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Some Call of Duty fans online have been eagerly waiting for the upcoming release of a very interesting and promising mod for Modern Warfare Remastered, called "H2M", which aimed to add the Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer experience into MWR, complete with all the maps from Modern Warfare 2 alongside its killstreaks and weapons, with some calling the mod "Modern Warfare 2 Remastered".

However, this didn't end up coming to fruition, as just one day before the official release of the H2M mod on August 16th, 2024, (and right after the Steam sale for Modern Warfare Remastered ended as well), Activision sent a Cease & Desist to the developer team, shutting down the mod, its development and upcoming release in its entirety.

Today, our team members received a Cease & Desist order on behalf of Activision Publishing in relation to the H2M-Mod project. We are complying with this order and shutting down all operations immediately and permanently.

— H2 Multiplayer Mod (@H2Multiplayer) August 15, 2024

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According to Steam's own top sellers page, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered" saw a surge in sales during the mid-August Steam sale (which was offering MWR at a discount) and many players aware of the H2M mod saw this as the perfect chance to jump in and purchase the title in preparation for the eventual mod's release. After the C&D by Activision, many of these players that purchased the game just for this occasion have been refunding the game in retaliation against Activision's decision towards ending the mod's production.

Additionally, the Steam page for Modern Warfare Remastered has been getting increasingly negative reviews for the game, many citing the H2M mod shut down as the main reason, with MWR's Steam page currently citing at an "Overwhelmingly Negative" review reception from the player base.

While the mod was shut down before it's official release, some users online managed to play it beforehand as beta testers, and it seems like in all of the testing some of the builds for the H2M have been leaked. However, it's worth mentioning as a personal safety advice to all our users to always be cautious when dealing with these kind of "leaks" online, as some users have reported that one of the leaked builds' EXE is apparently hosting malware code. If any user decides to sail the seas to find a leaked build of the mod, be aware of the risks that this could entail.

Original H2M Mod website (Inaccessible)

 

[ShadowOne333]

Why would they lie about this?

Agree, how would they benefit from making such a claim?
They weren't even making any money at all, and Activision is well known for being an a-hole company altogether already.

 

[simbin]

Why would they lie about this?

I have some theories, but they’re just that—ideas without proof. As I mentioned earlier, I suppose we’ll have to take their word for it.

Agree, how would they benefit from making such a claim?
They weren't even making any money at all, and Activision is well known for being an a-hole company altogether already.

I guess we'll never know.

 

[Noctosphere]

IMHO, video game modding should be considered as "fair use" if all conditions to acces it are legit (exemple, the mod must be free, the game still has to be bought in order to run it (as in it must not include a crack or something like that), it must not allow players to cheat in competitive context, etc.)
Even if the game doesn't support mods natively, I think game modding should be considered as "fair use" of the products

 

[Clydefrosch]

when will you people learn?
don't try to make hype before releases.
DONT MAKE A PROFESSIONAL TRAILER!
those get shared on news outlets and those articles get found by legal teams.
keep it low until its out!

 

[EvilJagaGenius]

This is why you don't "build hype" for an indev mod. You just release it. What are they going to do once it's out there? Take down the internet? Pisses me off that companies C&D mods but I can only feel so sorry for the devs as this has been happening far too often for far too long for devs to not realize that.

No surprise there, CoD is all about releasing the same content but "updated" year after year for full price. You can't advertise for something like this in advance without expecting a C&D, just shadow-drop it so people can download it and back it up everywhere before it catches the attention of the publisher.

when will fan creators learn that making a bunch of noise about something will absolutely get it killed by some legal team?? they shouldve waited til release

when will you people learn?
don't try to make hype before releases.
DONT MAKE A PROFESSIONAL TRAILER!
those get shared on news outlets and those articles get found by legal teams.
keep it low until its out!

This should not be.
Modders and devs should not need to dodge legal teams. They should not need to keep their work to the most obscure corners of the internet, speaking in whispers for fear of invoking the wrath of corporations. They should be free to show off their work, drum up interest in their work, continue polishing and developing their work, without fear of having it thrown away. People should be free to share their enthusiasm for a mod with their friends, with a website, they should be free to be excited for a beautiful thing without fear of accidentally sending lawyers in to kill it. To continue spreading the word is to drag the injustice kicking and screaming into the limelight, regardless of whether the effort is ultimately futile.
Activision contributed nothing to this mod, got a bunch of sales, and killed it despite the fact they have no legal grounds to do so. This should not be.

 

[ZeroFX]

In after DMCA.

 

[Xzi]

Activision contributed nothing to this mod, got a bunch of sales, and killed it despite the fact they have no legal grounds to do so. This should not be.

I agree, but at the same time, people should be fully aware by now which developers/publishers are community-friendly, and which aren't. Modding a Valve, Bethesda, Larian, or Sega game? You're in the clear to advertise its existence as much as you want. Modding an EA, Ubisoft, Rockstar, Activision, or Nintendo game? Guaranteed DMCA or C&D, just a matter of when and not if.

If you're working on a "remaster" of an Activision game, you can be damn sure they're working on something similar at the same time. Hell, they've moved on to remastering their remasters in some cases.

