 action-adventure series ''Sinbad'' (2012). Continuing to work on television, Knight appeared as a series regular on the BBC One crime drama '' By Any M ...
), Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley (
Samuel Roukin
Samuel Roukin (ROO-kin; born 15 August 1980) is an English actor and DJ. He is best known for his role as John Graves Simcoe in the series, '' Turn: Washington's Spies'' and Simon "Ghost" Riley in ''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II'' and ''Cal ...
), and Sergeant John "Soap" MacTavish (
Neil Ellice
Neil Ellice is a Scottish-English actor, producer, voiceover and motion capture artist. He is best known for his roles as Hunter D-90 in the TV series ''Loki'' and John "Soap" MacTavish in the video games '' Call of Duty: Modern Warfare'' and '' ...
). Throughout the course of the story, Task Force 141 is supported by several allies:
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
Station Chief Kate Laswell (
Rya Kihlstedt
Rya Kihlstedt (born July 23, 1970) is an American actress. She starred in the 1997 comedy film '' Home Alone 3'' as Alice Ribbons. Kihlstedt would go on to appear in the films '' Deep Impact'' (1998), '' Women in Trouble'' (2009) and '' The Atticu ...
), Russian
private military company leader "Nikolai" (
Stefan Kapičić
Stefan Kapičić (; born 1 December 1978) is a Serbian actor best known for his role voicing Colossus in the Deadpool franchise. He is also one of three members of the Council for Film Industry of Montenegro.
Early life
Kapičić was born 1 D ...
), Urzikstan Liberation Force Commander Farah Karim (
Claudia Doumit
Claudia Doumit (born 21 April 1992) is an Australian actress. She portrayed Jiya Marri in the NBC series '' Timeless'' (2016–2018), and is best known for her portrayal of Farah Karim from '' Call of Duty: Modern Warfare'' (2019) and Victoria ...
),
Mexican Special Forces Colonel Alejandro Vargas (Alain Mesa) and Sergeant Major Rodolfo Parra (Bayardo De Murguia), Shadow Company PMC Commander Phillip Graves (
Warren Kole
Warren David Blosjo Jr. (born September 23, 1977) known professionally as Warren Kole, is an American actor known for his role as LAPD Detective Wes Mitchell on the USA Network original series ''Common Law''. He also played Roderick on the FOX o ...
), and
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
General Herschel Shepherd (
Glenn Morshower
Glenn Morshower (born April 24, 1959) is an American actor and inspirational speaker. Known for his distinctive Texas accent, he is well known for playing military and law enforcement roles in both live-action and voice work, particularly Secret ...
). The primary antagonist of ''Modern Warfare II'' is Major Hassan Zyani (Ibrahim Renno), an Iranian
Quds Force
The Quds Force () is one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It specializes in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations. U.S. Army's Iraq War General Stanley McChrystal describes the Quds Fo ...
officer who is allied with the Urzik terrorist organization Al-Qatala, and is supported by the Mexican Las Almas Cartel. The cartel operates under the leadership of ''sicaria'' Valeria Garza (
María Elisa Camargo
María Elisa Camargo (; born in Guayaquil, Ecuador) is an Ecuadorian actress and activist. She started out as a contestant on The X Factor Colombia. She began appearing in musical telenovelas after studying theatre as a child. Her first leading pa ...
), who uses the alias "El Sin Nombre" (lit. ''The Nameless One'').
The Special Ops and Multiplayer post-launch story takes place after the campaign, and features a cast of multi-national operators working under two major factions, SpecGru and KorTac Group, both of which are private military companies. Both factions undertake new covert operations, overseen by Laswell, taking place within the vicinity of Al Mazrah; the operations later expand to the Asia-Pacific island Ashika and the city of Vondel, Netherlands. Notable characters who appear in the post-launch story include: Daniel "Ronin" Shinoda (Thomas Bromhead), an ex-
Special Forces
Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...
fighter; Alex Keller (
Chad Michael Collins
Chad Michael Collins (born September 22, 1979) is an American actor and martial artist. He is best known for his leading role in the ''Sniper'' film series.
Biography
He graduated from college in New York before moving to Los Angeles, Califor ...
