I’ve been following this story for a while, but it seems like Call of Duty fans of at least one of their PC versions have cause to celebrate this week.
Microsoft has been hard at work leveraging its Call of Duty acquisition to boost Xbox’s fortunes in recent years, shipping Black Ops 1 and 2 “classic” versions exclusively onto PlayStation to huge fanfare.
Indeed, the “classic” Call of Duty versions have been in the spotlight somewhat lately, as fans clamor for an era of a more grounded, less microtransaction-laden Call of Duty. Modern versions are replete with pop culture bloat and mountains of “features” nobody really asked for, leaving nostalgic millennials and older gen-z players yearning for simpler times.
Of course, you can always play the classic Call of Duty games on PC via Steam or on Xbox Series X|S via backwards compatibility. The downside is that these classic Call of Duty versions are often infested with aimbot hackers at best, and RCE vulnerabilities at worst.
Remote Code Execution (RCE) exploits allow players in multiplayer titles to literally upload malware to your computer. The way some older games work with regard to peer-to-peer networking, if left unpatched, facilitate this malignant type of attack. Modern Warfare 2 on PC has been notorious for these types of vulnerabilities unfortunately, but there may be light at the end of the tunnel.
In a statement to Windows Central, Activision claimed the following: “An update released this week addressed all known vulnerabilities in Modern Warfare 2. The team continues to support our legacy titles, with additional updates coming soon. We encourage anyone aware of additional issues to report them through Activision’s Bug Bounty Portal.”
There are other reports of aimbots, wall hacks, and even RCE exploits in other classic Call of Duty PC games, but it sounds as though Activision is now actively working through these after realizing the potential goldmine it’s sitting on. Indeed, Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 dominated the PlayStation store over the summer, potentially opening up new revenue streams for the legendary franchise.
What about Call of Duty on Xbox backwards compatibility?
I’ve also requested for Activision to comment on the Xbox backwards compatible versions of Call of Duty, which are similarly replete with hackers and aimbots and the like.
Xbox backwards compatibility is one of the best features Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One have in my view. It allows hundreds of classic Xbox and Xbox 360 games to carry forward, ensuring that your purchases travel with you.
In the early days, having all of the classic Call of Duty titles in one place is arguably a huge selling point for Xbox as a console ecosystem. However, Microsoft itself offered a huge flaw in the system this summer, when it ported the classic Black Ops 1 and 2 exclusively to PlayStation, complete with modernized security updates and server infrastructure.
It’s a sad state of affairs for Xbox fans of classic Call of Duty games potentially. Despite Xbox literally owning Call of Duty, Xbox fans are left with the worst experience thanks to the unpatched security vulnerabilities.
Since the classic Call of Duty titles available on Xbox Series X|S today are effectively Xbox 360 versions, the source code of which is likely archived, it seems incredibly unlikely Microsoft and Activision will be willing to patch some of these. The Xbox 360 security layers are easily bypassed these days, with modded consoles opening up old school backwards compatible multiplayer titles to a variety of vulnerabilities.
It’s a sad state of affairs for Xbox fans of classic Call of Duty games potentially. Despite Xbox literally owning Call of Duty, Xbox fans are left with the worst experience thanks to the unpatched security vulnerabilities.
I’ll update this article if Activision responds to my queries on the topic, but at least for now, PC players of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 should feel a bit safer for the time being. I’ll monitor the situation and let you know of any updates as soon as I’m able.
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