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The end of an era is among us. After SM2 was shut down earlier this week, another Call of Duty mod with a huge following received a cease-and-desist from Activision. X Labs has halted all development, taken down their site, and will cease operations from here on out.
This was widely expected after SM2 received their notice this past Wednesday, May 17th. SM2 was a mod intended to overhaul the original Modern Warfare 2 from 2009. It was supposed to add over a hundred new weapons, new perks, voice chat, and more. While the original Modern Warfare 2 servers are still online, they’re inundated with hackers, and it’s almost impossible to play a legit match against opponents. SM2 was meant to solve all of this and bring the game millions grew up playing back to life.
X Labs was in a similar vein as SM2. X Labs had dedicated servers, anti-cheat, additional content, and modding capabilities. X Labs offered modded clients for different Call of Duty games, such as Modern Warfare 2 (2009), Ghosts (2013), Advanced Warfare (2014), and Black Ops 3 (2015).
X Labs had testimonials from different streamers and content creators on their site, with one saying that IW4x is “better than Modern Warfare 2019.” Another content creator said that “IW4x is one of the greatest mods we’ve ever seen for Call of Duty.” There was clearly a lot of love put into these clients that X Labs offered, and it certainly filled a void left by the newer titles, which are not nearly as popular as their predecessors.
Why would Activision force X Labs to stop?
There are definitely a few reasons why Activision doesn’t want X Labs, SM2, and other mods to continue their operations. One could assume that the biggest reason Activision doesn’t want people polishing their old titles is that it doesn’t incentivize them to purchase the new, shiny game that they release every year. Why would anyone buy the new Call of Duty when they can hop on a server and play an older title that is constantly being updated, thanks to the work of some dedicated fans?
The other problem is that some of these mods use in-game assets, which is a big no-no. You cannot use another company’s private assets and expect everything to be fine. There is a long history of video game companies shutting down fan-made projects that use assets from the games. Just look at GTA: Underground shutting down back in 2021 due to pressure from Take-Two Interactive or Blizzard Entertainment (which merged with Activision back in 2008) shutting down private World of Warcraft servers.
These mods have existed for years, though, so it’s still unclear why Activision is just now deciding to crack down on these clients and mods. The legality is pretty clear on these mods—they’re not. But Activision certainly isn’t making any fans happy with their decision to pass out these cease and desists.
Can you still play older Call of Duty titles online?
You can still play Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops 3 online with your friends without the need for an external client. It’s just that, as we mentioned before, those servers have tons of hackers and are not secure. Players risk their personal information getting leaked if they play older Call of Duty games due to exploits and holes that Activision doesn’t patch.
Another popular Call of Duty mod, Plutonium, is almost certainly expected to be shut down in due time. Like dominos, these Call of Duty mods will sadly continue to fall, and players will be forced to deal with hackers and security risks if they want to play their favorite games.
