Is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 a reboot or remake? Answered

Modern Warfare II is 2022’s Call of Duty game, and you’d be forgiven if that name confuses you. It’s been used for the Call of Duty franchise already — twice, in fact. The use of the name begs the question of whether the 2022 game is a reboot, remake, or something else entirely. Read on to get the full answer.

Related: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 pre-order guide – retailer bonuses, editions, and more

The Modern Warfare Timeline (2007 – Present)

The answer starts with the Modern Warfare line of Call of Duty games. They originated with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in 2007 and continued from there, dropping the 4 in the title to be their own thing. We’ve seen two sequels to the 2007 game: Modern Warfare 2 in 2009 and Modern Warfare 3 in 2011. We’ve also gotten two remasters of these existing games. Modern Warfare’s campaign and multiplayer and then the Modern Warfare 2 campaign were both remastered and re-released in 2017 and 2020, respectively. With that context, we can continue our explanation of this contrived titling.

Modern Warfare (2019)

Two years after Modern Warfare Remastered, we got the simply-titled Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. This was a reboot of the original 2007 game, something totally separate from the previous Modern Warfare sequels. It featured the same Task Force 141 squad members, but it otherwise has nothing to do with the other games that share its name. In fact, it was actually explicitly set in the Call of Duty: Black Ops universe.

Modern Warfare II (2022)

And now we come to 2022’s game. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (marketed with Roman numerals) is a sequel to Modern Warfare 2019, making it a sequel to the reboot. It’s been a long answer, but now you have all the context. Modern Warfare 2 isn’t a remake of the game that first bore its name. You can play the totally new game on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC on Friday, October 28.