Activision is locking new Call of Duty weapons behind its other game modes
In the Gulag.
UPDATE 17/11/22: Call of Duty players have figured out a neat trick that stops your squad from having to kill the Chemist four times in a row. You can read about it here.
ORIGINAL STORY 16/11/22: Fans have already started combing through all the new content coming to Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0 with the arrival of Season One tonight, but one small detail has taken over fan discussion.
Some Modern Warfare 2 weapons will be locked behind challenges that can only be completed on other game modes. Most notably, the M13B Assault Rifle is locked behind a challenge in the game's new DMZ mode which will be releasing alongside Warzone 2.0.
According to screenshots posted by the community, players can unlock the weapon by "defeating the Chemist in the radiation zone of DMZ and extracting his dropped weapon."
Additionally, only the teammate in your squad who exfils with the weapon gets to unlock it, forcing the rest of the squad to play the mode all over again.
The only other way to unlock the weapon is by purchasing a bundle from the in-game store with the game's premium currency.
Activision is therefore creating an incentive for players to try out the new game mode, though a more cynical commentator could describe it as psychological manipulation.
This is a first for the series. Previously, all new weapons could be unlocked for free through challenges within multiplayer or Warzone.
The move is particularly egregious since fans believe the new weapon will be taking over the game's meta thanks to its high rate of fire and low recoil.