Activision Renames Modern Warfare 2 Again, Slaps Call Of Duty Back On The Box

@ReconToaster.: Call of Duty 6 Modern Warfare 2 you mean. Just because you hate Treyarch doesn't mean they don't exist.

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: very nice!

@Babelfish: Soap may have been wounded at the end of COD4, but I'm pretty sure they said he didn't die.

@Babelfish: Well I mean just because they're dead doesn't mean their existence in the world has disappeared. They're still entities, memories. The evil faction still exists, I guess, and some of the characters survived.

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: I'd buy 2 of those. Then set them on fire.

†Satanyoka†

they did not rename it. they threw a COD logo on the box so people know it's the followup to COD4. think of the logo as more within the realm of decorations... ones with a very practical purpose

laflotte

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: I thought on first glance it read, "Tom Hanks' Call of Duty..." I guess I was still thinking of the Bachelor Party and Splash star from his appearance on The Colbert Report's USO special and of all the war movies he's done (being a "fake war veteran"). Here's a marketing strategy, you money publishing marketing people: more celebrity endorsements! John Leguizamo's Saint Row! Kiefer Sutherland's Mass Effect! Margaret Cho's Final Fantasy! C'mon, give those celebrities something to plug on those talk shows!

Guess they wanted to break it off into it's own series. But it probably became problematic, since if you want to play Call of Duty and you're not "in the know" then you may skip it. As much as I'd hate to have Call of Duty end up with 100 spin offs like Command and Conquer has several branches right now, but it's still Call of Duty.

TheCodexx

I'm glad they reattached the COD name....not that the game needed help selling units, but this has got to give it a boost in the "uneducated consumer" demographic, and more sales equals more players on line, so I'm happy.

jcb231

@KanSer: Grand Theft Auto went from III to IV despite having Vice City and San Andreas in between. Same idea here for making MW2 the official Call of Duty 5, given World at War wasn't assigned a number.

I guess the lack of COD makes more sense plot-wise, but the addition of COD will make more money money-wise. So go figure.

iFOREIGNi

whats the big deal if they use the call of duty name or not still the same game in the end

Rameez Arif

@DigiMish: agree with the comment about how half-assed this looks. I think about 50% of the internet could have done that exact same thing with photoshop.

Skyman747

perhaps this entire fiasco was probably purposely created by activision thus creating more attention for the game and thinking they'd get more sales?

Gametraders and EB still have "Halo: Recon" display boxes, even though it's Halo: ODST now.

This is what the box will look like? Seriously? No way. I don't buy it.

estheme

and now it will be the beginning of people calling it Call of Duty 6

PeteeWJ

Saw it coming a mile away.

bluedeviltron

@ReconToaster.: Not to be a dick but Call of Duty 6.

KanSer

It is extremely clear why the change. Brand Association, people subconsciously need to see "Call of Duty" , this makes want purchase it more.

Fox Hound

This really bums me out. I like Modern Warfare 2 much better.

Yet again, Activision ruins everything. Everyone act surprised.

@Spoony Bard: Well, given how conservative gamers have been shown to be (choosing time and time again the familiarity of sequels over worthy new IP), perhaps, on top of just promoting the COD name, Activision got the willies and decided to slap the COD brand on this one to ensure name recognition for the more "casual crowd." Everyone knows the yearly COD is basically a money farm, and I can see Activision wanting to milk the brand for all that they can. Removing COD from the title is very risky in that respect *Edit- sorry Mcmax3000, I see you basically said the same thing as me about 1.5 hours earlier. No idea how I missed your comment.

Bialia

Damn, I preferred it more when IW was leaving COD to Treyarch because it felt all martyr-like and badass. Now this just feels like any other game that I most definitely will buy on release.

@The Red Comet: The characters remain the same? Despite the fact that both of the main characters died? Okay!

Shouldn't have taken Call Of Duty out of the title to begin with.

K1NG EV1L

Definitely brand awareness. Nobody pays attention to subtitles of the games. People just remember Call of Duty 4. Everyone I knew thought Call of Duty: World at War was the sequel, and why shouldn't they?

noelix

I never liked the way the 2 looks on the logo, it's far too discreet!

