Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is finally out for everyone and while many are excited about its take on first-person shooter multiplayer gameplay, especially in that it includes every map from 2009's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the campaign so far has not been well-received by critics and fans. A new Bloomberg report sheds some light on the harsh conditions and quick turnaround developer Sledgehammer Games worked with to get the latest Call of Duty out the door, which might explain the campaign's mishaps. 

Bloomberg reports that for the first few months of the game's development, it was codenamed Jupiter and featured a smaller-scale spinoff-like story set in Mexico. It was designed this way to account for a faster turnaround compared to previous Modern Warfare campaigns. This follows another report from Bloomberg, which stated Call of Duty would skip 2023 and instead release an expansion or continuation of last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

This new Bloomberg report states Sledgehammer Games was pitched an expansion to Modern Warfare II, but it eventually morphed into a full game. Publisher Activision Blizzard, which is now owned by Xbox after a $69 billion acquisition, denied this when asked about it by Bloomberg, instead stating that Modern Warfare III was always conceived as a "premium game." Former and current Call of Duty developers Bloomberg spoke to said they were told it was an expansion.

This mid-development reboot to take the smaller-scale spinoff-like story set in Mexico and turn it into a traditional globetrotting Call of Duty campaign featuring the villainous Vladimir Makarov, who was the villain in 2011's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, resulted in the shortest development time for a new game in the series in years, according to the publication. Bloomberg writes that some Sledgehammer Games staff had to work nights and weekends to finish the game on a 16-month development cycle, which is roughly half the time usually allotted for a new Call of Duty. 

Bloomberg reports that before Modern Warfare III, Sledgehammer Games had pitched a game codenamed Anvil set in the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare universe it launched in 2014, but this was quickly shelved for the game now available today. On top of this, since it was developing a game set in Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare universe, Sledgehammer Games reportedly grew frustrated having to run its plans and content by Infinity Ward executives, which Bloomberg reports led to "inefficienes waiting on feedback and making significant and sometimes unwanted changes based on directions from above." 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. 

For more, read Game Informer's breakdown of the best graphics mode for Modern Warfare III and then check out the Modern Warfare III PC system spec requirements. After that, check out this list of every Activision Blizzard series Xbox now owns. 

[Source: Bloomberg]

Have you played the campaign of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III? Let us know what you think of it in the comments below!

If you've seen Netflix's Arcane League of Legends animated series, there's a high probability you really like it – the show's great, even for non-League of Legends fans. It tells the heartwrenching story of sisters Vi and Jinx and their struggle to come to terms with each other in the high-tech (and magical) utopian city of Piltover and its seedy underbelly known as Zaun. The first season hit the subscription streaming service in November of 2021and now we know that Arcane Season 2 hits Netflix this time next year. 

More specifically, Arcane Season 2 drops on Netflix in November of 2024. To coincide with the news, Netflix has released a short teaser featuring Jinx. Check it out below: 

Arcane. Season 2. November 2024. #GeekedWeek pic.twitter.com/SmPjKZKhOx

— Netflix Anime (@NetflixAnime) November 9, 2023

With roughly a year to go before Season 2, if you haven't yet watched Arcane, which features voice actors like Hailee Steinfeld, Yuri Lowenthal, Ella Purnell, and more, you've got plenty of time to do so – and it's well worth your time!

In the meantime, check out the League of Legends Jinx champion skin that was added to Fortnite to celebrate Arcane, and then read Game Informer's review of Ruined King: A League of Legends story. Read about Convergence: A League of Legends Story after that. 

Have you seen Season 1 of Arcane? Let us know in the comments below!