), a former CIA officer who joined Farah's army; Hadir Karim (Aidan Bristow), Farah's brother who defected and became an Al-Qatala commander; Nikto (
Gideon Emery
Gideon Emery (born 12 September 1972) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Deucalion in '' Teen Wolf'' and for providing voice-over work in video games, television series and films.
Early life and education
Emery was born to Pau ...
), a former
FSB deep cover agent; Vladimir Makarov (
Julian Kostov
Julian Kostov (born 25 August 1989) is a Bulgarian actor, filmmaker and talent manager. He is best known for his recurring role in the Netflix series '' Shadow and Bone'' (2021), as well as for portraying Vladimir Makarov in '' Call of Duty: Mod ...
), the
Ultranationalist
Ultranationalism, or extreme nationalism, is an extremist form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its specific ...
commander of the Russian PMC Konni Group; and Andrei Nolan (
Nikolai Nikolaeff
Nikolai Nikolaeff is an Australian actor who is best known for his roles in the television series ''Sea Patrol'', ''Power Rangers Jungle Fury'' and '' Daredevil''.
Nikolaeff was born in Melbourne, and is of Russian and Ukrainian descent. He be ...
) and Ivan Alexxeve (
Lev Gorn
Lev Gorn (; born 1971) is a Russian-born American stage, film, and television actor. He is best known for his role as KGB officer Arkady Ivanovich Zotov in ''The Americans''. Later, he had a recurring role as Mikhail Vassily Tal in '' The Enemy W ...
), Konni operatives working for Makarov.
Plot
Campaign
In July 2022, Task Force 141, under the command of General Herschel Shepherd, conducts a surgical missile strike against Russian-backed Iranian forces, assassinating Iranian General Ghorbrani during an arms deal in Al Mazrah. In October, Ghorbrani's lieutenant, Quds Force Major Hassan Zyani, becomes involved in funding terrorist activity and seeks revenge on the United States. Hassan’s activities draw the attention of Shepherd and CIA Station Chief Kate Laswell, who order
Marine Raiders
The Marine Raiders are special operations forces originally established by the United States Marine Corps during World War II to conduct amphibious warfare, amphibious light infantry warfare.
Despite the original intent for Raiders to serve ...
, led by Task Force 141 operatives Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley and Sergeant John "Soap" MacTavish, to apprehend Hassan in Al Mazrah. Ghost and Soap fail to capture Hassan, but discover that he was in possession of an American ballistic missile.
Laswell and Task Force 141 operatives Captain John Price and Sergeant Kyle "Gaz" Garrick pursue one of Hassan's couriers in Amsterdam, learning that Hassan has received protection from and has allied with the Las Almas Cartel, and is currently in Mexico. After a failed attempt to apprehend him at the Mexico–US border,
Mexican Special Forces Colonel Alejandro Vargas and his second-in-command Sergeant Major Rodolfo Parra, alongside their unit Los Vaqueros, participate in a joint operation with Ghost, Soap, and Shadow Company, a PMC under the direct command of Shepherd and led by its CEO, Phillip Graves, to capture Hassan. Although successful, they are forced to release him to avoid political fallout with Iran, as they "lack the definitive evidence needed to arrest him" despite Hassan having crossed over the border illegally, killed several American law enforcement personnel and nearly murdered Rodolfo in a burning building.
Data hacked from Hassan's phone leads Price, Laswell, and Kyle to
Cape Vilan
Cape Vilan () is a rock-bound peninsula on the west coast of Galicia, Spain, located in Costa da Morte ("Coast of Death"), specifically close the village of Camariñas. The place was declared of National Interest in 1933 and today is a Natural Mo ...
, where they discover that Las Almas possessed Russian-made
GPS device
A satellite navigation (satnav) device or GPS device is a device that uses satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS) or similar global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).
