Activision Hauls 2009’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Steam Multiplayer Offline to Combat Hackers

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Activision brought Steam multiplayer for 2009’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 offline to combat hackers.

TechCrunch reports hackers were infecting players with a worm that spreads automatically in online lobbies from one infected player to another. As Techcrunch points out, this suggests hackers have exploiting bugs in Modern Warfare 2 to execute malicious code on players’ computers.

“Multiplayer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) on Steam was brought offline while we investigate reports of an issue,” Activision said in a tweet.

📢 Multiplayer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) on Steam was brought offline while we investigate reports of an issue.

— Call of Duty Updates (@CODUpdates) July 26, 2023

Despite being 14 years old, Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare 2 retains a modest fanbase that sees hundreds of concurrents on Steam.

Older Call of Duty games on Xbox 360 received a surprise shot in the arm recently after apparent matchmaking improvements from Microsoft. Microsoft declined to comment when contacted by IGN.

These older Call of Duty games, while still playable online a decade after launch, were riddled with hackers, boosters, and cheaters. But reports emerged last week that some unannounced work was done to improve matters on Xbox 360 versions of the games, and, when word got around, thousands of fans ended up jumping back in.

But players have reported hackers continue to cause problem in lobbies, and it seems a particular concern on PC.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.