@Comban will Ban you.: Hahahaha. If I wasn't already following you, I would be now. Every post of yours that I've read has made me laugh. Keep it up!

KesMonkey

If they REALLY want to connect with today's gamer and branding recognition, they should just cut through it all and go with:
CoDMW2FTWlolpwn3d.

@Comban will Ban you.: Hearted my boy, hearted.

I figured Activision would do this after their survey showed that half the people failed to recognize Modern Warfare 2 because it was missing the Call of Duty logo. The logo looks really out of place on that boxart - like someone just carelessly photoshopped it in there, but I also understand that Activision wants to make as much money on this game and have it be the number one entertainment launch in the history. Without the Call of Duty logo, I just don't see that happening no matter how good the game is... sadly.

@DarellCachanilla: There are more like, 10 Call of Duty games.

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: That's fantastic, but lets not give them any ideas :S Also I'm assuming you'll be able to do tricks off of flaming helicopter wreckage while the crowd cheers you on in Russian.

@Spoony Bard: I think you're probably right about that one. I can see Activision wanting the CoD name on the box because of the brand recognition that is out there at this point. While I liked the Modern Warfare 2 name on its own, I think keeping the Call of Duty name is a good business decision on Activision's part.

I think everyone sort of expected them to capitalize on the fact that it is "A Call of Duty" game. At least they cut back from what it was originally going to be: "Call of Duty 5: Modern Warfare 2."

ReconToaster.

Haha cool, I just noticed how clean the new post place are. I love it

Gotta keep that Call of Duty franchise name viable. How else will Activision dupe people into buying Call of Duty: Smash Hits in Q2 2011?

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: Ah yes. The Dynasty Warriors: Gundam model.

@Comban will Ban you.: Dude, as I said before, feeling random? It's okay, sometimes the randomness just overtakes us. Just as water covers are entire being as we submerge in it. Randomness effects certain people to varying degrees. Sometimes, an instance of random makes people do silly things. I'm sure you can recount a plethora of memories regarding war buddies doing silly things. You know, when you were on care bear lines, watching for the enemy and your bud pulled out a knife and you and him did unbiblical things with said knife and yea... you know. Sometimes the effects of randomness make us do terrible things. Such as one time when my friend was talking to me, I suddenly pulled out a gun and shot him in the foot. He pleaded to me as I stood above me, gun in hand. I sense his pain and wanted to reconcile my terrible, foot destroying deed but all I could do was laugh at him... It was the random monsters fault I tell you, not mine... So, how would you like your eggs? Abused and disfigured or physically enhanced?

There's not a single person out there who thought it was a good idea to lose the COD moniker. It was especially crappy to take it away from Infinity Ward, who created the franchise. Now the question is, will the next Treyarch game be simply called "World at War 2"? It was clear after COD4 that there would never be a game called COD5. It was smart of them to branch them off into separate franchises. They had been doing fine putting out a new COD game every year so I'm not sure why they felt they had to ditch the name on MW2. Maybe it would've allowed each game to get more support. World at War got 2 map packs where COD4 only had one even though it was (and still is) a way more popular game. There was even a map design contest for COD4 that resulted in absolutely nothing. In any case I'm glad IW got their franchise back. It would've been a shame for them to lose sales while the inferior Treyarch titles (not to knock Treyarch, their entries are still solid) get the benefit of the brand IW established.

@Babelfish: They mean sequel as in following the same plot elements. CoD1 and CoD2 had different characters and different parts of WW2, whereas this is a fictional event and the characters and plot points remain the same.

This looks to me like a tussle between Activision and Infinity Ward. IW wants to distance themselves from the COD franchise since Activision insists on making inferior products in the COD name, so this way IW could get away from that. However, I always suspected Activision wouldn't take this lying down and are making sure that this new game continues to promote the COD brand and not the "MW" brand alone.

If they simply just left the title COD:MW2, and never mentioned dropping it ever, people wouldn't be making a big deal of this, at all. Oh lovely internet.

wtf_G

@Nevest356: No mo fo Co Co?

