Highly anticipated Call of Duty clone reportedly shut down by Activision

A small group of devs working on a Call of Duty mod called sm2 received a Cease and Desist from Activision as the publisher look to shut the project down.

Call of Duty fans have had a lot to digest with the Warzone 2 Season 3 Reloaded update bringing Warzone 2 Ranked Play and Modern Warfare 2 receiving another Raid episode. Despite Microsoft’s complicated ongoing acquisition of Activision, the publisher continues to focus on producing new content for their titles.

It seems the Call of Duty publisher doesn’t need the news of an acquisition to remain in the spotlight, as a story involving Activision surfaced on May 17. According to reports, Activision have served the team at sm2 a Cease and Desist.

Sm2 has been a fan-made Call of Duty title in development by a small but passionate group of CoD fans. The game was set to combine plenty of the fan-favorite aspects throughout the entire franchise and make it a free-to-play mod for fans to enjoy.

Today, a team member received a Cease & Desist letter on behalf of Activision Publishing in relation to the sm² project. We are complying with this order and shutting down all operations permanently. Thank you all for your support over the past 2 years.

— sm² (@sm2game) May 17, 2023

However, it seems like the sm2 mod will never see the light of day as the team decided to shut down operations following reports of Activision’s Cease and Desist.

The Call of Duty sm2 mod was developed on the Modern Warfare 2 (2009) engine, and despite the outdated visuals, players were excited at the prospect of the mod due to the fact that it would contain several of the franchise’s iconic maps and weapons.

The devs even revealed that sm2 was set to move from the Modern Warfare 2 engine to the Modern Warfare Remastered engine, potentially giving the mod a more modern look.

Activision have not issued a statement concerning the alleged sm2 Cease and Desist, leaving Call of Duty fans without an explanation as to why they aimed to shut the project down.

With the development team taking to Twitter to confirm that the sm2 project would be shutting down, this marks the end of a two-year chapter for the individuals who hoped to see their passion project come to life.

For more, check out how the Modern Warfare 2 devs teased the return of a classic Call of Duty map, or the best Ranked Play loadouts for Warzone 2 Season 3 Reloaded.