Activision Blizzard seem to have removed a map that was expected to be in the ongoing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 beta.
Over the weekend, it came to light (via CharlieIntel) that the publisher had removed all mentions of the Marina Bay Grand Prix map from the Call of Duty social media channels.
The map was originally revealed last month during the Call of Duty League Finals, and subsequently posted to the Call of Duty blog too.
It was set around a race track at night, and seemed to be taking place – at least somewhat – during an actual race, with the tease of hazards like cars potentially causing a danger for players shooting it out.
There were also indoor spaces too, including a pit area, garages and even a giant Ferris wheel, giving the map a bit of an F1 feel.
However, all mention of the map have now been removed from all of the Call of Duty social media channels. Not only has the video now been removed from YouTube, but even the original blog post is nowhere to be found.
At the time of writing, Activision hasn’t announced a reason for the map’s disappearance. It was also set to be a part of the ongoing beta, and currently it’s not known if this will be the case.
This has, understandably, disappointed a lot of fans – though users on Reddit have speculated this could be due to licensing issues with the FIA – who own the actual rights to F1.
Though the map didn’t appear to make any specific references, it’s possible Activision have been asked to go back and scrub anything that could be construed as infringing on their brand. Of course, this is all speculation at this time.
We’ll have to wait and see if it effects the map appearing in the full release of Modern Warfare 2, which is coming on October 28.
This weekend will see the second Closed Beta for the game, welcoming PC and Xbox players following a first PlayStation exclusive weekend. There’ll also be cross-play, and you can read up more here.
