Activision Publishing just shut down the Call of Duty 2 Remasterd H2M Mod!
Also, they gave the team a cease-and-desist threat, threatening further legal action!
But is this the right call, or is Activision playing dirty?
Call of Duty 2 Remasterd Multiplayer (H2M Mod)
Another day, another team of modders is curb-stomped by the very companies they love.
But you are probably wondering what exactly this H2M mod was. This mod was for Call of Duty Remasterd and aimed to bring back the vibe of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer to the more up-to-date engine.
Here is the trailer:
H2M had been in development for just over 2 years, according to die-hard fans. Also, the moderator required Call of Duty Remastered in order to work. Set to release today, the mod inspired a bunch of fans and newcomers alike to buy a discounted copy off of Steam.
However, the team over on X posted that they received a Cease & Desist order from Activision Publishing. Because of this, they were forced to shut down everything in relation to the moderator inculding their website.
Years of hard work, all done for free, for a game that no one was currently playing… Poof, bye-bye!
Players were excited to see old MW2 maps, weapons, and gameplay make a grand return. But now all those excited players who bought the game in anticipation are now refunding it!
Many content creators within the fandom, along with the playerbase, are upset, to say the least. Especially since Acitivsion put it on sale yesterday for August 15th. Funny enough, the H2M mod coincidentally just so happened to be coming out the day after!
Also, the game was in the top 5 most-sold games on Steam. Keep in mind that a company has to take a few working days to write up a cease-and-desist in the first place. They seemingly had that pretty well to go on the day for the H2M mod, huh?
History Repeats Itself
This is not the first mod to be shut down by Activision. But it is the biggest and most questionable, given the time and effort put in.
Even their past MW3 community leader, Robert Bowling, commented on his distaste for the move on X. Everyone is pretty irate over this case, and they really should be.
Instead of reaching out to the team prior to release to work something out, they just nuke them out of orbit.
No leeway, no discussion Just quicksope legal action and bam, killcam!
But in the past, Activison inspired people to get creative with mods. The original Call of Duty PC releases came with modding tools!
However, modern game companies seem to fear community moderators like this as if they were the boogeyman. Although, let’s not forget the whole Dota fiasco with Acitivation Blizzard!
Activision is well within their legal rights to take this action. But does that make the move right and justified just because they can? Was this really the right approach to take with this H2M Mod?
The short answer for everyone who was excited is just to refund the game. The developers made no money from the H2M Mod, while Activision saw a boost in sales for a 7-year-old game.
If they have Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer coming out in the future officially, then that makes sense. However even then the effect that would have on actual sales is negletable. Look at Counter Strike when it comes to responding to these types of mods.
Or, you know, just make your fans angry, which is popular these days! I am going to go play my copy of Call of Duty 2 on disc now to wash out the taste in my mouth.