Honestly, I think its mostly about creating hype. Of course this could be a way of getting rid of the COD name in a backwards way, they create the madness so people will register that Modern Warfare and COD are different by the time MW3 comes out, without the COD title.

tikibomb

@hot_heart: lol yeah,I only noticed I left out the apostrophe after the fifteen minute editing period had passed. Fail

@patapon: Even after seeing you had edited your post I found it highly puzzling and with an abusive overtone. As a result I think I should impart upon you some of my grand knowledge I have collected over the years to lul you into a more calm and happy state. Did you know that cyanide is in fact a poison that operates by inhibiting the process of aerobic respiration by attaching itself to both the oxygen and water compounds to prevent the creation of energy. Although this may be incorrect as I am basing this off a combination of both memory of some basic Biology combined with various readings and wikipedia. Regardless its well known that high levels of glucose within ones system can reduce the effectiveness in Cyanide and is often cited as one of the reasons as to why Rasputin wasn't effected by cyanide poisoning as he had been consuming large amounts of sugar within the various wines he was so partial towards. I once went on a wine tour and accidentally broke open one of the barrels, it spilt all over a young calf which was walking by. The calf became intoxicated as a large amount of the wine spilt into his mouth, and as a result it stumbled into the electric fence and was unable to move away from it. No long term damage was suffered but all who witnessed the event were either outraged, enlightened or amused. Have you ever milked a cow only to discover it was a bull creating your disturbingly angry disposition and random abuse that you inflict towards others upon the internet??

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: Who is this Tony Hawks guy? The English comedian? Sorry. Had to do it =p

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: no see this is when you have a generation of morons that are incapable of simple logic. all the developers were trying to do is distance themselves from ww2 and treyarch.

@Boom-Chicka-Ah: You really don't want to lose that star, do you? =P

njd09

@Brandon: Pfft,everyone knows Ubisoft own the rights to the Tom Clancy's prefix....mainly why I use it in My Kotaku name,take that Ubisoft!Youl never silence me!

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: Man, no wonder Activision didn't respond to my "2 Modern 2 Warfare" idea.

celery

@Comban will Ban you.: Feeling random today? I suggest you down a vile of cyanide... That always makes the jitters go away. Ask my friend Michael Jackson (pulls out carcass) He can do Thriller for relz this time

This works for a lot of games. Like...Shin Megami Tensei. Without the game saying Shin Megami Tensei: "---" nobody would buy it even though they're great games. Oh. Wait. I've made a huge mistake.

Alucrid

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: you should have done a Tom Clancy's Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2

@Dangeresque the Observer: Isnt that the game by Stephen King?

smart

Sullyville

The "Call of Duty" was dropped because Infinity Ward didn't want to associate themselves with Treyarch I'm sure. Now I think Activision has stepped in and told them to strap the moniker back on.

ctorrans

COD. Also known as cash on delivery!

spikespeigel

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: Finally, a true rival to "Clive Barker's Clive Barker's Jericho by Clive Barker".

The first "true sequel"? So, uh... what was CoD2?

"Is it possible that we're just seeing the repercussions of the sort of in-house-versus-external development of a game that analysts say cause friction at big publishers?" Wouldn't that require there to be an external development team involved then?

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: Well done sir.

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: But, I always thought there were no heroes in war ):

Alternate

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: Holy shit this is genius.

Having been a war veteran myself when seeing these games it brings back some grand memories. The war I fought in was the great carebear scuffle of 1985. Many a rainbows were blasted from the bare tattooed stomachs of those thuggish brutes. Upon ripping them apart with my bayonet handfuls of gold dubloons would spill out onto the ground. The money I gathered from the slain carebears helped me pay for the production of the movie in their honour. It also recieved a reasonably warm critical response considering it was another 80's cartoon that was primarily used as a means of advertising a toy line. This was quite surprising to me as I thought my voice over work would surely be the undoing of any possible critical praise the film might have been able to recieve. How do you feel about scrambled eggs? Abused and disfigured or physically enhanced?

Well...The box to me looks good. The name resonates with more people, as well. This should work in their favor, regardless of personal preference.

