What can you say here except just call it game of the year, with Infinity Ward's inability to decide on Modern Warfare 2 or Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 the posts on most sites read like they are talking about two different games so come on Ward lets make up our minds here.

Modern Warfare 2 won’t drop the Call Of Duty franchise branding, Activision has seemingly confirmed.

Earlier today Infinity Ward community manager Robert Bowling showed off the “first” copies of the game’s box art via his Twitter account, revealing the Call Of Duty branding above the Modern Warfare 2 title.

While the game was originally introduced with the Call Of Duty moniker intact, it has simply been referred to as Modern Warfare 2 for some time now. Activision explained the confusion over the game’s title in a statement issued to Kotaku.

"Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 is the direct sequel to Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare," said a rep. "We have focused our attention on Modern Warfare in order to most effectively communicate the fact that this is the first true sequel in the Call Of Duty series. Infinity Ward, the original creators of the Call Of Duty franchise, has said from the beginning Modern Warfare 2 resides in the Call Of Duty universe. This is reflected in the title's package."

It’s quite possible that Activision chose to stick with the Call Of Duty branding because it feared not doing so would limit the title’s sales potential. “The Call Of Duty brand association essentially doubles the awareness for the game," research firm OTX told Gamasutra last month.

Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey said recently that he expects Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – which is due for release in November - to be the biggest game of the year, selling 11.1 million units by the end of 2009.

Activision is similarly bullish about the game’s prospects, so much so that earlier this week it decided to delay the release of Singularity to next year in order to “provide a better opportunity to establish the new cutting-edge action IP as a must-have title and clear the way for Modern Warfare 2 to dominate this holiday season."

360-Hq Game Database: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
News-Source: edge-online.com