A rumor is circulating about an upcoming “DMZ” mode for Modern Warfare 2. This new mode would provide players with a PvPvE open-world experience, similar to the game Escape From Tarkov.
According to rumors, this “DMZ” (an acronym for De-Militarized Zone) will release as a free-to-play mode and has been in development for roughly four years. The open-world mode is allegedly called “Project Nexus” internally, a word Activision-Blizzard has heavily used in the past in Heroes of the Storm.
Modern Warfare 2 is expected to release with three different modes: single-player, multiplayer, and a new co-op mode. The upcoming open-world DMZ mode is intended to be a free-to-play experience; speculatively this means the mode will be made available separately from the base game.
This upcoming mode has been compared to the popular game Escape From Tarkov, but they’re far from the first ones trying to provide an open-world PvPvE experience. Other titles like Tom Clancy’s The Division (and its sequel) or Sea of Thieves have also had their games called PvPvE.
But what does PvPvE mean exactly? Most players are familiar with the terms PvP, Player versus Player, which is where players fight or otherwise compete against each other; and most players are familiar with PvE, Player versus Environment which is where players fight NPC enemies.
PvPvE combines both of these and usually revolves around players generating loot/currency/progress via PvE, but then fighting each other for what they’ve acquired through PvP. Survival games like Rust and Conan Exiles are also good examples of PvPvE.
This new mode could provide a level of immersion unseen in the Call of Duty series until now, and also give Activision-Blizzard a way to support the game as an ongoing service into the future.