As fall approaches in 2023, so, too does a new Call of Duty. And there are already plenty of leaks and rumors about Modern Warfare 3.
Like clockwork, a new CoD is about as expected as the sun rising and setting, and this year’s CoD is a direct sequel to the last one. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is confirmed to launch on Nov. 10, and the hype train has begun.
As is usually the case, all sorts of information surrounding the game has begun to circulate in the months leading up to the game’s full release. These leaks and rumors are not confirmed yet, but most of them are enough to get CoD players excited once more.
The leaks have been picking up the pace ahead of MW3’s release later this year, and here’s what’s come out so far about the next CoD game.
All MW3 leaks and rumors
A known CoD leaker from the community, formerly known as BobNetworkUK, spilled the beans on a bunch of features coming to MW3 on the evening of Aug. 14. Here’s a summary of what Bob said, along with other previous leaks.
Classic minimap returns
On Aug. 14, the “Unknown Caller” phone number set up by Activision began responding to questions about red dots on the minimap. It appears to confirm that the classic minimap will return.
Related: Who is the Unknown Caller in MW2?
Traditionally, players who fired an unsuppressed gun would appear on the minimap as a red dot. In MW2 and 2019’s Modern Warfare, red dots were nowhere to be seen, much to the chagrin of many players.
This was a big complaint in the community, so a return to the classic minimap would be welcomed with open arms.
MW3 maps are 2009 MW2 remasters
According to the leaker known as Bob, “every MW3 launch map is a remastered MW2 (2009) map.” If this is true, it means that the game would launch with at least 16 maps, many of them all-time favorites within the community.
The list of MW2 2009 launch maps include Afghan, Rust, Scrapyard, Favela, Highrise, Estate, Quarry, and many more.
On Aug. 16, Activision confirmed via the Unknown Caller text phone number that the original MW2 maps will indeed be returning in MW3.
Map voting returns
Bob posted an image of the map voting feature from Black Ops 2, teasing that it will return in MW3. This is a feature that existed in several CoD titles, but was left out of MW2 for some reason.
In the feature, each public match lobby will present the players in it with different options for the map that would be played next. Players can vote for the two maps or vote for a random map to appear.
HP increase
According to Bob, multiplayer characters will have a base HP of 150. This would be an increase from the 100 HP that MW2 currently has, which will cause an increase in time-to-kill, something that most players have been looking forward to.
Faster movement
Along with Bob’s leaks of the Stalker perk returning from the original MW3, plus Tactical Sprint re-charging while sprinting regularly, CoD YouTuber Metaphor said at the end of July that slide-canceling is in the current build of the new MW3, putting an emphasis on faster movement than what’s offered in MW2.
Perks use a Gear system
Previously, Bob also leaked that Perks will be used in a new system featuring Gear. For example, movement perks will be part of boots, Scavenger will be equipped on gloves, and a “Gunner Vest” will allow players to equip two primary weapons by sacrificing their lethal and tactical.
Zombies mode returns
Earlier in 2023, Insider Gaming reported that Zombies mode will be returning in MW3, developed by Treyarch. This iteration of Zombies will be like the Outbreak mode in Black Ops Cold War, an open world variant of Zombies, and not the classic round-based approach.
Activision also used Unknown Caller to confirm the existence of Zombies on Aug. 16, and later again in a blog post, calling Modern Warfare Zombies “the largest Zombies offering to date.”
