Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022 video game)

Modern Warfare II is a continuation of the 2019 reboot entry, with the campaign taking place in late 2022. The central protagonists of the game are Task Force 141, a multi-national special operations unit formed by SAS Captain John Price (Barry Sloane), comprising: Sergeant Kyle "Gaz" Garrick (Elliot Knight), Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley (Samuel Roukin), and Sergeant John "Soap" MacTavish (Neil Ellice). Throughout the course of the story, Task Force 141 is supported by several allies: CIA Station Chief Kate Laswell (Rya Kihlstedt), Russian private military company leader "Nikolai" (Stefan Kapičić), Urzikstan Liberation Force Commander Farah Karim (Claudia Doumit), Mexican Special Forces Colonel Alejandro Vargas (Alain Mesa) and Sergeant Major Rodolfo "Rudy" Parra (Bayardo De Murguia), Shadow Company PMC Commander Phillip Graves (Warren Kole), and United States Army General Shepherd (Glenn Morshower). The primary antagonist of Modern Warfare II is Major Hassan Zyani (Ibrahim Renno), an Iranian Quds Force officer who is allied with the Urzik terrorist organization Al-Qatala, and is supported by the Las Almas Cartel. The cartel is controlled by sicaria Valeria Garza (María Elisa Camargo), who hides her identity using the alias "El Sin Nombre" (lit. Him without (a) name / The Nameless).

The game takes place in both real and fictional locations, such as fictional Mexican city of Las Almas, Amsterdam, Mexico–United States border, Gulf of Mexico, Chicago, Urzikstan, and the new United Republic of Adal (URA), the capital of which, Al Mazrah, serves as a major locale within the campaign and multiplayer modes, as well as the new map for the free-to-play Warzone 2.0. The game's plot is partly based on real-life events, such as the assassination of Qasem Soleimani.

The Special Ops and Multiplayer post-launch story takes place after the campaign, and features a cast of multi-national operators working under two major factions, SpecGru and KorTac Group, both of which are private military companies. Both factions undertake new covert operations, overseen by Laswell, taking place within the vicinity of Al Mazrah. Notable characters who appear in the post-launch story include: Daniel "Ronin" Shinoda (Thomas Bromhead), an ex-Special Forces fighter; Alex Keller (Chad Michael Collins), a former CIA officer who joined Farah's army, and Hadir Karim (Aidan Bristow), Farah's brother who defected and became an Al-Qatala commander.

In July 2022, Task Force 141, under the command of General Shepherd, conduct surgical strikes against Russian-backed Iranian forces. An American ballistic missile strike assassinates Iranian General Ghorbrani during an arms deal in Al Mazrah. Several months later, his second-in-command, Quds Force Major Hassan Zyani, becomes involved in funding terrorist activity and seeks revenge on the United States. Hassan’s activities draw the attention of Shepherd and CIA Station Chief Kate Laswell, who order MARSOC Marines, led by Task Force 141 operatives Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley and Sergeant John "Soap" MacTavish, to apprehend Hassan in Al Mazrah. Ghost and Soap fail to capture Hassan in time, but discover that he was in possession of an American ballistic missile.

Laswell and Task Force 141 operatives Captain John Price and Sergeant Kyle "Gaz" Garrick pursue one of Hassan's couriers in Amsterdam, learning that Hassan has received protection from and has allied with the Las Almas Cartel and is in Mexico. After a failed attempt to apprehend him at the US-Mexican border, Mexican Special Forces Colonel Alejandro Vargas and his second-in-command Sergeant Major Rodolfo "Rudy" Parra, alongside their unit Los Vaqueros, participate in a joint operation with Ghost, Soap, and Shadow Company, an elite secret unit of private military contractors under the direct command of Shepherd and led by its CEO, Commander Phillip Graves, to capture Hassan. Although successful, they are forced to release him to avoid political fallout.

Data hacked from Hassan's phone leads Price, Laswell, and Gaz to Cape Vilan, Spain, where they discover that Las Almas possessed Russian-made GPS devices for missiles. When Laswell is captured by Urzik terrorist group Al-Qatala, Price and Gaz track down and save her in Urzikstan, with the aid of their old allies "Nikolai" and Farah Karim. Meanwhile, Alejandro and Soap manage to capture Las Almas leader, El Sin Nombre, revealed to be Vargas' former teammate Valeria Garza. Valeria reveals the location of the missiles, prompting a raid led by Task Force 141, Shadow Company and Vargas to prevent a missile launch. Despite the successful mission, Graves and Shadow Company betray Alejandro and Task Force 141 under Shepherd's orders. Graves captures Alejandro and seizes his base of operations, while Ghost and Soap flee. With help from Rodolfo, Laswell, Price, and Gaz, Ghost and Soap free Alejandro and the Los Vaqueros.

Laswell reveals that Shepherd and Graves were responsible for an illegal missile transportation mission in August meant to aid American allies in the Middle East. The transport was ambushed by a Russian PMC, with the three ballistic missiles being stolen, forcing Shepherd to cover up the mission's failure. Price confronts Shepherd over the revelations, promising to pursue him when threat is eliminated. Task Force 141 and Los Vaqueros succeed in retaking the latter's base and killing Graves, while also learning from Valeria that Hassan is in Chicago. The team thwarts Hassan's plan and kills him. In the aftermath, Shepherd has gone into hiding, while Laswell informs 141 of the new leader of the Russian Ultranationalists responsible for Shepherd's botched operation, whom Price identifies as Vladimir Makarov.

