Summary
The release ofCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3is just around the corner, with the title’s beta recently finishing alongside a lot of positive fan sentiment. Like most entries to the franchise, a huge amount of anticipation surrounds the upcoming game, with its choice to re-introduce multiplayer maps from 2009’s iconicMW2only boosting its hype even further.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3is also set to come out at a time fairly uncontested by other major FPS releases, with many having thought the game would enjoy an easy time in the genre’s spotlight. Despite this,Battlefield 2042has recently received an unexpected resurgence in popularity by addressing some longstanding issues, potentially creating a bit of surprising competition for the upcoming release.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: A Potential Competitor In Battlefield 2042
It is no secret thatBattlefield 2042did not experience the launch that DICE was hoping forback in 2021. Previously billed as aCoDkiller with an unprecedented focus on multiplayer in a near-futuristic setting, a huge amount of anticipation turned to disappointment when2042eventually released. Many fans hated the glaring differences between2042and pastBattlefieldgames, with it choosing not to include any form of single-player and forgoing the franchise’s traditional class system at launch.
Battlefield 2042was originally supposed to contend against 2021’sCall of Duty: Vanguard, but theshaky launch of2042saw its player count rapidly dropandVanguardsat comfortably atop the FPS genre for the year.2042remained as an underwhelming blemish on theBattlefieldname ever since, although it has recently been subjected to some thorough and dedicated polishing that may have turned the tide.
Recent updates toBattlefield 2042have thrust the game into a position that DICE can be proud of, with the title facing a range of balance, movement, and gunplay improvements alongside new content like maps inspired by pastBattlefieldexperiences.Battlefield 2042recently held a free-to-play event across all platforms that saw itsPC concurrent player count reach a new record of over 100,000, giving players a solid opportunity to get a feel of its many quality-of-life changes.
Setting a new player-count record two years after launch is a very impressive feat for2042, and is something that might concern the potential reception ofModern Warfare 3in November. WhileCall of Dutyalways pulls huge numbers of players,Modern Warfare 3was meant to release in an uncontested FPS market, with no other AAA releases coming around the same time as the game. This has been completely undone by the unpredictable resurgence ofBattlefield 2042, which has essentially created an entirely new AAA experience thatMW3now has to directly compete with.
WithHaloandBattlefieldboth producing lukewarm titles in recent years,Call of Dutyhas enjoyed a complete lack of competition within the FPS industry, although that may now change. The gaming space is quite receptive to a good redemption story, as seen with the likes ofCyberpunk 2077, and the uptake in popularity forBattlefield 2042could easily carry forward intoModern Warfare 3’s life cycle. With hundreds of thousands of players experiencing a polishedBattlefield 2042just a month beforeMW3’s launch, the upcoming game could find itself in a frustrating battle against the 2021 title.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3launches on November 10 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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