Modern Warfare 2’s Special Ops mode will add three-player Raids in December

Activision has revealed new details about Modern Warfare 2’s post-launch content roadmap, including plans to introduce multiplayer Raids for the game’s Special Ops mode in December.

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 release date is October 28, but players who pre-order the digital version of the game will be granted early access to its campaign starting on October 20.

The game’s release will be followed by a pre-season period in which players can level up to unlock weapons, attachments, base Loadout items, and progress through the Special Ops tier system.

Modern Warfare 2’s first season of live content will then launch on November 16 alongside Warzone 2.0 and the new DMZ mode.

“The very first episode of Raids” will debut with the Season 1 Reloaded patch on December 14, which will also include a “legendary multiplayer map” and the first major Warzone 2.0 update, Activision said today,

It previously described Raids as “a whole new experience for the franchise — a three- player cooperative engagement requiring teamwork and strategic, puzzle-solving thinking in-between bouts of intense combat”. And today it also called them “a direct continuation of the Campaign”.

Raids will form part of Modern Warfare 2’s co-op Special Ops mode, which will include three missions when the game is released in October, all taking place in Al Mazrah, which is also the main region for Warzone 2.0.

Bad Situation is a stealth-focused mission which challenges players to “infiltrate a town in the dead of night to uncover intel and evidence left behind by Al Qatala before exfiltrating”.

Vehicle Escape tasks players with destroying a series of SAM turrets preventing reinforcements from entering the battlefield, before racing to reach an exfiltration plane.

And Observatory Defense sees players defending a location from increasingly tough waves of enemies attempting to detonate bombs. Players can spend cash between waves to get items like Killstreaks, self-revive kits and armour plates.

In Special Ops, players will have access to a Backpack for storing equipment and one of three Kits:

• Assault: Kit focused on increased armor with an Armor Box Field Upgrade — later levels include faster Loadout item usage, increased armor capacity, and free Stims included in the Backpack.
• Medic: Kit focused on quicker revives with a Stim Pistol Field Upgrade for ranged instant revives — later levels include a free Bomb Drone, similar benefits to the Double Time Perk, and free Claymores and anti-tank mines included in the Backpack.
• Engineer: Kit focused on better equipment usage with a Snapshot Pulse Field Upgrade to see nearby enemies — later levels include the ability to automatically restock Lethals and Tacticals over time, the ability to carry extra equipment, and a free Heartbeat Sensor and Spotter Scope included in the Backpack.

“Kits are leveled up by earning Stars through missions and mission-related challenges, which gives all three of these launch missions plenty of replayability,” Activision said.

“We highly recommend completing all three Special Ops missions with three stars and have at least one Kit leveled up to Rank 5 before Raids, a direct continuation of the Campaign, are introduced to Special Ops later in Season 01.”