Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is joining the ranks of battle royale games. No, there’s still no official press release or trailer for mode – we’ve just got an extremely obvious teaser and loads of players glitching into the mode. But while the eventual release of the battle royale is going to surprise no one, Activision is still concerned about those Warzone leaks, and the company has subpoenaed Reddit to find out who’s responsible.
Last week, a piece of key art with a ‘Call of Duty: Warzone‘ logo hit Reddit and spread to other forms of social media. Those images started disappearing on copyright grounds, and users began reporting a notice from Activision that the picture was a “copyrighted image containing key artwork for an upcoming video game Call of Duty: Warzone.”
Now, Activision has filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act subpoena against Reddit to identify the “alleged infringers,” as The Hollywood Reporter has found. The February 14 filing says “the Content infringes Activision’s exclusive rights under copyright law. Specifically, it infringes Activision’s rights in its popular video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.”
Once identified, Activision plans to pursue legal action against the leaker. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A few months ago, a lawsuit over a Fortnite Chapter 2 leak charged an individual with breaking a non-disclosure agreement and “spoiling the suspense that Epic had been working to generate.” It’s unclear where the Warzone image came from, though if it was subject to an NDA, it’s certainly within Activision’s rights to pursue action.
It’s not exactly as if Warzone or its contents are secret at this point, though. The latest word suggests the Call of Duty: Warzone release date is set for early March, and it will launch as both a free-to-play, standalone game and an update for Modern Warfare.