The background for the situation has to do with a pre-order bonus announced for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s Vault Edition. The pre-order bonus was said to be for 10 hours of Double XP tokens and 10 hours of Double Weapon XP tokens. These Modern Warfare 2 pre-orderers didn’t notice the fine print, however. The pre-order bonus was only available for those who purchased Modern Warfare 2 through the shops for Call of Duty: Vanguard, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. It wasn’t for those who pre-ordered through Steam or other platforms.
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But Activision has now issued a statement acknowledging the confusion over the Vault Edition pre-order bonuses. While not admitting to any mistake, Activision says it will be rewarding all Vault Edition owners with the expected tokens regardless of whether they pre-ordered or not. That means all Vault Edition players will be receiving 10 hours of Double XP tokens and 10 hours of Double Weapon XP tokens.
No action is required on the part of Modern Warfare 2 players who purchased the Vault Edition. The tokens will be delivered digitally over the next 48 hours. Some players may already have received their reward, while others will have to wait a while longer. Nevertheless, it should sate players disappointed they weren’t going to get the rewards, and will be a special surprise who didn’t know about the controversy in the first place.
While Activision isn’t admitting fault, it’s easy to empathize with frustrated pre-orderers. Call of Duty game releases have so many editions, physical and digital, that each come with a confusing amount of rewards and benefits. There are DLC packs, beta invitations, beta rewards, pre-order bonuses, and then certain platform-exclusive benefits on top of that. Activision deciding to share these Double XP tokens keeps things simple and handles a controversy that could otherwise lead to broader discontent.
It’s safe to say that Activision didn’t have to do anything. Modern Warfare 2 has already been described as the “#1 Call of Duty launch of all-time,” bringing in over $800 million in sales within its first three days of availability. How many players purchased the Vault Edition isn’t clear, and players who took issue with the pre-order fiasco were likely only a small fraction of those players. Still, all’s well that ends well.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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