Modern Warfare II’ A Week Early

Activision and Infinity Ward are doing something new this year with Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II, the sequel to 2019’s Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare.

(No, this is not a remake of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 from 2009!)

Included in this year’s pre-order bonuses is a new perk: A week of free early access to the Modern Warfare II campaign. Pre-ordering the game will unlock the campaign a week before the full game’s October 28th launch, so you can get familiar with the story and mechanics and characters all before multiplayer goes live.

This is a clever idea for a number of reasons. First off, a lot of people don’t play the campaign. They just hop into multiplayer and never look back. Releasing the campaign for a week into Early Access may convince more Call Of Duty players to give it a shot. After all, a week is more than enough time to finish the average campaign in this franchise. They’re rarely more than six hours long (which I actually like about them—short and sweet in a landscape of super long games).

This also provides gamers with one more reason to pre-order, and while I’m often against pre-ordering, at this point you should have a pretty good idea whether or not you like Call Of Duty and specifically whether you like Modern Warfare. From what I’ve seen, this won’t be much different from the 2019 game. A new campaign, new maps, some new modes and weapons, eventually a new Warzone with a brand new map, swimming and so forth. Lots of small, iterative changes but the two games should feel a lot alike.

The other big pre-order perk is Early Access to the beta this September, a month before the game comes out. This gives you a chance to try out multiplayer and see if you like it or not. You can always cancel your pre-order if the beta doesn’t click for you.

Read about the beta start times on PlayStation, Xbox and PC right here.

MORE FROM FORBES‘Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’ Multiplayer Beta Dates And Times RevealedBy Erik Kain

For my part, I’m mostly worried that Gunfight won’t return any time soon. It never came to Vanguard and it’s such a terrific mode, that made me pretty sad. Similarly, I hope we get Resurgence in Warzone 2, because it’s by far the best mode in the current game but it’s built on the back of Black Ops rather than Modern Warfare, so who knows. Will we get a small map with the new battle royale similar to Rebirth Island and Fortune’s Keep? I hope so.

In any case, here are the other pre-order bonuses:

Preorder Modern Warfare II to receive:

• Up to one week early access to the full Modern Warfare II Campaign¹.
• Access to the full game on October 28.
• Open Beta Early Access².
• Final Judgement Bundle³: Immediate access to the Legendary “Deathknell” Operator Skin and the Legendary “Bloodthirsty” Weapon Blueprint for use in Vanguard and Warzone.

Preorder the Vault Edition of Modern Warfare II to receive:

• All previously listed rewards.
• Red Team 141: Four playable Multiplayer Operators — Ghost, Farah, Price, and Soap — each wearing a special masked outfit, which will be available during the Open Beta.
• FJX Cinder Weapon Vault⁴: At Call of Duty: Next, we plan to share more details on this and the new Gunsmith, which will also be available during the Open Beta.
• Season One Battle Pass and 50 Tier Skips⁵: If you purchase the Vault Edition after Season One, the free Battle Pass and Tier Skips apply to the current season.
• Ghost Legacy Pack⁶: 20+ free items celebrating the Task Force 141 icon, for Modern Warfare® (2019) and Warzone, unlocked upon pre-purchase.

See you in the beta, folks!