Activision Has Cease & Desisted Two Call of Duty Projects
Two projects that were working to bring back old Call of Duty titles have received a Cease & Desist from Activision. X Labs was planning to bring the original MW2, Ghosts, Advanced Warfare, and Black Ops 3 back to the community. SM² was going to bring back the original MW2, with an intention to mash up all of the previous Call of Duty titles, and was going to be released for free.
Both projects had fans excited over the potential resurgence of former Call of Duty titles that were immensely popular throughout the years. These devs have been working on this project for several years before recently being shut down.
The X Labs project made this announcement in a Tweet earlier this week.
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.
SM² released a statement earlier on Twitter also regarding the Cease & Desist letter.
Today, a team member received a Cease & Desist letter on behalf of Activision Publishing in relation to the sm² project. We are complying with this order and shutting down all operations permanently. Thank you all for your support over the past 2 years.
X Labs was in the midst of creating dedicated servers to fan-favorite CoD titles and an anti-cheat software, which is something current players have dealt with daily in gameplay and have begged Activision to address. They've shown signs of fixing the hacker issue, but have failed to meet the standards of most players.
According to AFK Gaming, SM² was developing 100+ weapons with attachments and camos, 24 Perks, unique progression systems, and much more of which CoD lovers have been asking for in new and future titles. They also announced that three maps, Getaway, Hardhat, and Shipment, were going to be implemented in the release.
With Activision shutting down any development company that is creating a game in relation to CoD, we won't see new and improved versions of the titles that Call of Duty players fell in love with over the years.
Activision has yet to comment on the situation, but if they do (very unlikely), we will update the story with more information.
Zack is the Publishing Manager for Esports Illustrated. He grew up playing videos as a kid, mainly sports games and the Call of Duty series. Before his work at Esports Illustrated, Zack published content for the NFL Draft for various sites since 2017, including partner sites on FanNation and has appeared on various shows across the country and videos across the FanNation group. Outside of work, Zack enjoys spending time with his wife and three children. He loves playing football and video games with his son, taking his two daughters to get their favorite treats, and binge-watching shows with his wife. Zack began covering Esports at the end of 2022, mainly covering the Call of Duty League.