Modern Warfare 2 pre-load begins today, Raids coming in December
We now have a much clearer idea about the timeline of events leading up to the launch of Modern Warfare 2.
We're just days away from the launch of Modern Warfare 2, and things are starting to fall into place. Those who pre-order the game will be able to play the single-player campaign starting tomorrow, October 20.
In preparation, Infinity Ward revealed the pre-load times for all platforms, along with everything else you can expect from now until the end of the year, in terms of content and events.
To begin with, the Modern Warfare 2 campaign early access pre-load kicks off today at 10am PT, 1pm ET, 6pm BST. This goes for all platforms, and it's also the full game pre-load time on Xbox.
PlayStation players, on the other hand, can pre-load the full game on October 20, starting at 4am PT and gradually rolling out across the different regions. PC full game pre-load kicks off the last, as it begins only two days ahead of launch.
On Steam and Battle.net, you'll be able to pre-load on October 26 at 10am PT, 1pm ET, 6pm BST.
Regardless of your platform of choice, pre-ordering the game will unlock the campaign for you tomorrow, October 20 at 10am PT, 1pm ET, 6pm BST, so get started on the pre-load between now and then. Of course, you can always pre-order anytime between October 20 and the full launch to get early access to the campaign, and unlock a host of rewards if you finish it.
The next major event is the launch of the full game on October 28. Consoles will go first, between 4am PT and 9pm PT, gradually rolling out across the different regions. PC will be going live at the same time worldwide, which is 9pm PT, 12am ET, 5am BST, 6am CEST.
Activision posted this handy map to help PC players with launch times, which you can see below.
The pre-season period kicks off at launch, and will last until November 16 - that's when the first season will kick off, alongside the launch of Warzone 2.0 and DMZ.
Roughly one month later, on December 14, the mid-season update for Season One arrives. Season One Reloaded adds content for multiplayer, Warzone 2.0 - as well as the first ever Raid to Modern Warfare 2's Special Ops mode.
We still don't know much about what a Raid means in the context of Call of Duty, but it sounds like it's going to be a more challenging and involved Special Ops mission. The blog post announcing the news says players should level up their Special Ops Kits - which can be done by playing and replaying the those missions - to have a better chance of surviving the Raid.
More details on Raids, as well as what to expect at launch in terms of multiplayer content, will be revealed in a few days.