Call of Duty is a franchise that has found its success in part due to its availability. Call of Duty games are available across as many console platforms as make sense with every iteration. Despite that, Activision made a decision some years past to make Call of Duty less accessible on PC by shifting the franchise off of Steam to the Battle.net storefront. The decision frustrated Call of Duty fans on PC, but it's taken until now for Activision to decide to officially bring Call of Duty back to Steam on PC.
In an announcement made Wednesday morning, Activision confirmed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 would be launching later this year via the Steam storefront on PC. The announcement was made with no fanfare, outside a brief message making clear that "Call of Duty is coming back to Steam." When Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 arrives on October 28, it'll do so on PC via the Steam storefront.
Activision did more than just confirm Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for Steam, however. It also confirmed that the next major Call of Duty game release, Warzone 2.0, will also be released on PC via the Steam storefront. The bigger surprise is that Warzone 2.0 is tentatively planned for release later this year, but its availability on Steam when it arrives will likely be received well by PC gamers.
While it isn't explicitly stated, the language surrounding the announcement does seem to imply that Activision's plans for the foreseeable future include Call of Duty launching on Steam Plans could always change, but there's no indication of any reevaluation alongside the announcement.
While Call of Duty is returning to Steam, it's not leaving Battle.net. Modern Warfare 2 will also launch through the Battle.net application in addition to Valve's platform. This should come as pleasing news for Battle.net users with currency built up through World of Warcraft's token system. Pre-orders for Modern Warfare 2 are already available both on Steam and through Battle.net.
Call of Duty was last made available on Steam with the release of 2017's Call of Duty: WW2. That left Black Ops 4, Modern Warfare, Black Ops Cold War, and most recently Vanguard off the platform. Perhaps Activision will bring those Call of Duty games to Steam eventually, too. Though by 2023, it may be a decision for Microsoft rather than Activision.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 releases October 28 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.