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H2M — Call of Duty (Activision, 2024)

What it was: a free, volunteer-built mod recreating Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) multiplayer inside Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered (2016), whose official release shipped the campaign only.

Why it matters: H2M is the cleanest counter-example to "you're safe if you own the game and ship nothing leaked."

  • It required a legitimate retail copy of Modern Warfare Remastered to run.
  • It shipped no leaked build or leaked code — it was a client-side mod on top of a legally purchased game.

Timeline:

  • Planned launch 2024-08-16.
  • ~1 day before launch, Activision sent a cease and desist. The team complied and shut the project down permanently.
  • Hours later the client and server files leaked to Discord; hundreds of players ran them on community-hosted servers.

Stated trigger: project lead Watchful Wolf said (on YouTube) that Activision's concern was H2M's popularity interfering with Black Ops 6 sales and marketing — not leaked assets. There was no asset claim to make.

Lesson: high-profile fan work can take a pre-launch C&D regardless of legality, when it competes for the same audience as an imminent commercial release. Shutting down does not stop the files from circulating.

Sources: PC Gamer, IGN, Rock Paper Shotgun, Insider Gaming (2024-08-15..20).