COD community members expressed their disappointment as a second mod in five days shut down operations because of legal actions.
An annual release cycle makes it difficult to revisit classic COD titles. Once a new game releases, fans flock to the new shiny product. And an unfortunate byproduct of yearly releases is old series entries not having enough players to host servers.
Small development teams have put the onus upon themselves to keep classic experiences alive for players that may have missed our or want to relive their favorite maps and weapons. For example, sm2 was an ambitious mod project that used the Modern Warfare 2019 engine and over 100 iconic weapons from previous games.
Community members were looking forward to rewinding the clock and rehashing an old era of the franchise, but Activision stepped in and forced the developers to stop mid-development. Players slammed the decision and took to social media again after another passion project saw its run end.
COD players mourn loss of second mod within same week
Just five days after sm2 shut its doors, X Labs announced on May 22: “We have received a Cease & Desist letter on behalf of Activision Publishing in relation to the X Labs project.”
The development team confirmed: “We are complying with this order and shutting down all operations permanently. Thank you all for your support over the years.”
X Labs was a community-made Call of Duty project that featured modded versions of previous COD titles like Black Ops 3.
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Today, we have received a Cease & Desist letter on behalf of Activision Publishing in relation to the X Labs project. We are complying with this order and shutting down all operations permanently. Thank you all for your support over the years.
— X Labs (@XLabsProject) May 22, 2023
ModernWarzone responded to the news by claiming: “The biggest issue with Activision shutting down mods like XLabs is that there is no safe alternative to play older Call of Duty games online anymore.”
The Call of Duty insider argued it’s unsafe for players to revisit old games on console because it puts their personal information in danger. Treyarch released an update for Black Ops 3 in March to address hacking issues but didn’t provide the same assistance to console users.
FPS streamer strahfe didn’t hold back while calling out Activision. “you guys are absolute fuc*in clowns, maybe make a half-decent product & people won’t be forced to do your job for you.”
YouTuber Mutahar added: “I’m devastated. I actually play this about every day at this point. It’s the only fun cod, and fuc*ing Activision ruins it. Fu*k you.”
Some COD community members fear that this is only the beginning of a long string of legal action against other fan-made projects.