A satnav device can determine the user's geographic coordinates ...
s for missiles. When Laswell is captured by Urzik terrorist group Al-Qatala, Price and Kyle track down and save her in Urzikstan, with the aid of their old allies Nikolai and Farah Karim. Meanwhile, Alejandro and Soap manage to capture Las Almas' leader, "El Sin Nombre", revealed to be Alejandro's former special forces comrade Valeria Garza. Valeria reveals that one of the missiles is on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, prompting a raid led by Task Force 141, Shadow Company and Alejandro to prevent its launch. Despite the successful mission, Graves and Shadow Company betray Alejandro and Task Force 141 under Shepherd's orders. Graves captures Alejandro and seizes Los Vaqueros’ base of operations, while Ghost and Soap flee into Las Almas as Shadow Company viciously slaughters its residents in search of Hassan. With help from Rodolfo, Laswell, Price, and Kyle, Ghost and Soap free Alejandro and Los Vaqueros.
Laswell reveals that Shepherd and Graves were responsible for an illegal missile transportation mission in August meant to aid American allies in the Middle East. The transport was ambushed by a Russian PMC known as the Konni Group, with the three ballistic missiles being stolen, forcing Shepherd to cover up the mission's failure. Price confronts Shepherd over the revelations, promising to pursue him when the current threat is eliminated. Task Force 141 and Los Vaqueros succeed in retaking the latter's base and seemingly killing Graves, while also learning from Valeria that Hassan is in Chicago. The team narrowly thwarts Hassan's plan, detonating his missile en route to the Pentagon; Ghost manages to personally kill Hassan by sniping him in the head when he attempts to throw Soap out of a building. In the aftermath, Shepherd has gone into hiding, while Laswell informs 141 of the new leader of the Russian Ultranationalists responsible for Shepherd's botched operation, whom Price identifies as Vladimir Makarov.
In a
mid-credits scene
A post-credits scene (also known as a stinger, end tag, or credit cookie) is a short teaser clip that appears after the closing credits have rolled and sometimes after a production logo of a film, TV show, or video game has run. It is usually i ...
, a Russian terrorist cell prepares to hijack a plane. They receive a text from Makarov, who tells them
not to speak Russian during the hijacking.
Special Ops
Some time after Hassan's death, Laswell starts to oversee new covert operations in Al Mazrah, in an effort to further undermine Al-Qatala activities.
In December 2022, Laswell tasks Price, Kyle, and Farah with investigating the disappearance of former CIA officer Alex Keller, who was sent by Farah alongside several ULF fighters to infiltrate a recently discovered Soviet-era bunker in the Sattiq mountains in Urzikstan. They learn that the bunker houses a Soviet-made thermonuclear missile, while Farah's fighters were killed by Al-Qatala forces. The team heads further into the bunker and finds Alex alive, though the missile warheads were stolen. Alex reveals that Farah's brother, Hadir, has been acting as Al-Qatala's commander, and he left Alex alive to deliver a message: join him in his mission, or leave him be.
As Kyle leaves the facility to relay the information to Laswell, Price and Farah, joined by Alex, pursue Hadir by going further down the bunker, but they are forced to stand down as Hadir and his men surround them. Hadir orders his men to lock up the trio in jail cells, but they manage to escape captivity and resume their pursuit. After securing the core of the Soviet warhead, Price, Farah, and Alex catch up to Hadir and find him trying to escape from the bunker via an elevator; the trio is forced to sabotage the elevator's mechanism in order to stop him. After bringing down the elevator, Price, Farah, and Alex confront a mortally wounded Hadir. Before dying, Hadir tries to persuade Farah to make use of the warhead, warning her that Urzikstan is in danger and that "the real Russians" are coming for them. Afterwards, Price and Kyle exfiltrate from the bunker via helicopter, while Farah, Alex, and the ULF move to dispose of the warhead.
Multiplayer/Warzone
In late 2022, several private military companies begin to move into Al Mazrah, looking to wrestle control of the city from AQ forces as well as each other. At some point, Shadow Company was discovered to be running new operations in Al Mazrah, as well as the Asia-Pacific island Ashika and the elusive underground facility Building 21.
In April 2023, Valeria manages to escape captivity in Las Almas and rallies the Las Almas Cartel to conduct activities in Al Mazrah. Alejandro is recruited by Laswell to thwart the cartel's plans and apprehend Valeria. Later that year, a terrorist attack occurs in the city of Vondel,
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. As its citizens are evacuated, a mysterious special forces group, called the Peacekeepers, moves in and seizes control of the city. Laswell establishes partnership with the Black Mous PMC to investigate the Peacekeepers while working to free Vondel from their grasps. They soon learn that the Peacekeepers are actually the Russian PMC Konni Group in disguise, and the attack on Vondel was orchestrated by them.
