Although there has been no mention of a Modern Warfare 4 game by Activision the assumption, based on the strength of the Call of Duty brand, is that it will be released at some point.

A group of forward thinking, albeit unscrupulous gamers have purchased the Modern Warfare 4 URL – www.modernwarfare4.com and are using it to blackmail Activision.

If you visit the URL right now you will find a message which reads:

“Hello!

If you are reading this, you may well be the web administrator for Infinity Ward.

If you are, there is a chance that you may well require this domain. Don’t worry, you can have it – in exchange for a little ‘good will gesture’ for the little gaming community that owns this domain and has been playing your games for years.

What we’d like is a copy of the game that this domain would be used for, – one copy for each and every member of our gaming community.
If you wish to discuss this further, drop me an email – [email protected] or goto www.ziip.co.uk and leave a message to Jester.
Many Regards 🙂
James”

Incidentally, the owner of ZReactor purchased www.modernwarfare3.com a while ago, though there has been no word on whether Activision plans to acquire the website.

As far as we can tell, www.modernwarfare5.com appears to still be up for grabs.

Incidentally, there have been similar cases in South Africa. A full explanation on zadna.org reveals that a similar case in SA would be fairly easy for Activision to resolve.

The basic law can be summarized by the phrase ‘use it or lose it’. If an entity owns a URL and does not use it appropriately, then a brand owner can contest the ownership for a fee. This case would be a perfect candidate for this legislation, although it remains to be seen how the relevant international laws will apply to the situation.  

Discuss Modern Warfare 4 URL blackmail in the forums