I'm so fucking sick of Twitter. -_-

Dropping the CoD brand was a numbskull move to begin with. I assume the bonehead who spearheaded that idea has been sacked, with good cause.

Druffmaul

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: No Pitfall Harry?

Mentuss

Call of Duty: Post-Modern Warfare is next so the number system can start over again.

Sounds like a smart move in terms of brand awareness. I still don't understand why they thought it would be a good idea to remove Call of Duty from the name in the first place.

I'm predicting the final box to read, "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Part Deux", thanks to Vivendi. I guess the naming convention can get a little confusing if you've got two developers alternating on the same series, with one dev favored more than the other.

Pizookie

from the looks of that, I'd say that it would look better with either the Call of Duty the same width as the modern warfare, or it removed altogether, the middle ground looks well not good lol I would say that the publishers feared that the sheer amount of people who just bought CoD4 on a whim shows that maybe it's Call of Duty the people want to buy, and not just Modern Warfare. To us, we know that modern warfare would be the direct sequel to cod4, but would the average consumer? that is the question

God, I just got a headache.

Raspberyl's Lover

Here Ya Go Activision.This ones a freebie,exploit away

The Dark Knight suffered badly from not having 'batman' in the title.

adgeman

The average consumer is incredibly stupid and cannot figure out that this is a sequel to CoD4. If Bungie had called Halo:ODST or Halo:Reach just 'ODST' or 'Reach' 'the mainstream' would get confused and they would probably lose a million sales.

I'm sure they don't wanna miss day 1 numbers because frat boy ears only perk up to "Call of Duty"

slamdance

Activision : we're making COD:MW2 but lets just call it MW2 because if we make the fourth game in this series it'll prolly be COD:MW:ToV (Tales of Valor (just playing along)) Consumer who doesn't read up: What's MW2? Some sort of Monster Hunter spinoff? Monster World? Activision: Hmm seems we have created a brand - better stick the label on.

Yeah, that is kinda cheesy. Seems like they were trying to go without relying on the branding.....or if they really were going to do this all along, they sure didnt plan this very welll....either way I knew about the game, and most people who had the 1st one did too...but they looking for John Q. Newbie, which is cool. They deserve bulletholes too. W00T.

If I were IF I would just leave Activision. I mean, it wouldn't be a problem finding a publisher.

Knew this was bound to happen. They don't want to go far from the whole "Call of Duty" name.

ShinRyuKakashin

Yes, I'm interested in what the stars have to say on this one!!! /sarcasm

Ness

@raffleking: I think it's time for Activision to do away with the numbering of COD games altogether and just use subtitles, which then can all have sequels in their own right. That's the way the Battlefield series does it now.

Mentuss

"the call of duty universe" Something about calling a series of ww2 games being given its own canon just sounds off to me.

Daftmouse

Grenade of Grenade 4: Grenade Warfare 2

@zach a mac rack alack: Well, I guess they get around this by setting each one in a different point in time. Such as certain parts of World War 2 and now modern warfare. From my perspective, each part that they do is an accurate portrayal. like in modern times, the threat of terrorism is showcased. And even in their WW 2 setting, you feel the reality of fighting Nazis and zombies. All real my friend, all real.

I kind of wish they would have just left it as Modern Warfare 2, but I can understand why they wouldn't. Heck, I have a hard time calling it Modern Warfare 2. It feels so natural to pop that Call of Duty tag in front of it.

I don't think they would have had that large of an issue with brand awareness. Working at Gamestop, we've gotten plenty, tons actually, of preorders for Modern Warfare 2. Easily more than any other title coming in the remainder of this year, including Madden and Halo ODST.

I thought Activision would of let them go ahead with what I thought to be a classy decision, but I guess not. It doesn't bug me too much, most people still referred to it as the new Call of Duty anyhow. Let's just hope they change up that boxart before it launches. The guy showing off those display boxes on his Twitter isn't very encouraging.

@Paradox me: "Sea of Dreams" was actually just the title of that one trailer. The developers had said they like to name their trailers and had no intention of giving Bioshock 2 a subtitle. Regardless, you are right. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 isn't as bad as Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams

Waterspoison

Well we were never officially told the name wouldnt include call of duty, we only assumed this from the trailers

@sandal-hat is confused by the new Kotaku: Yeah, I too prefer the old. But at least now you can edit! ^,^ Except in your case...

