Activision Officially Decouples Call of Duty’s Bloated HQ Launcher — What You Need to Know

Sure, here’s my take on re-telling that piece, human style:

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Whoa, so get this. Call of Duty’s done something kind of wild and liberating. Modern Warfare 2 (2022) and Modern Warfare 3 (2023) just decided they’re too cool for school—or at least too cool for that cumbersome COD HQ launcher. Now, they’re out on their own, struttin’ their stuff on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. Standalone! Like, you don’t even need the launcher anymore. Isn’t that kind of like breaking up with someone but still getting to keep all the CDs?

Okay, okay, tangent here: If you’re obsessed with Warzone, don’t freak out — you can still hang out with all your legacy content. But, yeah, once Season 5 hits on August 7, legacy stuff in that launcher is going, going, gone. Forever and ever, amen.

Oh, and for those ride-or-die Xbox gamers? All those achievements you coveted like candy? They’ve unwrapped even more! Modern Warfare 2 and 3 now have fresh achievement lists! Achieve away, friends; it’s a completionist’s paradise. No more slogging through years of CoD just to check those boxes.

And speaking of checking boxes, Modern Warfare 3 (2023) decided we need one more reason to high-five online. Reach Level 55 in multiplayer? Boom, achievement unlocked! Someone already did it? Lucky ducks, get your badge right away.

The Call of Duty crowd is kinda hyped about this whole standalone deal—it’s like when my favorite indie band finally dropped the big-label baggage. You know what I mean? No? Well, moving on…

Now, if you’re wondering where the COD HQ launcher evolution is heading, here’s the scoop. Once upon a time, Activision thought they caught lightning in a bottle—“Wouldn’t it be rad,” they said, “if we bundled all the COD goodies with Warzone into one mega hub?” Reality check: It was about as popular as pineapple on pizza. Okay, maybe that’s contentious, but whatever.

Launching right into your COD passion was like running a marathon in cement boots. So, they tried to pretty it up with Black Ops 6 and labeled that facelift a “Time to Fun” initiative. Catchy, maybe, but did it deliver? Debatable. A huge file size downsize helped, though. My PC breathed a sigh of relief, anyway.

But there was, and still kind of is, that darned horizontally scrolling UI. Super annoying, like when you’re endlessly swiping through a dating app just to realize—you know what, skip that metaphor. Just don’t expect it to vanish overnight, alright?

More tweaks are trickling out post-Black Ops 6, including ways to stress less over Warzone’s buy station mess. Baby steps, right?

Eyes on the future, though, ’cause Black Ops 7 is looming like a storm on the horizon with a rumored end of the year or maybe holiday kickoff. The COD crew seems like they’re finally listening to our stream of consciousness feedback. Thank goodness, because seriously, we’ve been calling for less clutter since, I don’t know, forever?

And — get this — Black Ops 7’s part of Xbox’s Play Anywhere thing! Meaning you could be on Xbox and slide over to PC like nothing happened. My wishlist includes miracle fixes like these, so fingers crossed for more goodies.

So, yeah, COD’s shaking things up, and about time, right?