In August, Graves, who is revealed to have faked his death, meets with Farah and Alex, and proposes an alliance between Shadow Company and the ULF, as they prepare for an invasion on Al Mazrah from the Konni Group. Under Shepherd's command, Graves leads an assault on the Konni-occupied Zaya Observatory in Al Mazrah as part of ''Operation: Rogue Arsenal''. After destroying the observatory with missile launchers, Shadow Company locates an underground weapons facility containing chemical weaponry and begin extracting gas canisters, but are forced to exfil when the tunnels begin collapsing. However, Konni operatives masquerading as Shadow soldiers manage to infiltrate their ranks and hijack the planes carrying the gas shipment, rendering the operation a failure.
Development
''Modern Warfare II'' was developed by
Infinity Ward
Infinity Ward, Inc. is an American video game developer. They developed the video game '' Call of Duty'', along with seven other installments in the ''Call of Duty'' series. Vince Zampella, Grant Collier, and Jason West established Infinity W ...
alongside a new version of the
battle royale
Battle Royale may refer to:
* Battle royale, or battle royal, a fight among many combatants
** Battle royal (professional wrestling)
Fiction and literature
* Battle royale genre, a narrative genre of films, manga, anime and visual novels inspire ...
title ''
Call of Duty: Warzone'', later revealed to be titled ''
Warzone 2.0'', with both games using a new version of the
IW engine
The IW engine is a game engine created and developed by Infinity Ward, with the current iteration developed in its studio in Kraków, Poland for the Call of Duty, ''Call of Duty'' series. The engine was originally based on id Tech 3 by id Softwa ...
, under a single cross-game launcher known as ''Call of Duty HQ'', which would be later known as the ''Call of Duty'' launcher.
The new upgraded engine features a physically based material system, a new hybrid tile-based streaming system, a new PBR decal rendering system, world volumetric lighting, 4K HDR, as well as a new GPU geometry pipeline.
The game features
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
's proprietary Ricochet Anti-Cheat at launch.
Music
Sarah Schachner
Sarah Schachner is an American composer and musician who has worked on the scores of films, television series and video games.
She was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media for her ...
composed the score for ''Modern Warfare II'', after previously composing the music for
the 2019 reboot and ''
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare'' (2016).
In November 2022, Schachner stepped away from writing further music for the game, citing challenges in the working dynamic with Infinity Ward's audio director as the reason for her departure. In a statement released by her on
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
, she noted that the contents of the official soundtrack release for ''Modern Warfare II'' were "not my artistic intent in regards to mixing and mastering".
The soundtrack for ''Modern Warfare II'' was released digitally on November 25, 2022, featuring 23 tracks from the game's original score and two songs from artists Edison Flood, Destani Wolf, and
Banda MS de Sergio Lizárraga.
Additional music was written for ''Modern Warfare II''s post-launch seasons, in collaboration with
Jason Graves
Jason Graves is an American television, film, and video game music
Video game music (VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound ge ...
(''Warzone''),
Steve Ouimette
Stephen "Steve" Ouimette (born June 18, 1968) is an American rock guitarist. He is known for performing a cover version of the hit song " The Devil Went Down to Georgia" (which was originally by the Charlie Daniels Band) for the video game '' ...
(season 2),
Nainita Desai
Nainita Desai is a British composer of film, television and video game music. She is known for her scores for the films '' For Sama'', ''The Reason I Jump'' and '' American Murder: The Family Next Door'', and video game '' Telling Lies''. In 201 ...
(season 3),
Toby Chu (season 4),
Photek
Rupert Parkes (born 6 September 1971), known as Photek, is a Los Angeles-based British electronic music DJ/record producer, and TV and film score composer. Photek was born and raised in Ipswich, Suffolk, England.
Photek has contributed music ...
