Why does my Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 say “Free Trial”?

This weekend, gamers interested in playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, the latest installment in Activision’s long-running shooter franchise, were able to do so thanks to a free trial available until today, December 18. This trial, however, brought with it some details for players who already owned the game, as well as those who took advantage of this free period.

What happened with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Free Trial?

Just last Tuesday, December 12th, Activision announced on the official Call of Duty blog a Modern Warfare 3 test period that would run from December 14th to December 18th, allowing users to try out “a variety of Multiplayer content throughout the event, from classic maps like Highrise, Rust, and Shipment to the new Season 1 Meat map, plus the new War mode, the fully co-operative Modern Warfare Zombies, and more”.

This test created two unique situations. The first was with players who already had a copy of the title, where a “3 days left on free trial” message led them to believe that something bad had happened to their game. On Reddit, some users jumped to ask what was going on, as was the case with u/Dylpickel13, who asked on the social network: “[I] bought the game and have been playing normally and now this shows up, is there anything I can do to stop this? and will my data reset? it even has the thanks for purchasing message”. Although the message only appeared within the game, and none of the information or content within the game was altered, it was troublesome that it was a constant for those who already bought the game.

On the other hand, for players who entered the trial without purchasing the game, it was normal to see the message while the free trial was running. Some players on PC reported problems running the trial, but this was resolved, at least on the Steam version, by downloading a more specific version of the trial.

The free Call of Duty Modern Warfare III promotion has now ended.