According to a creator of the ambitious H2M Modern Warfare 2 mod shuttered by Activision, the multi-billion dollar corporation was worried the free project would disrupt Black Ops 6's sales

First spotted by Insider Gaming, Watchful Wolf, a member of the hotly anticipated H2M mod project to remaster the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer by way of the Modern Warfare 1 remaster, has released a video elaborating on Activision's cease and desist order. According to Watchful Wolf, the mega publisher didn't want the potential competition with Black Ops 6 on the way.

The move gained a lot of ire by coming just before H2M's release⁠—and conveniently after the end of a Modern Warfare Remastered sale that was seriously juiced by hype for the mod. According to Watchful Wolf, things were even more stressful and last minute than they appeared: «We were within a few hours before releasing it,» the modder said. «I decided to check my email and that's when I saw the cease and desist. Immediately, we just dropped everything, turned off all our servers, website, and everything we could.»

Aggressive copyright enforcement is nothing new in the industry, but according to Watchful Wolf, there was a particularly galling tidbit in the C&D explaining why Activision made the move: The multi-billion dollar mega corporation was afraid of the competition.

«Because of the popularity H2M was gaining and how close it is to Black Ops 6 releasing,» H2M said, «They did not want H2M interfering with possible sales of Black Ops 6.

»For people who suggest 'you should have just made it on [Black Ops 3] or something like that because they allow mod support,' Well, I don't think any project⁠—no matter where it was⁠—if it garnered such popularity so close to a new game releasing, they would have shut it down anyways I think."

While Watchful Wolf did not share the exact wording of the cease and desist email, it's a believable justification: Black Ops 6 is the first CoD coming after the finalization of the Microsoft acquisition and the first one releasing on Game Pass. While even a poor-selling Call of Duty would set up a mid-size or indie developer for life, Xbox and Game