If you’re the sort of player that jumps into the yearly Call of Duty experience, there’s probably one thing that’s stuck with you more than anything else: that obscene download size.
At the time of writing, the catch-all Call of Duty app (often referred to as Call of Duty HQ) via Xbox wants me to free up 381.19GB of space on my PC hard drive in order to install all the ‘recommended’ files it needs to run. The Steam app only requires ‘at least’ an SSD with 128GB available space, which is still, frankly, too much.
In an announcement made via Activision’s CODUpdates account on X, the publisher announced:
“On July 29 at 9am PT, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be moved from the main Call of Duty install and become standalone downloads.”
That means, sometime this week, you will be able to load the games on their own – without the need for the massive download offered by the Call of Duty HQ app. In short, as soon as tomorrow (30th July), anyone that owns either of the games will be able to launch directly into the titles once downloaded. Read: no faffing with interstitial menus or confusing screens via the somewhat cumbersome app.
Legacy content for each title – this means MW2 and MW3 modes within the main Call of Duty HQ app – will be automatically removed on 7th August, freeing up space for players still wanting to access the other Call of Duty titles without bothering with the two affected titles.
Whether this indicates Activision is willing to remove other Call of Duty games from the app in the coming days and months remains unclear. It’s also unclear why these two games have been targeted first: do they have a lower engagement rate than other titles? Are they simply easier to unhitch from the integrated ecosystem?
It also raises questions about upcoming series entry, Call of Duty Black Ops 7 (the multiplayer aspect of which we can expect to see sometime ‘this summer’).
Way back in 2023, Activision justified its decision to merge all the games into one app by saying it allowed for easier file management and seamless switching between games. Even back then, the decision drew fire from the community. Players criticised the publisher for putting the onus on individuals to “reduce the overall footprint” of the title. At the time, players became frustrated and confused when trying to access games they actually owned, as the app kept presenting them with opportunities to purchase the newest content added to the store. As you can imagine, this went down poorly.
Are you still playing either of the affected titles? Is this going to have a meaningful impact on you – or your SSD? Is there any reason for you to go back to the “vapid and hastily assembled” Modern Warfare 3 campaign? Probably not, after all this.