Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – why play Modern Warfare 2 when you can play Modern Warfare 2? (pic: Activision)

Xbox fans have flocked to several old Call Of Duty games thanks to a recent fix, which could be prepping them for Game Pass.

Last week, out of nowhere, Activision Blizzard decided to update several old Call Of Duty games, specifically those previously available on the Xbox 360.

All the update did was fix the online matchmaking for these games, which have suffered from server issues and hackers for years now. Now that they’re fully operational again, fans have flocked to the games in droves.

Combined with the fact that they’re all playable on current Xbox Series X consoles, thanks to Microsoft’s backwards compatibility, this means the best-sellers list on the Xbox store is currently dominated by retro Call Of Duty titles.

At the time of writing, the top four slots on the Xbox store’s website belong to the original Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (not last year’s reboot), 2010’s Call Of Duty: Black Ops and its direct sequel, and Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (which itself is apparently getting a reboot this year).

It helps that all these games are currently discounted to roughly £12 each, making it an ideal opportunity for new players to jump on board as well.

This might be the best publicity Call Of Duty’s had in a while (pic: Microsoft)

The fact that fans are opting to play these older games rather than the current Modern Warfare 2 or Warzone battle royale must elicit some mixed feelings within Activision, but the good publicity is surely appreciated when most of the conversation surrounding Call Of Duty is how much people hate it nowadays.

The update also follows Microsoft’s legal victory against the Federal Trade Commission, which was seeking an injunction to temporarily block their acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Call Of Duty website CharlieINTEL theorises that, with the deal all but guaranteed to go through now, Activision figured it’d be a smart idea to fix its older games on Xbox so people can play them online. After all, it wouldn’t be a good look for Microsoft or Activision if this wasn’t the case.

It could also be Activision priming them for if/when these games are added to the Xbox Game Pass service, although that won’t be for quite a while.

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Last year, Xbox boss Phil Spencer wrote in a Microsoft blog post that Call Of Duty (as well as other Activision Blizzard titles) will come to Game Pass post-acquisition.

However, that won’t be possible for Call Of Duty until Activision’s current marketing deal with Sony expires, which according to Microsoft president Brad Smith is sometime next year.

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Xbox fans have flocked to several old Call Of Duty games thanks to a recent fix, which could be prepping them for Game Pass.