(season 5),
Finneas O'Connell
Finneas Baird O'Connell (born July 30, 1997), also known mononymously by his first name (sometimes stylized in all caps), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, he has written and pro ...
and David Marinelli (Gunfight mode's theme),
and
Tyler Bates
Tyler Bates (born June 5, 1965) is an American musician, music producer, and composer for film, television, and video game scores. Much of his work is in the action and horror film genres, with films like '' Dawn of the Dead'', ''300'', ''Suck ...
(season 6).
Canceled expansion pack
In February 2022, ''
Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...
''s
Jason Schreier
Jason Schreier (born May 10, 1987) is an American journalist and author who primarily covers the video game industry. He worked as a news reporter for ''Kotaku'' from 2011 to 2020 and was recognized for several Investigative journalism, investig ...
reported that Activision was intending to, for the first time in nearly two decades, deviate from ''Call of Duty''s annual release cycle, with the publisher opting to delay
Treyarch
Treyarch Corporation ( ; formerly Treyarch Invention LLC) is an American video game developer based in Los Angeles with Additional studio locations in Vancouver, Canada; and Austin, Texas. Founded in 1996 by Peter Akemann and Doğan Köslü, it ...
's next mainline ''Call of Duty'' project from a 2023 release to 2024, following the disappointing commercial performance of ''
Call of Duty: Vanguard'' (2021).
To help fill the gap between releases, Activision planned to ship an
expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion, is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game, collectible card game or Miniature wargaming, miniature wargame. An expansion may introduce new rules ...
for ''Modern Warfare II'' in late 2023, assigning
Sledgehammer Games
Sledgehammer Games, Inc. is an American video game developer company formed in 2009 by Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey. The pair formerly worked at EA Redwood Shores and are responsible for the creation of ''Dead Space (2008 video game), Dead ...
to lead the production of the project.
The expansion was intended to feature a new single-player campaign—which was planned to be set in Mexico
—along with new content for ''Modern Warfare II''s multiplayer component.
By Summer 2022, however, Activision chose to shift the project's direction, turning it into a direct, fully-fledged sequel to ''Modern Warfare II'', titled ''Modern Warfare III''.
In July 2023, following a series of leaks—reported to have emerged from an internal alpha build of ''Modern Warfare III''—Activision confirmed that all ''Modern Warfare II'' operators, weapons, and cosmetic bundles would be available to use in ''Modern Warfare III''.
Marketing
Reveal
In February 2022, Activision confirmed that a sequel to ''
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare'' would be released later that year, alongside a new iteration of ''
Call of Duty: Warzone''.
The game's title, ''Modern Warfare II'', was revealed in April 2022.
A month later, Activision released another teaser, which featured the key arts of the main characters of the game, as well as a release date of October 28, 2022.
On June 2, 2022, a live-action trailer was released, on the same day,
Steam
Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
responded to a tweet from the official ''Call of Duty''
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
account, strongly suggesting the game would be released on
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
via the Steam platform, in addition to
Battle.net.
The first trailer for the game was released on June 8, showcasing gameplay from the campaign mode, as well as confirming the game's release on Steam, Battle.net, and the
eighth
Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight.
Eighth may refer to:
* One eighth, , a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole
* Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet)
* Octave, an interval b ...
and
ninth generation consoles.
''Modern Warfare II'' marks the first time since 2017's ''
Call of Duty: WWII'' that a ''Call of Duty'' title released on the Steam platform.
In September 2022, Activision held the "Call of Duty Next" showcase where they revealed a multiplayer gameplay trailer, details on the Spec Ops mode, ''
Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0'', and the DMZ extraction game mode.
Release
The multiplayer beta for ''Modern Warfare II'' started for
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
and
PlayStation 5
The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...
players on September 16, and for
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
,
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
, and
Xbox Series X/S
The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are the fourth generation of consoles in the Xbox series, succeeding the previous generation's Xbox One. Released on November 10, 2020, the higher-end Xbox Series X and lower-end Xbox Series S are part o ...
players on September 22. The beta officially ended on September 26 at 3pm EDT across all platforms before the launch on October 28, 2022.