@NeoStarr: Eh. The events are a direct continuation of Modern Warfare, so I guess since that was a Call Of Duty game, it constitutes as in the Call Of Duty universe. Totally get what you mean though, seeing as how it's primarily a WWII series. Marketing speak ftl =\

Andrew Testerman

It's because the Uniformed consumer might not realize MW2 was the sequel to COD4 without the COD name on the box. Say a Kid tell his mom to buy him the new COD game, the mom goes to a store and doesn't find MW2 because of the lack of the series name.

wow that must the most ridiculous and annoying game news i have read. Not saying ur job is ridiculous or what you're doing is ridiculous just the whole switcheroo crap is ridiculous and annoying. *just making that clear

@(Zombie) Jolan: LMAO!

Making spin off sequels to things that were already sequels in their own right is always going to be a naming nightmare. Imagine if Lucasarts had named Their Jedi Knight games the same way... Anyone for a game of Dark Forces IV: Jedi Knight III: Jedi Outcast II: Jedi Academy?

Mentuss

Totally a branding issue. It makes sense, seeing how every single slang for the game was some variation of COD4 and not "Modern Warfare," but I'm curious about how Infinity Ward feels about this decision; I know they wanted to have their own brand independent of the COD label in order to avoid confusion. Still, it could just be like the Need For Speed series was: Need For Speed 3: Hot Pursuit, followed by Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2.

Andrew Testerman

@Kasuli: How would 3 words separate it from the WWII franchise? Didn't Call of Duty 4 do enough to separate itself from WWII without dropping the Call of Duty name?

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: Call of Duty Hero. Someone at Activision just took notice!

I just hope that's not the final box art - the composition is really really bad.

@Paradox me: Not necessarily, because I think Infinity Ward wanted to distance themselves from the Call of duty franchise so they could be looked upon as their own entity. I don't blame them either: when I think Call of Duty, I think WWII themed warfare.

'Sides, it would have been weird to call it Call of Duty 5: Modern Warfare 2 or whatever.

@(Zombie) Jolan: ...with lots of duty if you know what I mean

The "Call of Duty universe"? Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't they share a universe with Metal of Honour, Battlefield, Brother's in Arms, etc? I always thought a games "Universe" consisted of the people and places spanning a series of games. Doesn't necessarily have to flow properly from game to game, but should have a few common elements (chocobo's, for instance). It seems like a poor choice of words here, since I wouldn't say CoD has its own "Universe"; and if anything, the Modern Warfare games certainly feel more like spin-offs of whatever "universe" is actually present.

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: Call of Tony: Modern Hawk Calling Duty Hero

Alternate

I think the box still has some ways to go with the design. Either way this game is going to sell so well that people are going to stop using "hotcakes" as a benchmark and start saying "...sells like call of duty: Modern Warfare 2". well maybe not. but they should.

Call of Duty has brand awareness. And people say they're playing "Call of Duty" not "Modern Warfare".

AncientUnknown1

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: I'm no marketeer, but this seemed really silly to me when they announced it in the first place.

Brand awareness is absolutely hammered into people that do this stuff for a living, and the fact that they wanted to walk away from a name that was recognizable by 10-20 million gamers boggled my mind.

I never doubted this would happen for a moment.

If only the original modern warfare hadn't been labelled a call of duty game. I don't think Call of Duty franchise as a whole carries anywhere near the quality of Modern Warfare.

gametr4x

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: the special edition would add a rifle and snowmobile peripheral!

So it is true? Man what a horrible box art, no one has originality these days when it comes to box arts.

@sandal-hat is confused by the new Kotaku: See I told you I was confused by the new Kotaku.

