The official release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is actually scheduled for a few hours from now, but with a variation of the “New Zealand trick,” players can apparently jump into the game already – at least on consoles.
When is the CoD MW 2 release? Actually, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 starts in Germany on October 28.
- On consoles, it should start at 00:00
- At 06:00 in the morning on PC
These times mark the start of the multiplayer mode on the respective platforms, after the campaign has already been playable.
However, there seems to be a trick now that allows players with the console version to start as early as today, October 27.
Players switch region in Activision account for early start in CoD MW 2
What kind of trick is that? It is a variation of the “New Zealand” trick. Normally, players simply changed the region of their platform to “New Zealand” – the start there at 00:00 translates to 13:00 here. However, the developers announced that this would not work this time.
Now, players on reddit are sharing a new variant of the trick to start early: They changed the address in their Activision account to a New Zealand address and were then able to jump into the MW 2 multiplayer early.
Important: This only works on console, as the PC version starts globally at the same time.
The colleagues from GamePro have already tested this trick and confirm that it works (via GamePro).
To change the address, you should:
- Open the Activision account on the official Activision site
- Change the address in the profile information – under “Basic Info”
- Replace your address with any address from New Zealand – you can find one through a quick Google Maps search; GamePro also suggests the “Address Finder“.
Now you just need to start the game on the console and accept any settings changes – then the MW 2 multiplayer should also be playable.
GamePro points out that, for example, progress could be reset in the region after the official launch or, in the worst case, the account could be banned by Activision (via GamePro).
Do you want to know what’s new in CoD Modern Warfare II? You can find out in the video:
You should note that the early start in this form, especially in light of the developers’ warning against the “typical” New Zealand trick, is probably not intended. Infinity Ward explained that you would only experience connection issues and could be locked out until the actual start in the region.
So use the trick only if the early start time is worth the risk to you. Otherwise, the multiplayer starts on consoles at midnight, and on PC it begins at 06:00 in the morning.
This brings the release plan of CoD MW 2 to its second stage. In total, there are 3 stages in the CoD release 2022, the 3rd stage marks the start of Season 1 and Warzone 2.0.
