Activision Renames Modern Warfare 2 Again, Slaps Call of Duty On the Box.

by **Event Status** Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:37 pm

Modern Warfare 2 has once more been renamed, shifting back to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 after ditching the franchise name for a few months.

Why the back and forth? It's not really clear. But this is what Activision has to say about the name game:

"Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 is the direct sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare," a spokesperson told Kotaku. "We have focused our attention on Modern Warfare in order to most effectively communicate the fact that this is the first true sequel in the Call of Duty series. Infinity Ward, the original creators of the Call of Duty franchise, has said from the beginning Modern Warfare 2 resides in the Call of Duty universe. This is reflected in the title's package."

What this doesn't answer is why the game initially ditched the Call of Duty moniker for the title, calling it just Modern Warfare 2, only to put the franchise name back on the box.

Stranger still, why did the world find out about this latest change through a tweet by Infinity Ward?

Could this latest move be concerns over brand awareness? 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?

http://kotaku.com/5311315/activision-renames-modern-warfare-2-again-slaps-call-of-duty-on-the-box