Activision may have discovered a way to encourage more players to play the narrative in Call of Duty.
Activision said Tuesday that gamers who pre-order Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (digitally, that is) will receive early access to the game’s single-player campaign for a week. The game officially opens on October 28. It’s an unusual move for the Call of Duty series, which often offers pre-order bonuses like access to multiplayer beta tests and cosmetics.
Digital pre-orders for Modern Warfare 2 will give “up to one week” of early access to the whole campaign beginning on October 20, according to Activision. (The “up to” description of that availability takes into account the possibility of network failures and, presumably, how long it will take you to actually download this year’s Call of Duty. It’s a potent inducement to persuade players to engage with Call of Duty’s narrative aspects as well as its competitive multiplayer aspect. Less than a third of players normally complete a Call of Duty campaign, but given a full week, Modern Warfare 2 may alter that, according to achievement-tracking website True Achievements.
Open beta early access and the Final Judgement bundle, which grants access to the legendary-tier Deathknell operator skin and the Bloodthirsty weapon blueprint for Call of Duty: Vanguard and Warzone, are additional pre-order bonuses.
The single-player campaign of Modern Warfare 2 continues where the events of Modern Warfare from 2019 left off. Task Force 141 is an elite international team of operatives that includes returning cast members Captain John Price, Sergeant Kyle “Gaz” Garrick, Lieutenant Simon “Ghost” Riley, and Sergeant John “Soap” MacTavish, as well as a few newcomers Colonel Alejandro Vargas and Corporal Phillip Graves. The story follows Task Force 141 as it travels the world.
In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s first look at the campaign, Polygon remarked that the sequel will be a little more extravagant and less realistic, in an effort to deliver a more “entertaining” blockbuster-style narrative.