In a mid-credits scene, a Russian terrorist cell prepares to hijack a plane. They receive a text from Makarov, who tells them not to speak Russian during the hijacking.

Some time after Hassan's death, Laswell starts to oversee new covert operations in Al Mazrah, in an effort to further undermine Al-Qatala activities.

In December 2022, Laswell tasks Price, Gaz, and Farah with investigating the disappearance of former CIA officer Alex Keller, who was sent by Farah alongside several ULF fighters to infiltrate a recently-discovered Soviet-era bunker in the Sattiq mountains in Urzikstan. They learn that the bunker houses a Soviet-made thermonuclear missile, while Farah's fighters were killed by Al-Qatala forces. The team heads further into the bunker and finds Alex alive, though the missile warheads were stolen. Alex reveals that Farah's brother, Hadir, has been acting as AQ's commander, and he left Alex alive to deliver a message: join him in his mission, or leave him be. As Gaz leaves the facility to relay the information to Laswell, Price and Farah, joined by Alex, pursue Hadir by going further down the bunker, but they are forced to stand down as Hadir and his men surround them.

Meanwhile, in Las Almas, Valeria manages to escape from captivity and rallies the Las Almas Cartel to conduct activities in Al Mazrah. Alejandro is recruited by Laswell to thwart the cartel's plans and re-capture Valeria.

Sarah Schachner, the composer for the original score featured in Infinity Ward's previous two Call of Duty titles, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Modern Warfare, returned to compose the score for Modern Warfare II.

In November 2022, Schachner stepped away from the project, citing challenges in the working dynamic with Infinity Ward's audio director as the reason for her departure. In a statement released by her on Twitter, she noted that the contents of the official soundtrack release for Modern Warfare II are "not my artistic intent in regards to mixing and mastering”.[23][24]

The soundtrack for Modern Warfare II was released digitally on November 25, 2022; featuring 23 tracks from the game's original score and two songs from artists Edison Flood, Destani Wolf, and Banda MS de Sergio Lizárraga.[25]

In February 2022, Activision confirmed that a sequel to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare would be released later that year, alongside a new iteration of Call of Duty: Warzone.[19] The game's title, Modern Warfare II, was revealed in April 2022.[2] A month later, Activision released another teaser, which featured the key arts of the main characters of the game, as well as a release date of October 28, 2022.[3] On June 2, 2022, a live-action trailer was released, on the same day, Steam responded to a tweet from the official Call of Duty Twitter account, strongly suggesting the game would be released on Microsoft Windows via the Steam platform, in addition to Battle.net.[26] The first trailer for the game was released on June 8, showcasing gameplay from the campaign mode, as well as confirming the game's release on Steam, Battle.net, and the eighth and ninth generation consoles.[27] Modern Warfare II marks the first time since 2017's Call of Duty: WWII that a Call of Duty title released on the Steam platform.[28] In September 2022, Activision held the "Call of Duty Next" showcase where they revealed a multiplayer gameplay trailer, details on the Spec Ops mode, Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, and the DMZ extraction game mode.[5][29][30][31]

The multiplayer beta for Modern Warfare II started for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 players on September 16, and for Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S players on September 22. The beta officially ended on September 26 at 3pm EDT across all platforms before the launch on October 28, 2022.[32] Pre-orders of all editions grant "early" access to the open multiplayer beta. The Vault Edition grants access to a "Red Team 141" operator pack, a "FJX Cinder Weapon Vault" pack, plus access to the Battle Pass of a Season for Modern Warfare II (dependent on the time of purchase), and double XP tokens. In addition, the Vault Edition also includes the "Ghost Legacy Pack", which grants 12 Ghost operator skins and 10 weapon blueprints for the M4A1 assault rifle for use in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Warzone. Unlike the previous cross-gen titles, Modern Warfare II offers no standard editions for the eighth generation consoles, but only a cross-gen edition for all platforms, in addition to the Vault Edition. Pre-ordering also granted early access to the campaign a week earlier on October 20.[33][34]

Similar to the previous titles, Modern Warfare II employs both the battle pass system and an in-game store where players can purchase cosmetic bundles using the "COD Points" microtransaction currency, while free content, such as new maps and weapons, are provided on a regular basis with "Season" updates.

In addition, Activision also partners with celebrities and other media franchises to feature licensed characters in multiplayer modes. Notable additions to the playable roster includes: football players Paul Pogba, Neymar, and Lionel Messi,[35] Shredder from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise,[36] basketball player Kevin Durant,[37] and online streamers Nickmercs and TimTheTatman.[38]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II became the fastest-selling Call of Duty game of all time.[57] The game earned US$800 million in revenue in its first three days of release,[58] and US$1 billion within 10 days, surpassing the series previous record-holders, 2011's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and 2012's Black Ops II.[59] It's the best-selling game of the US in 2022.[60]

In the United Kingdom, Modern Warfare II became the best-selling game in its first week of release.[61] In Japan, the PlayStation 4 version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II sold 24,371 physical copies within its release week, making it the second bestselling retail game of the week in the country. The PlayStation 5 version sold 17,710 physical copies in Japan throughout the same week, placing it at number six on the all-format video games sales chart.[62]

The game received three nominations at the 19th British Academy Games Awards: Animation, Multiplayer and Performer in a Leading Role (Alain Mesa as Alejandro Vargas).[63]