Pre-orders of all editions grant "early" access to the open multiplayer beta. The Vault Edition grants access to a "Red Team 141" operator pack, a "FJX Cinder Weapon Vault" pack, plus access to the Battle Pass of a Season for ''Modern Warfare II'' (dependent on the time of purchase), and double XP tokens. In addition, the Vault Edition also included the "Ghost Legacy Pack", which granted 12 Ghost operator skins and 10 weapon blueprints for the
M4A1
The M4 carbine (officially Carbine, Caliber 5.56 mm, M4) is a 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifle developed in the United States during the 1980s. It is a shortened version of the M16A2 rifle, M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is extensively used by ...
assault rifle for use in ''
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare'' and ''
Call of Duty: Warzone''. Unlike the previous cross-gen titles, ''Modern Warfare II'' offers no standard editions for the eighth-generation consoles, but only a cross-gen edition for all platforms, in addition to the Vault Edition. Pre-ordering also granted early access to the campaign a week earlier on October 20.
Post-launch content
Similar to the previous titles, ''Modern Warfare II'' employs both the
battle pass
In the video game industry, a battle pass or rewards track is a type of monetization approach that provides additional content for a game usually through a tiered system, rewarding the player with in-game items for playing the game and complet ...
system and an
in-game
A virtual world (also called a virtual space or spaces) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many simultaneous users who can create a personal avatar and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its acti ...
store where players can purchase cosmetic bundles using the "COD Points" microtransaction currency, while free content, such as new maps and weapons, are provided on a regular basis with "Season" updates.
In addition, Activision also partners with celebrities and other media franchises to feature licensed characters in the multiplayer component and ''Warzone 2.0''. Notable additions to the playable roster include:
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
players
Paul Pogba
Paul Labile Pogba (born 15 March 1993) is a French professional footballer who is a free agent. He primarily plays as a central midfielder.
Born in Lagny-sur-Marne, Pogba joined the youth team of Ligue 2 side Le Havre in 2007. He joined Ma ...
,
Neymar
Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (; born 5 February 1992), also known as Neymar Júnior or simply Neymar, is a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a left winger, attacking midfielder or Forward (association foo ...
, and
Lionel Messi
Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...
;
Shredder from the ''
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (''TMNT'') is an American media franchise created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), D ...
'' franchise;
basketball player
Kevin Durant
Kevin Wayne Durant (born September 29, 1988), also known by his initials KD, is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Durant has won two List of NBA champions, NBA champ ...
;
online streamer
An online streamer or live streamer is a type of social media influencer who broadcasts themselves online through a live stream to an audience.
History
Streaming arose in the early 2010s, originating on sites like YouTube where users could upl ...
s
Nickmercs and
TimTheTatman
Timothy John Betar (born April 8, 1990), better known as TimTheTatman, is an American live streamer and YouTube personality.
Career
Betar started streaming on Twitch (service), Twitch in 2012 and has amassed over seven million followers sinc ...
;
Starlight
Starlight is the light emitted by stars. It typically refers to visible electromagnetic radiation from stars other than the Sun, observable from Earth at night, although a component of starlight is observable from Earth during daytime.
Sunlig ...
,
Homelander
The Homelander (John Gillman)Darick Robertson, Robertson, Darick; Adam McKay, McKay, Adam (March 10, 2015 in comics, 2015) ''The Boys (comics), The Art of The Boys: The Complete Covers'' Dynamite Entertainment.Nelson Cragg, Cragg, Nelson; Monahan ...
, and
Black Noir
Black Noir is the name of three characters from the comic book series '' The Boys'', created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, and the television series and franchise of the same name, developed by Eric Kripke. In both the comic and televisi ...
from
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...
's ''
The Boys'' TV series;
rappers
Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing b ...
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...
,
Nicki Minaj
Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her ...
, and
21 Savage
Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph (born October 22, 1992), known professionally as 21 Savage, is an American-British rapper. Born in London and raised in Atlanta, he began his recording career in 2013 and released three independent mixtapes to regiona ...
;
Lara Croft
Lara Croft is a character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise ''Tomb Raider''. She is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic British adventurer and archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins arou ...
from the ''
Tomb Raider
''Tomb Raider'', known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an Action-adventure game, action-adventure video game series created by British video game developer Core Design. The franchise i ...
