As a rival game turns up the heat, Modern Warfare 2 is getting another multiplayer map pack to keep its revenues going.
Activision Blizzard said today that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Resurgence Pack will arrive on Microsoft’s Xbox Live online game service on June 3. Players will be able to purchase the map pack online and download it to their Xbox 360 game consoles. It will give players five new multiplayer maps where they can slaughter each other to their heart’s delight.
Modern Warfare 2 is the best-selling video game of all time. Activision Blizzard said back in January that it had sold more than 15 million copies since the launch in November. It also said that it had sold more than 17 million copies of its $14.99 Stimulus Package map pack. That gave a big boost to the earnings of Activision Blizzard, which is majority owned by Vivendi Universal.
Infinity Ward, the game studio owned by Activision Blizzard, will host a couple of Double XP (experience point) weekends starting May 28 and June 4. That’s a way to entice players who have stopped playing to come back into the game. The new release shows that Activision Blizzard hasn’t been crippled by the turmoil at Infinity Ward. Back in March, the parent company fired the two co-founders of Infinity Ward because they allegedly were trying to leave to start their own studio. Now those co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella have set up Respawn Entertainment and hired dozens of Infinity Ward staffers. The company is reportedly financed by Electronic Arts.
EA has been pouring on the heat on Activision Blizzard’s top shooting game franchise. Activision Blizzard will release Call of Duty Black Ops this November, but EA will release its revamped modern combat version of Medal of Honor in October. And EA said this week that Battlefield Bad Company 2 has sold more than 5 million copies. All of this competition is good for gamers.