PS5 Trophies Treat Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Like DLC For MW2

With the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III imminent, folks are noticing something unusual about the PlayStation 5 version: it doesn’t appear to have a platinum trophy. Oddly, the game is also treated as simply DLC for Modern Warfare II. Keep in mind that this is a full $US70 video game. But currently, it’s acting more like a paid DLC pack, which might confirm previous reports that at one point this latest entry in the CoD franchise was just an expansion.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is almost here. In fact, folks who pre-ordered the latest entry in the popular FPS series can start playing Modern Warfare III’s campaign later today. The new entry is a direct sequel to 2022’s Modern Warfare II and features Task Force 141 on a mission to stop big baddie Vladimir Makarov from doing villainous shenanigans. And none of this should be confused with the previous Modern Warfare games released on Xbox 360 and PS3 or the remastered versions of those same games. It’s all a bit confusing. Also confusing: The new Modern Warfare III on PC and PS5 behaves like DLC and not a new game.

As spotted by trophy guide site PowerPyx and later confirmed by players on PlayStation 5, MW III is listed as DLC for 2022’s Modern Warfare II. This is only the case on PS5 and not on PlayStation 4. The PS4 version of the game has a platinum trophy and a separate trophy list. Weirdly, on Steam, MW III has a similar problem, with its Steam achievements being listed as DLC for MW II. The Xbox versions of the game do not seem to share this issue.

Kotaku has reached out to Activision about the Call of Duty trophy situation.

Was Modern Warfare III originally a paid expansion?

So what’s up? I can’t imagine Activision purposely left out the platinum trophy on just the PS5 version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. I also find it unlikely that just the PS5 and PC ports would treat trophies and achievements as DLC while the other versions of the shooter handle them as you’d expect: as separate video games. My guess is this is some sort of technical mix-up or back-end issue that likely reveals a previous report about MW III’s development was accurate.

In November 2022, Bloomberg reported that Modern Warfare III wasn’t going to be a full, new video game but instead a paid, premium expansion for Modern Warfare II. However, in February, the outlet reported that things had changed and MW III had evolved from a premium expansion into a full retail release.

So it’s possible that what is happening with MW III’s trophies on PS5 is a leftover issue from when the game was originally just a big expansion for MW II. If that’s the case, I assume Activision will confirm this and update the game to fix this issue.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III’s multiplayer launches on November 10. The game’s campaign will be available later today for those who preordered. We’ll see if any updates change the current trophy situation between now and November 10.