 

[Noctosphere]

This should not be.
Modders and devs should not need to dodge legal teams. They should not need to keep their work to the most obscure corners of the internet, speaking in whispers for fear of invoking the wrath of corporations. They should be free to show off their work, drum up interest in their work, continue polishing and developing their work, without fear of having it thrown away. People should be free to share their enthusiasm for a mod with their friends, with a website, they should be free to be excited for a beautiful thing without fear of accidentally sending lawyers in to kill it. To continue spreading the word is to drag the injustice kicking and screaming into the limelight, regardless of whether the effort is ultimately futile.
Activision contributed nothing to this mod, got a bunch of sales, and killed it despite the fact they have no legal grounds to do so. This should not be.

exactly my opinion. I honnestly think it should be written somewhere in copyright and intellectual property law/legal shits that modding game should be considered as fair use as long as it :
-is made only for fun (not for profit)
-does not make the game unfair for other player in competitive context (such as cheating online)
-does not allow people to bypass paywall (cracking the game or bypassing stuff like that)

I'm not sure if "fair use" is the correct term here, maybe someone who is better at english than me can confirm to me, please?

 

[Clydefrosch]

This should not be.
Modders and devs should not need to dodge legal teams. They should not need to keep their work to the most obscure corners of the internet, speaking in whispers for fear of invoking the wrath of corporations. They should be free to show off their work, drum up interest in their work, continue polishing and developing their work, without fear of having it thrown away. People should be free to share their enthusiasm for a mod with their friends, with a website, they should be free to be excited for a beautiful thing without fear of accidentally sending lawyers in to kill it. To continue spreading the word is to drag the injustice kicking and screaming into the limelight, regardless of whether the effort is ultimately futile.
Activision contributed nothing to this mod, got a bunch of sales, and killed it despite the fact they have no legal grounds to do so. This should not be.

should doesn't help though.

this keeps happening and its strongly related to making your thing super public and putting an easily marketable video to it.

so long as these communities aren't up to gofundme a real legal battle and any law firm can make points with their employer just by sending one standard letter, its gonna happen.

if you make all this work for yourself, you're literally taking a gun and pointing it at your own foot when you start making trailers and announcement dates.

 

[Viri]

Seeing as Microsoft has a "reverse Midas touch", hopefully that affects Activision and COD too!

 

[orangy57]

you just know they were waiting for all the purchases to roll in ahead of the release and then immediately take it down once they got everyone's money

 

[Idaho]

I'm not saying this C&D was a good call.
Though it is a mod distinctly and extensively based on copyrighted material.

CoD modding nearly always is... Microsoft ain't trying to protect their property, they're just trying to control what people can or cannot play, this mod was too dangerous for the stability of the CoD franchise (for many reasons) so they shut it down because it was an easy call for them to do and that it'd help keep on selling those lazy yearly crash grabs...

I hope for 2 things now, that a leaked build surfaces somewhere and that the CoD modding community starts to work in secrecy when it comes to ambitious and somewhat "illegal" projects like this one, just like the Nintendo fangames community does...

 

[isoboy]

No different than Cornflakes trying to protect their cereal from similar brands. I can see it.

 

[YoureALoser]

I'm to believe that this mod wouldn't play well with Activision's servers.

Don't they use HVAC or something like that? Probably they went nuclear to avoid even more cheaters.

People loose their minds over this and review bomb the game for what? For the mod that does not have the publisher green light?

This is child-like behavior. Gamers are weird.

You clearly know nothing on the subject & your comment proves that. Why even waste your time commenting on something you know nothing about? Pure ignorance on your part & that is child like behavior.

 

[SecureBoot]

No different than Cornflakes trying to protect their cereal from similar brands. I can see it.

Frosted Flakes

 

[whitesword7]

Fully deserved ngl, what a dumbass move to tease your mod with trailer before releasing it

we’ve seen this happen again and again and yet they keep doing it

 

[eyeliner]

You clearly know nothing on the subject & your comment proves that. Why even waste your time commenting on something you know nothing about? Pure ignorance on your part & that is child like behavior.

Enlighten me, then.

Calling me ignorant about the reasoning a company takes with regards of their property is fair. I have no idea their thought processes.

Bandwagoning in review dump just for a mod being taken down is:

• stupid
• poinless
• unfair
• ridiculous
• unhelpful

This action only discredits the work the developers have made and doesn't help in any way those that want to know if the game is, or isn't, worth playing.

It's not like Microsoft hasn't allowed mods to thrive (case in point: fallout: London). This mod would probably allow shady stuff. Then is was killed.

But you know better. and will share with us your wisdom. lease do. I'll wait.

 

[chrisrlink]

They could’ve sent the c&d earlier in development, but they instead waited until the last moment. This is extremely shady.

I agree it's a dick move waiting for release day (or a day out in this case)

 

[Bladexdsl]

They could’ve sent the c&d earlier in development, but they instead waited until the last moment. This is extremely shady.

like i said they have been hanging out with nintendo

 

[InsaneNutter]

Gone are the days of mods been embraced it seems.

Who remembers when Counter Strike, Team Fortress and Day of Defeat we're all just mods for Half Life? or even the OG Quake for Team Fortress if I remember right.