‘What happened to this game?’: Players claim MW19 was killed for MW3 release

Every CoD release comes with the inevitable carrying of the casket for the old and favored CoD games. History is repeating itself and the arrival of MW3 means the death of Modern Warfare (2019)—or so MW19 players say, at least.

Did Activision break MW19? Redditors and beloved fans of the game really seem to think so. From an abundance of cheaters in Search and Destroy lobbies to the complete removal of Warzone from the game, these are just a few reasons Redditors believe the death of MW19 was planned.

Original poster TheFlairGun wrote, “I was thrown into the Warzone menu and could queue…although it never puts you in a game.” Even with Warzone’s removal, the file size for Modern Warfare remains at 120GB, something TheFlairGun described as “extremely lazy.” Another Redditor claimed the decisions made by Activision were “planned obsolescence” to kill MW19 for MW3’s release. 

If you check for patch notes on Modern Warfare via Infinity Ward’s website, no new patch notes have been announced since Feb. 26, 2020. But avid players of MW19 showed the removal of the Warzone game mode in a Sept. 2023 update. The game-killing September update helped create the rise of hackers, bugs, and loading issues is described by Redditors.

Some Redditors claimed they won’t be moving to MW3 as their loyalty lies with MW19. The Redditors in this thread, who are unwilling to spend $70 on a new CoD game, wished luck to MW19 players who have to deal with a daily dose of cheaters. Search and Destroy, Hardpoint, and Domination are “infested” by cheaters, claim Redditors. It’s a wonder if Ricochet’s anti-cheat is still functioning on games like MW19. 

But these changes to MW19 are unsurprising and are simply history repeating itself with the CoD franchise. Those who want to play Call of Duty without hackers in every lobby should, as PapaGroot21 suggested, “pay full price for the CoD this year or suck it up.” 

While servers are still up and running, the fate of MW19 is clear: This CoD game must die for the rise of the new release. If Activision wants to make as much money as possible, it needs to push its loyal player base out from the safety blanket of an older CoD and into the fire of the upcoming Modern Warfare 3.