The original Modern Warfare 2 servers have been shut down following a malware threat

The original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has shut down its servers to prevent the spread of what is widely thought to be a malware attack.

Not to be confused with the more contemporary 2023 game of the same name which runs on different servers and remains unaffected, Activision was forced to take the 2009 version offline on Steam whilst it “investigated reports of an issue”.

Although Activision hasn’t confirmed what the alleged “issue” is, players believe it is connected to a post shared on the game’s Steam forums back in June that warned players to run an antivirus scan, positing that a trojan was being spread almost players “using hacked lobbies”.

As reported by TechCrunch, it appears the malware – which has been flagged on VirusTotal – contains a worm that spreads automatically between players sharing lobbies on PC.

That was three days ago, and there’s been no further word from Activision or any of the Call of Duty communication channels about when – or even if – the servers will be reactivated. Activision has also not yet confirmed if the worm is indeed the reason why the game has been temporarily taken offline.

Season 4 of the most recent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0 went live last month. Amongst the additions for Season 4 are new maps, new operators, and limited-time launch modes.

Vondel, the recently-leaked new map, looks to be inspired by Amsterdam and its canal system. Players can dive into the canals or drive across them to move around Vondel, which is a little bigger than Al Mazrah but smaller than Ashika Island.