Im kinda glad its gone back to the COD name structure. We can finally get back to the fish related puns. COD: Modern Warmouth 2

You know, I think that at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter whether or not the game's got the words "Call of Duty" slapped onto the box. The people who are buying this game are more than likely aware that it's a Call of Duty game anyway, and even if they didn't know that in going in, after about a minute of playtime, I'm sure they could figure it out. Though seeing as it is a direct sequel to a Call of Duty game, and doesn't do anything to make it radically different from any other Call of Duty game, it may as well be branded one. Personally, I don't care if we get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 or if we just get Modern Warfare 2. Just make sure I have the game come November, Infinity Ward ;)

Seems like there's warfare just naming the damn thing

I liked the basic Modern Warfare title look... Now it's kind of like HEY LOOK IT'S STILL CALL OF DUTY! I guess it's good for business to not confuse customers with the name.....

@Black_STAR: Modern Call of Duty Warfare

Brand awareness is something that most games developers are taking to much time over. For me, this name change means nothing at all. Im still going to buy it when its released, and once iv killed everything in ODST.

@CockroachMan: Call of Hawk's Guitar Warfare.

@Black_STAR: Modern Call of Duty Warfare

@Mr. Tambourine Man: Call Of Modern Juarez Duty Warfare Hero Effect: Combat Evolved

It would be somewhat silly to change the name in between a direct sequel, even though people would recognize it. Still not as bad as the whole "Sea of Dreams" thing BioShock 2 had going on.

At least they didn't keep the "4" at the end of "Call of Duty". That would emphasize that this game is a sequel of a sequel of a series, which is as confusing as it can get. It would also tell everyone how much Activision is milking the franchise cow, which I guess is rather frowned upon.

RockyRan

Infinity Ward, I love you, so very very much. But this is a case of 'Fuck you, Activision! We dont need that Call of Duty name!' and then 'What do you mean nobody knows that Modern Warfare 2 is a followup to CoD4? Uhhhh....' and then 'Activison? Hello? Yeah, uh... about that fuck you... er...'

I liked the way it would have separated it from the WW2-franchise. Oh well.

Kasuli

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: That reminds me of a conversation me and my old roommates use to have for the ultimate MMO. Final World of Fantasy PriateCraft XI. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Hero, has a nice ring to it.

MajinMexican

well people are stupid so you don't want to confuse them if you're trying to sell 11+ million copies again.

chang187

@Black_STAR: Modern Duty Warfare makes it sound like a monkey simulator.

2nd post on this? No way to combine or update the other post? Anyway, I think it's cool that they brought the CoD back, good for marketing and good to remember your roots.

Nok-Su-Kow

couldnt say "i never saw this coming"

@Black_STAR: Call Of Modern Duty Warfare Hero

It was already getting pretty confusing with the debate over whether W@W was technically COD5 or whether Modern Warfare 2 was COD5. Then they ditched the COD so you're like, "Sweet, okay, it's its own thing." Now COD is back in the title and I don't even know who I am anymore. T_T

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: Tony Hawk's Call of Duty Modern Warfare Hero is the next step.

Most likely its that whole lack of recognition thing, but I still think its sort of unfortunate. IW wanted to distance their game from being another entry in the Madden of FPS, and I don't blame them.

Alternate

I still don't get the whole "multiple CoD games coming out from different studios but are all the same universe wat wat wat"

interesting maybe I should by a ps3 and find out yes I realize my post makes no sense I am trolling here.

kakashi3488

I knew they would, it just wasn't getting the name recognition.

bitgod

Pretty obviously just a branding issue.

Id say it was due to that whole,no one recognises the game without Call Of Duty on it thing after E3. Im surprised Activision didnt Stick a Hero on it at the end just to be on the safe side.Gotta exploit those products as best you can!

Call Of Modern Duty Warfare

Black_STAR

Aww crap. And I just had to go and reprint all the preorder box art for this today.
Now, I get to reprint all the freaking things over again tomrrow.
But I like the new artwork better then just a box that says Modern warfare.
We have lost out on a lot of preorders just because people arent smart enough to understand its still call of duty.

Ur-Lord-Crypy

Don't most new games just say "live" in the top-right instead of "xbox live"? Not important really. Just noticed.

Well can't blame them. I know hating Activision is this year's must have fashion accessory, but this is just common sense.

