Over 60 major tech and gaming publications announced today that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 would be announced next week. The reports gave details of the exact date and time as well as speculation surrounding the storyline and possible characters involved.
The only problem with the reports is that Activision is claiming they were all false.
From Activision: “There seems to be a great deal of speculation about the next Call of Duty project. Let me be clear that we are not revealing yet. Anything indicating otherwise is a hoax.”
A website was launched at FindMakarov.com with a brief flash of an unknown military character (pictured above) and a countdown clock. That’s it. In conjunction with this, the hoaxers sent a pair of dog tags to several gaming publications. One containedg the URL and the phrase “End the War.” The other was for Lieutenant General Shepard the mastermind villain revealed in Modern Warfare 2.
If Activision did not pull this publicity stunt, who did? It’s rather elaborate considering that the hoax would only last a few hours before Activision revealed the truth…
…or did they?
Conspiracy theory time: what if it really was Activision that released the website and started the gaming media frenzy, but there was a miscommunication between them and a PR firm commissioned to pull off the stunt? Even more compelling – what if the complications between Activision and developers has spilled over to a delay that wasn’t known until the site was launched and the dog tags mailed?
Or, what if it’s just a prank?
