Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 pre-orders include early campaign access

Duty CallModern Warfare 2. officially launches on Oct. 28, but players who pre-order the game (digitally, that is) will get early access to the game’s single-player campaign for a week, Activision announced Tuesday. It’s an atypical move for the Call of Duty franchise, which usually dangles access to multiplayer beta tests and cosmetics as pre-order incentives.

Activision claims that pre-orders can be placed digitally for Modern Warfare II will grant “up to one week” of early access to the full campaign starting on Oct. 20. (The “up to” description of that availability factors in potential network outages and, presumably, how long it will actually take you to download this year’s Call of Duty, as these games are notoriously beefy in size.) It’s a strong incentive to get players to actually play the story-based side of Call of Duty, not just the competitive multiplayer component. True Achievements is an achievement tracking website that estimates less than one third of Call of Duty players will finish a campaign. However, if you give them a week to work on it, this could be a significant change. Modern Warfare II.

Additional pre-order benefits include early access in open beta and access to Final Judgement, which gives you access the legend-tier Deathknell Operator skin and Bloodthirsty Weapon blueprint. Vanguard: The Call of DutyAnd Warzone.

Modern Warfare II’s single-player campaign picks up where the events of 2019’s Modern WarfareThe story continues where it left off. The globetrotting story follows Task Force 141, an elite international team of operatives that includes returning characters Captain John Price, Sergeant Kyle “Gaz” Garrick, Lieutenant Simon “Ghost” Riley, and Sergeant John “Soap” MacTavish, as well as a few new faces, like Colonel Alejandro Vargas and Corporal Phillip Graves.

In Polygon’s first look at the Modern Warfare 2 – Call of Duty campaign, we noted that the sequel will be a bit more over-the-top and less grounded, in an attempt to provide a more “entertaining” blockbuster-style narrative.