@n00b_pwner: I don't think it has anything to do with him 'hating Treyarch' and more with the fact that if they numbered it, it would have been Call of Duty 5: MW2 since World at War didn't have a number like some of it's predecessors.

@Skyman747: The same could be said for any game cover art. Because most of the people on graphics sites are aspiring to get a job doing this. Well, I am anyways. :P

Off topic, but did anyone else besides me notice the freaking Capitol Building in the background?

geddymcc

I think the press is making a bigger deal out of this than is warranted. CoD has brand recognition. Consumers expect a CoD every year. Putting CoD on the box shows them that "Modern Warfare 2" is the in that series. MW2 is featured more heavily on the box than CoD. If "Modern Warfare" is made into the brand, then by MW3 they may be able to drop the Call of Duty branding. At the moment it would be silly not to capitalize on their existing brand if only on the front of the box.

would u like to find some we all interested in...here is a very interesting dating site named ------Tallfinder c o m ------where many sexy singles who like making friends and chatting there..hope u get some fun..

icemayer

I think everyone can agree that "Call of Duty" was brought back to the title to ensure popularity, recognition, and a little extra green in their pockets.

But on the other hand I think this is normal business for a company to do before launching something. There's probably some bureaucracy going on over it, but this is just business as usual.

that said, I understand the point of getting a video game name out to the public early, obviously earlier than when Infinity Ward sat down and really decided what they were going to call it, but if you're changing your name more than once from the time you announce it to the time you release it, then someone needs to go sit in time out because it's clear it wasn't thought through enough.

As a customer I hate hearing about 15 different name changes, it shows a side of a company that maybe they don't know what the fuck they're doing.

Then again, it's a rare occasion one of the games I'm interested in has a name change, so not a huge deal when it actually happens.

yacko

Ok, so now it's officially Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2... Activision cannot make up their minds. And I was so looking forward to seeing how the game would sell without the Call of Duty brand. It no doubt would have been a lot. And for the people who didn't know Modern Warfare 2 is a Call of Duty style game, they will probably be like "WTF!? A NEW COD!"

Hotline128

@Bialia: I don't think name recognition really matters too much in this instance. This is where the term "hardcore" gamer might actually mean something. Most "hardcore" gamers are gonna stand in line for MW2, which will probably turn into a Halo type phenomenon (news coverage, word of mouth, the whole deal), and at this point that is when the "casual" gamer's ears will perk up like prairie dogs, and they will come along. This is where having fanboys works for gaming while it doesn't work so much for movies. You see a guy standing in line for a Star Wars prequel and the "average" person thinks, "He's a geek", and moves on, you see a gamer stand in line for a game and the casual gamer thinks, "Well, I think I'll give that a try," for some reason "average" people trust gamers because I guess they are very new to the whole gaming experience.

GoonerVance

I saw this when Robert first put it up and at first all I saw was Modern Warfare 2. Then I noticed the Call of Duty. It looks like a last minute photoshop. I wish the CoD wasn't there but it's not a big deal.

hallowhero

@DigiMish: Do you try to tell me hat those who are gamers wouldn't recognise the following game from MW2 just cause Call of Duty is missing in the Name?

Somehow i doubt it.

I think those who are FOLLOWING the game brand should know by now what Modern Warfare is.

Those who don't will also not care about the Call of Duty Name, the just buy a shooter.

But by the Way: to say CoD Modern Warfare (the first) is like in a "Call of Duty Universe" sounds strange to me.

For me the older Games were more like playing trough portraited Facts of the WW2.
I never "really" could say to remember one particullar charakter or "story moment" of the game aside very impressive inszeniced moments of these.

To say they are "in a Universe" as such makes sound it li they would clame to have created the "WW2-Story wich is kinda strange, but wich i already said.

So i think to let the MW2 stand for it alone would have been a more approbiate handling of this newer part of the "Universe".

I also think the renaming (the one before the now happening re-renaming) had somehow something to do with the fuzz between the two studios that create the CoD Games nowadays and showed also a try of infinity Ward to get their honor for their own work.
Cause you know: i say CoD 5 was graphically not like CoD4.
But that is perhabs just me.

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: nice