Why does MW3 say free trial?

Were you just caught off guard to see you only have a few days left in Modern Warfare 3’s free trial, even though you previously purchased the game?

Well, welcome to the club, as many MW3 players had to double-check their purchase histories to confirm they weren’t dreaming. The free trial notification first appeared for me after I loaded into the game today.

On the top left of the main menus, MW3 said “free trial: three days,” which sent a cold shiver down my spine. What the heck is going on? Was I going to lose access to the Call of Duty game I paid a whole bunch of money for back in November 2023?

Thankfully, it didn’t take me long to find some comfort and start calling my friends to install MW3 for a weekend of fun. Here’s everything there is to know about the MW3 free trial.

What is MW3’s free trial?

The free trial disclaimer appears when MW3 runs a free trial promotion. If you purchased the game but MW3 still says free trial, know that you’ll continue to own the game after the promotion ends, and that disclaimer is for players who are playing the game during the free trial.

At time of writing, fans can play MW3 for free during the first weekend of season three, from April 5 to 8. If there happen to be more free trial promotions in the future, the disclaimer will likely appear for players who own the game again. This is a common occurrence for the first week of every season to try to entice players to buy the game if they haven’t already.

This iteration of MW3’s free trial gives players the chance to sample several multiplayer maps, including the new season three map Emergency, across many game modes such as Team Deathmatch, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Domination, and the new mode Team Gun Game.

Free trial periods allow CoD games to attract a second wave of new users who didn’t purchase the game when it first came around. A weekend of fun with friends and new mechanics can be the convincing factor for many, and there can be multiple free trial events throughout the year.

In addition to free trials, double XP weekends for Modern Warfare 3 also tend to draw new and returning players to the franchise.