Summary
It’s becoming increasingly clear just how powerful nostalgia can be, especially when it comes to the entertainment industry. Though new IP is often some of the most creatively interesting projects in the entertainment industry, it’ssequels and remakesthat are usually the ones making the most money, with audiences being much more willing to invest their money into an IP that they already know and love, regardless of its actual quality. While this certainly isn’t a new concept, nostalgia has definitely become one of the most powerful marketing tools, and even upcoming AAA games likeCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3are embracing that tool fully.
TheCall of Dutyfranchise has been around for two whole decades now, and many fans jumped onto the series in their youth, making titles likeCall of Duty 4: Modern WarfareandBlack Opsextremely nostalgic. Activision knows this all too well, and it’s tried to leverage that nostalgia for its own benefit countless times over the last few years, whether it’s remastering old Zombies maps or bringing back fan-favorite characters in modern installments. But whileCall of Dutyhas usually handled this nostalgia with quite a bit of care, therecently announcedCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3seems to be pushing things a bit too far.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Is Weaponizing Nostalgia
Just announced officially,Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3will be 2023’s entry in the long-running FPS franchise. Acting as a direct sequel tolast year’sModern Warfare 2, Sledgehammer Games’Modern Warfare 3seeks to fix any issues fans had with the last entry, and aims to do so using a great deal of nostalgia. One ofCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s biggest selling points right now is that it’ll come packaged with 16 remastered maps at launch, all of which come from the 2009Modern Warfare 2.
The general fan reaction to this has been mostly very positive, and it’s easy to see why. Last year’sModern Warfare 2was heavily criticized for its lack of traditional 6v6 maps, and the notion thatModern Warfare 3will have 16 from the get-go is excellent news. Similarly, many fans are incredibly nostalgic forModern Warfare 2’s maps, and seeing them all with modern high-res textures and modern gameplay mechanics is sure to please many long-time fans of the series. But this news isn’t without one monumental caveat. InModern Warfare 3’s official reveal, Sledgehammer confirmed that the game will have no original 6v6 maps on launch, with the 16 remastered maps being the only ones available on day one, and 12 new maps allegedly coming sometime post-launch.
On a similar train of thought,Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s reveal spent a great deal of time showcasing the game’s new campaign mode. In the reveal, fans can see that they’ll be returning to several areas fromCall of Duty: Warzone’s original Verdansk map, such as the Gulag and the Stadium. While players have been desperately pleading for Verdansk’s return,Modern Warfare 3’s campaign mode is probably not the place they were hoping to see it. Its place there ends up seeming a tad lazy as a result, making it seem like Sledgehammer didn’t want to create new locations - or much more likely, didn’t have the time to.
Just followingModern Warfare 2’s release at the end of last year, leaks started surfacing about 2023’sCall of Duty, with many claiming that it would be the first time in decades that the franchise wouldn’t receive a fully-fledged annual release. For months, leaks kept cropping up about this subject, all suggesting that the 2023Call of Dutyrelease would be a smaller-scale expansion toModern Warfare 2, primarily focusing on a campaign mode. Flash forward to now, and it seems as thoughCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3was almost certainly originally intended as a smaller-scale expansion, but Activision has probably pushed it to a “premium” release, hence the abundance of reused assets, maps, and weapons. But rather than admit this, Activision is claiming that this was always planned as a full release, feeling it is worthy of the full $70 price tag and using nostalgia to attract longtime fans.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3releases November 10 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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