Activision shuts down fan-made Call of Duty project

Activision has hit a fan-made Call of Duty (COD) project with a cease-and-desist order after almost two years of development, resulting in the team shutting down its operations.

The details:

• The team behind SM2, a fan-created project to create the "ultimate" COD title featuring a mix of fan-favorite maps and weapons from the entire series, announced via its Twitter account that a member of its team had received a "Cease and Desist letter on behalf of Activision Publishing in relation to the SM2 project," and that it would be "complying with this order and shutting down all operations permanently.”
• The project had been in development for nearly two years, with considerable hype and support from the larger COD community, which wished to return to the franchise's older style. Many believe that Activision's sudden legal action was motivated by the team's decision to switch from the 2009 Modern Warfare 2 IW4x engine to the more modern Modern Warfare Remastered H1 engine for "technical reasons." This was not helped by the team's claim that players would not "need" to own Modern Warfare Remastered in the first place.
• Fans' reactions to the situation have been mixed. Many people are upset by Activision's seemingly random decision to shut down the project, while others are surprised that the publisher would even allow the project to last this long as it used the company's intellectual property to create a "competitor" to its newer releases.

More Activision Blizzard news:

• The European Commission approved Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard after the company addressed its concerns about cloud gaming. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority responded to the decision by stating that it will continue to block the deal despite the European Commission's ruling.
• Blizzard has announced that the highly anticipated PvE hero mode for Overwatch 2 has been scrapped for the "good of the game." The mode was revealed alongside the sequel and was set to include character progression systems and a new story, with the company stating that "similar" content will be added in a different way.