After a series of DMCA takedown notices, the existence of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has all but been confirmed by Activision itself.
Several leakers recently started posting images from what is believed to be the next Call of Duty title, which led to Activision sending DMCA takedown notices and copyright strikes in order to get these images off the web. While that, by itself, isn’t much of a news story, the wording of the notices all but confirms the next title in the franchise will be titled Modern Warfare 3, as they state, “leaked content from unreleased video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” as the reason for the takedown.
These copyright strikes from Activision appear to have been sent following a limited alpha playtest, which according to COD News & Leaks, was codenamed “Hailström.” While it’s already been rumoured that the newest Call of Duty, which should be coming from Sledgehammer Games this time around, would be a sequel to 2022’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, it’s pretty comical that Activision would accidentally leak the proof themselves during an attempt to squash the images running rampant online.
The leaks also suggest that players can expect this title to feature what you’d typically expect from a mainline title—campaign, multiplayer, and zombies—while also seeing some scrapped content from Vanguard and remastered versions of the original Modern Warfare 2 maps, Terminal and Scrapyard. This comes following a Jason Schreier report that the next game started as a “premium expansion” and became a “fully-fledged game” later on.
In other news, the 2023 release also appears to allow players’ content to carry over from Modern Warfare II, as the official Twitter page posted a poll asking, “Should #MWII Operators, Weapons and Bundles carry forward into Call of Duty 2023?” The answers to this poll include, “Yes” and “Yes, when is reveal?”, which seems to suggest that this feature is all but confirmed as well.
Finally, actor and singer Luke Charles Stafford recently shared a post on Facebook, per Insider Gaming, that seems to imply some of what players can expect out of Call of Duty 2024, which he claims he’s the main character of: “Activision decided to adapt their next main character, ‘Ratcliffe’ for CALL OF DUTY off of my face/likeness, and I am elated. To all of my college roommates back at Anderson University and those years in Smith Hall Playing Black Ops II… Next year, we can beat the snot out of each other again, but I want to play as me.” The post has since been deleted.
While Activision has confirmed none of what you’ve read above through any formal announcements, the leaked title for Call of Duty 2023 seems pretty likely, while Call of Duty 2024 rumours are apparently getting started early this year.
