The PC version of Call of Duty has paved the way for Call of Duty modding especially when it comes to Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 and its zombies mode. The Steam workshop and community mod allow people to get creative and come up with their own custom maps for people to enjoy. This is the reason why the zombies’ community is still enjoying zombies on Black Ops 3 instead of Vanguard Zombies.
It is not only restricted to zombies but also multiplayer modes. Indie developers have also developed custom maps with custom game modes over on Steam. This not only gives players something to enjoy but brings the community together. Call of Duty was all about this before it left the platform to join Blizzard’s Battle.net. Thankfully, the new Modern Warfare 2 is returning to Steam, and players are more than excited about it. While some players believe their game library should be on one platform, others are over the moon, hoping to get creative through possible mod support. A great example of what the mods can help achieve is a map called Nightmare for Black Ops 3 zombies. This is the first time that Call of Duty will not release annually. Modern Warfare 2 is here to stay for the next two years. Obviously, the developers have big plans for Modern Warfare 2 combined with Warzone 2. We will undoubtedly have plenty of content for the next two years. But, if players are given mod support, it will be taken to another level. Players can run wild with their imagination and create more than just a random custom map. If anything, this may bring in more players based on creative freedom. Now, do we have any official confirmation about mod support returning? No, we don’t. One can only hope, but there are several reasons why it is highly unlikely that we will get mod support for Modern Warfare 2. Up until Black Ops 4, the Call of Duty franchise was not a live service. The games that used to come out didn’t have seasonal updates as we have now. Full games with complete content used to be pushed out with a couple of DLCs to top it all of. Live service has changed gaming as we know it.
After the release of Modern Warfare (2019), the game became a live service franchise with seasonal updates and a plethora of free content added over its life cycle. The game is now more of an ‘online’ experience than before, and online content doesn’t work well with mods. As long as the game is offline, the modders have full autonomy to tweak the game. But, it doesn’t work well for modders with online experience delivering constantly changing game versions and software.
CoD is now cross-platform and supports crossplay across PC and consoles. Call of Duty back in the day was available for both PC and console, but only the PC users got to enjoy the modding, given the full game was available with little to no updates, unlike today. The biggest issue with crossplay in mind is that the consoles don’t have any proper mod support. This is true not just for the CoD franchise but for other console games as well. With that being said, ever since Modern Warfare’s cross-platform implementation, all the future CoD games have been developed with both PC and consoles in mind. This eliminates the mod support possibility entirely. There are several rumors about the new map editor, which will be featured in Modern Warfare 2. This rumor has further added to the hype about modding. I mean, map editor and modding? Sounds legit, right? Well, not quite as exciting as you may think. Modding is all about creating something new using the game’s resources and without any restrictions. But, the new map editor implies the opposite. RalphVales, a credible CoD leaker, has revealed that Modern Warfare 2 will feature a map editor but the tools provided will be for “editing an already existing map.”
This leaves little to no room for inventing anything new. The map editor will probably feature elements that may change the flow of gameplay, such as changing the spawn points and the location of obstacles such as containers, walls, or crates. If that’s the case, the chances of getting any mod support are even slimmer than we thought. The map editor will be available to be used offline. We wouldn’t expect a very comprehensive map editor. It will also be the first map editor in the CoD franchise. If it works out well, there is a possibility of getting a better map editor in future CoD games, improved upon the one we’re potentially getting in Modern Warfare 2. It is scheduled to release on October 28, 2022, for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation.
