The campaign of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 can be said to be one of the most well-received and narratively intriguing of the many installments to the popular shooter franchise. Drawing the original Modern Warfare trilogy to a narrative close, the stakes of the title's campaign and the unpredictability of what could happen to its beloved characters made for a truly exciting and unforgettable story experience.
Given how fondly remembered the campaign of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is among the franchise's longtime player base, a remaster of the title's story would likely be welcomed by swathes of fans with open arms. When considering how the franchise has already produced similar releases to Modern Warfare 2's campaign, and when regarding the unprecedented gap year that CoD is about to face, it could soon be the perfect time for a Modern Warfare 3 campaign remaster to be released.
Call of Duty's History With Campaign Remasters
Despite the Call of Duty franchise having such an extensive and longstanding roster of titles, it is surprisingly only the original Modern Warfare trilogy that has ever received remaster treatments. For example, the original Modern Warfare got a face lift in 2016's Modern Warfare Remastered, which boldly possessed improved versions of the original title's campaign and multiplayer modes.
Following this, the campaign of the massively well-received Modern Warfare 2 was remastered in 2020, with this particular title only focusing on the game's single-player mode and not possessing any multiplayer content. As of right now, this is the extent of remastered content that the Call of Duty franchise has received, although recent changes to the annual CoD formula may precipitate future bouts of similar content sooner than expected.
Modern Warfare 3 Remastered and Call of Duty's Gap Year
When regarding the franchise history of remasters for Call of Duty, it seems logical that the original Modern Warfare trilogy should all eventually receive the remaster treatment, with Modern Warfare 3 currently being the only title of the trilogy that remains untouched. Due to the finality of its subject, the single-player mode of Modern Warfare 3 is just as, if not more, important than its two franchise predecessors, meaning it more than meets the prerequisites of fan admiration to warrant a remaster.
With this in mind, it is worth noting that 2023 is set to feature no mainline release for Call of Duty, marking the end of an extremely successful and consistent stream of annual mainline releases for the franchise. This means that the recent Modern Warfare 2 will be given an unprecedented dedicated two-year life cycle, with many assuming that the title will receive comprehensive expansions and DLC in 2023 to bolster the subsequent loss in content.
This lull in CoD content in 2023 could further be mitigated by the timely release of a remastered campaign for Modern Warfare 3. While the multiplayer of MW3 is also looked back upon fondly, it would be remiss of Activision to further split the franchise's online player base, given the current simultaneous presence of both Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2's multiplayer modes.
A remaster for MW3's campaign would complete a trilogy of campaign remasters for the original games, while also offering a serious boost to Modern Warfare-related content in 2023. It's likely that a new Modern Warfare 3 will release in the near future to complete a new trilogy of MW games. Thus, reintroducing the original title's campaign in typical Call of Duty fashion would only be a good thing from Activision's perspective.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 released in 2011 on PC, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii.