The H2M mod for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, which aimed to revive the Modern Warfare 2 (2009) multiplayer mode on PC, was canceled just before release after its creators reported that they had received a letter from Activision demanding that they cease distribution of the content.
Official X/Twitter account of the moderator team I passed on this message todayinforming players that they are halting their work after receiving the letter today. The date of arrival of the cease and desist order coincides almost exactly with the release date of H2M, August 16, which was announced last Friday. His X account bio now only says “SHUTDOWN.”
“Today, members of our team were served with a cease and desist order on behalf of Activision Publishing regarding the H2M-Mod project,” the team’s latest post reads. “We are complying with this order and will be shutting down all operations immediately and permanently.”
The H2M team’s posts date back to July 2023, when announced the projectnoting that they had been working on a Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer remastered mod for some time. At the time, the team said, “If Activision doesn’t do what the fans want, we, the community, will.” Although the Call of Duty publisher remastered the original Modern Warfare 2 campaign and released it in 2020, it never went as far as to remaster its multiplayer component.
H2M aimed to fill the gap not only with improved visuals for the maps, weapons, and characters that fans had loved for over a decade, but also with novel content. That meant novel weapon camos and animations, as well as a crate of novel maps based on iconic Call of Duty locations and more. This mix of venerable and novel, driven by a fan perspective, got players excited enough to drive sales of Modern Warfare Remastered, as the game was a necessity to play H2M. According to SteamDB DatabaseThe 2017 title has seen a surge in players over the past few weeks and has even managed to climb onto the list of best-selling games on Steam (via Computer gamer).
Now, however, Modern Warfare Remastered latest reviews on Steam read “Mostly Negative,” with many recent player comments calling on Activision to reverse their cease and desist request. Call of Duty fans in general have taken to social media to express their sadness at H2M’s demise, with some prominent content creators also asking Activision to reconsider.
We beg you to reconsider this decision. @Activision. To be clear, we have no involvement in this project beyond being huge fans. We were excited to produce ILLCAMS on the H2 mod. Their team made it a requirement that you purchase the original MW2 Remastered… https://t.co/M2hbKvYOE0
— FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) August 15, 2024
Another reason to hate Activision
H2M looked so good, MW2 MP Remastered with novel weapons, maps, camouflages etc. – the CoD that so many people wanted to see for years…
And they are discontinuing this even though it requires purchasing the remastered version of CoD4, a complete joke https://t.co/J7SloLaO14
— Luc // HiddenXperia (@HiddenXperia) August 15, 2024
H2m gets a cease and desist order the day after the cod sale ends 🤔 I’m still refunding the money but the timing is awful. There’s no way I’m spending the money on bo6
— .tom (@TypicallyTom) August 15, 2024
Several of the developers behind H2M have also posted their thoughts online, including X user @TheWatchfulWolf and @alstr_. The former posted apology and then he suggested that H2M would now be he decided to create his own projectsaying, “Fine. We’ll just make our own unique game.”
“I’m really devastated” @alstr_ said“Over a year of dedicated people working FOR FREE to relive the fan favorite Call of Duty game. Not a dime was made, despite generating THOUSANDS OF SALES FOR ACTIVISON, only to be shut down AFTER PEOPLE SPENT THEIR MONEY. My apologies to everyone.”
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor to IGN. He began writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work on outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
Be sure to follow him on Twitter @MikeCripe.
