The upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is one of the most anticipated titles in the gaming industry at the moment. Considering its ambitious scale and given the success of its predecessor, the high-profile reboot understandably has a lot of eyes on both its multiplayer and campaign modes.
It is no secret that the multiplayer of any Call of Duty franchise installment has often overshadowed the respective campaign, and it is clear that Activision is aware of this potentially happening for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. As a result of this, there are an array of unprecedented incentives and rewards put into place by the company to spur fans into playing through the campaign.
What Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Offers
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a successor to 2019's Modern Warfare, carrying on Activision and Infinity Ward's nostalgia tour looking back on classic CoD games. The upcoming MW2 is likely to be the second of a trilogy of games marking an ambitious reboot of the well-loved Modern Warfare series.
Given the positive critical reception of its predecessor, it makes sense that Modern Warfare 2 is trying to match and exceed the expectations set by the 2019 title. One of the many ways in which the upcoming release is attempting this is by bringing back the iconic Spec Ops mode of prior MW titles, in which players can play solo or co-operatively in a series of increasingly difficult short missions that can range from time trials to stealth exfiltrations.
As well as this, Modern Warfare 2 will essentially launch in tandem with Warzone 2, an equally-ambitious sequel to the hugely successful Call of Duty battle royale Warzone. With Warzone 2 boasting its own brand-new CoD content including an Escape from Tarkov-style loot and extraction mode named DMZ, it is clear that boldness and ambition is steeped throughout this next stage of the Call of Duty franchise.
This can also be said for the multiplayer and campaign of Modern Warfare 2, which are arguably the two most important aspects of the title. The upcoming release's multiplayer has already been subject to huge amounts of attention and scrutiny, especially after the closed beta for Modern Warfare 2 recently held across all the different platforms that the game is set to release on.
The campaign for Modern Warfare 2 will naturally continue the story of 2019's Modern Warfare, with trailers confirming the return of Captain Price and Gaz, as well as the introduction of fan-favorite characters such as Soap MacTavish and Ghost. In the campaign, the familiar Task Force 141 will seemingly work in a coalition with Mexican Special Forces, dealing with things such as the location of nuclear warheads in true Modern Warfare fashion. Given the passion and scale of this campaign, it is no wonder that Activision have fostered an environment that highly incentivizes players to experience the campaign before becoming engrossed in the multiplayer of Modern Warfare 2.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Campaign Early Access
One of the main ways in which Modern Warfare 2 is encouraging players to experience its campaign is by making the title's story available for a brief period before the game officially releases. Historically, Call of Duty campaigns and multiplayers have launched simultaneously for the most part, and over time this has divided the community somewhat between those who focus on the game's narrative and those who jump straight into the coveted online modes of the franchise.
The campaign for Modern Warfare 2 is set to launch in early access on October 20, over a full week before the official launch of the game and the release of its multiplayer on October 28. This early campaign access will only be available to pre-ordering customers, much in the same way that the title's beta access was limited to those who had pre-ordered the game. This is a clever way to get players to engage with the campaign, as a huge portion of the playerbase will be eager to get their hands on any MW2 content, and odds are that many who do not usually play CoD campaigns will play through the story while they wait for the full release.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Campaign Rewards
Another massive way in which Activision and Infinity Ward are encouraging players to give Modern Warfare 2's campaign a shot is via attractive campaign rewards that players can earn. It appears that each mission within the campaign is tied to its own unique reward, with a final reward being given to those who complete the campaign. These rewards can be used in the multiplayer for Modern Warfare 2, including four playable operators offered as rewards -- namely Hutch, Chuy, Reyes, and Nova.
Multiplayer emblems and calling cards are also a large part of these campaign rewards, with all of them featuring the aforementioned iconic characters of Task Force 141, presumably unlocked after completing missions in which they feature the most heavily. As well as this, players will be able to earn an array of double XP tokens and weapon XP tokens for campaign progression, further incentivizing those who priorize multiplayer to try the release's campaign.
Upon campaign completion, players will unlock the Union Guard weapon blueprint, which is modeled off of Captain Price's weapon of choice. With the massive levels of hype surrounding the multiplayer for the upcoming Modern Warfare 2, it appears to be an extremely smart move on Activison's part to give such attractive multiplayer incentives for campaign completion, as well as providing a pre-release timeframe for players to do so.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 launches on October 28 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.