'' franchise;
Spawn
Spawn or spawning may refer to:
* Spawning, the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals
Arts, entertainment and media
* Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise
** ''Spawn: Armageddon' ...
from the comic book series of the same name;
Skeletor
Skeletor () is a fictional supervillain and the main antagonist of the ''Masters of the Universe'' franchise created by Mattel, serving as the archenemy of He-Man and usually depicted as a skull-faced, blue-skinned Magic_(supernatural)#Magicians, ...
from the ''
Masters of the Universe
''Masters of the Universe'' (sometimes referred to as the ''He-Man'' or ''She-Ra'' series) is a sword and planet-themed media franchise created by Mattel. The main premise revolves around the conflict between He-Man (the alter ego of Prince A ...
'' franchise;
Ash Williams
Ashley Joanna "Ash" Williams is a fictional character and the protagonist of the '' Evil Dead'' franchise. Created by Sam Raimi, he is portrayed by Bruce Campbell and is the only character to appear in each entry of the series, including a po ...
from the ''
Evil Dead
''Evil Dead'' is an American horror franchise created by Sam Raimi consisting of five feature films and a television series. The series follows various characters as they battle demonic forces unleashed by an ancient book called the ''Necrono ...
'' franchise;
Alucard
Alucard (the anadrome of "Dracula") may refer to:
Characters
* Alucard (''Castlevania''), a character in the vídeo game series ''Castlevania''
* Alucard (''Hellsing''), the main character of the manga series ''Hellsing''
* Count Alucard (char ...
from the ''
Hellsing
''Hellsing'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano. It was serialized in Shōnen Gahōsha's Seinen manga, manga magazine ''Young King OURs'' from April 1997 to September 2008, with its ...
'' manga and anime series; Lilith and Inarius from
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California, and a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Originally founded in 1991, the company is best known for producing the h ...
's ''
Diablo IV
''Diablo IV'' is a 2023 Online game, online-only Action role-playing game, action role-playing dungeon crawling game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth main installment in the ''Diablo (series), Diablo'' series. ...
'';
and the Sardaukar from the film ''
Dune
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...
'' and its sequel ''
Dune: Part Two''.
Additional themed cosmetic items were also released, based on the ''
Crash Bandicoot
''Crash Bandicoot'' is a video game franchise originally developed by Naughty Dog as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. It has seen numerous installments created by various developers and published on multiple platforms. The series c ...
'' and ''
Doom
Doom is another name for damnation.
Doom may also refer to:
People
* Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed
* Daniel Doom (1934–2020), Belgian cyclist
* Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitche ...
'' franchises.
Reception
''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II'' received "generally favorable" reviews, according to
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
.
''
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' called the campaign "a greatest hits list for the series", praising the amount of player freedom in missions and the variety of locales,
but criticizing the multiplayer's gun customization as overly complex and that the mode as a whole "
eltlacking".
Sales
''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II'' became the fastest-selling ''Call of Duty'' game of all time.
The game earned in revenue in its first three days of release,
and within 10 days, surpassing the series previous record-holders, 2011's ''
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3'' and 2012's ''
Black Ops II
''Call of Duty: Black Ops II'' is a 2012 first-person shooter game developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on November 13, 2012, and for the Wii U on November 18 in N ...
''.
It was the best-selling game of the US in 2022.
In the United Kingdom, ''Modern Warfare II'' became the best-selling game in its first week of release.
In Japan, the PlayStation 4 version of ''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II'' sold 24,371 physical copies within its release week, making it the second bestselling retail game of the week in the country. The PlayStation 5 version sold 17,710 physical copies in Japan throughout the same week, placing it at number six on the all-format video games sales chart.
Awards
Sequel
A sequel to ''Modern Warfare II'', titled ''
Modern Warfare III'', was released on November 10, 2023.
Notes
References
External links
*
{{The Boys
Activision games
Modern Warfare 2
''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2'' is a 2009 First-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision. It is the sixth installment in the Call of Duty, ''Call of Duty'' series and the direct seque ...
First-person shooters
PlayStation 4 games
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Video game reboots
Video game sequels
2022 video games
Video games about the illegal drug trade
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