Activision seeks identity of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare battle royale leaker

By Aaron Mamiit February 23, 2020

Activision has filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) subpoena against online forum Reddit in a bid to identify the person who leaked an image related to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare‘s upcoming battle royale mode, Warzone.

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The subpoena seeks the identity of a Redditor who goes by the name Assyrian2410 who posted artwork for the unannounced Warzone, According to The Hollywood Reporter. Assyrian2410 initially claimed in the now-deleted post that the image was found online, but later admitted that it was sent to the Redditor.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The filing, which was submitted on February 14 in California’s Northern District Court, requests Reddit to provide information on the also-now-deleted Assyrian2410 account, so that Activision may seek legal action against the people involved in the leak.

The image in question appears to be part of an internal document, which means that it could have only been leaked by an employee of Activision or developer Infinity Ward.

This is not the first leak for the upcoming battle royale mode of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. In November last year, a data miner discovered the map that Infinity Ward will use for the upcoming mode, as well as details such as the 200-player size of each match, Respawn Tokens to revive fallen allies, Missions that teams can acquire from looted tablets, and the Plunder mechanic.

With the season 2 update of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare adding a locked “Classified” option on the game’s main menu, speculation on the unannounced battle royale mode intensified. Players discovered an in-game cutscene of soldiers parachuting out of an airplane, which is the standard way of starting battle royale matches, as well as a wall of green gas, which may be Warzone’s version of the closing-in playing field.

Meanwhile, another player discovered that it was possible to get a low-resolution view of the full area planned for Warzone, which looks very similar to the data mined map in November last year.

The difference in these leaks from that of Assyrian2410, however, is that these were discovered by players themselves, while the leaked Warzone image was from an employee who most likely agreed to some sort of non-disclosure agreement.

The results of the DMCA subpoena against Reddit remains to be seen.

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