Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's Shipment map was released by accident, dev admits

We’re nearing the midway point of 2023 which can only mean one thing. Well, actually, it can mean several, but what I’m getting at is that we’re due an announcement on what’s next for the Call of Duty franchise following last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

Originally, it was rumoured that we wouldn’t get a full Call of Duty release this year. Instead, devs were reportedly working on a Modern Warfare II expansion. That still appears to be the case, but the expansion has developed into a ‘full annual premium release’. That’s about all we know for now, but with Summer Game Fest just around the corner, perhaps the game will be unveiled in the next couple of weeks. It’s to be expected with Call of Duty typically opting for Q3 release dates. In the meantime though, a fun fact has been revealed about one of the franchise’s most iconic maps: Shipment.

What would you like to see next from the franchise? Modern Warfare II introduced a third person mode.

Shipment was first introduced in 2007’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and is the franchise’s smallest map. As I’m sure you’re aware, it’s not the most complex of maps and is essentially made up of shipping containers. Who would’ve guessed? (I hope you picked up on the sarcasm). It’s become a now-iconic map, but it wasn’t initially supposed to end up in the game at all. Shipment was actually an accidental success.

In an interview with Dexerto, multiplayer design director Geoff Smith confessed that Shipment was “truly an accident”. Smith revealed, “I think the bane of my existence is Shipment,” adding that it was originally a “split-screen map, back when that was a thing.”

He continued, explaining that devs used Shipment for internal tests. Before long, it unintentionally ended up on the game’s playlist script and was simply never removed. “Our MP lead at the time, when we went live, forgot to [pull] it out and there was no going back. That was truly an accident.” I think it’s fair to say that is very much a happy accident.