Recently, Activision has been on the hunt for various third-party Call of Duty mods. As a result, the publishers sent cease and desist letters to one of the biggest community-made mods that allowed players to access older CoD titles called X Labs. Furthermore, SM2, a massive project set to include guns, maps, game modes, and more from all of the franchise's titles, was forced to shut down.In light of the recent events, the Call of Duty community has been taking to social media to show its frustration. Content creators, pro players, and the average fans are infuriated with the company for closing down two of the biggest community projects. This has also caused the player base of the latest titles to dwindle, falling way below the average numbers.Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2's player base dwindles after Activision shuts down X Labs and SM2 modsCoD concurrent player numbers on Steam (Image via Twitter/ @hydrojt)The latest peak concurrent player numbers for Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 have fallen below 150,000 on Steam in the last 30 days. This occurred right after the shutdown of SM2 and X Labs projects on May 17 and May 22, respectively. Usually, the average amount of players online on Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 hovers around 100,000, which has now come down to 70,000, a 30% drop since January 2023.The community-made projects powered older titles by providing much-needed security, such as Ghosts, Modern Warfare 2 (2009), Advanced Warfare, Black Ops III, and more. These titles are now practically unplayable due to the cheaters that have gone rampant on the official Activision servers, to the point where they can inject dangerous files if you are in a match with them.The Call of Duty community of various social media had this to say:ModernWarzone@ModernWarzoneActivision is on a cease and desist RAMPAGE against community made Call of Duty projects and it's probably not over yet.Xlabs was the ONLY safe way to play older Call of Duty titles online such as MW2, Ghosts, Advanced Warfare and Black Ops 3 without putting yourself at risk.3885482Activision is on a cease and desist RAMPAGE against community made Call of Duty projects and it's probably not over yet.Xlabs was the ONLY safe way to play older Call of Duty titles online such as MW2, Ghosts, Advanced Warfare and Black Ops 3 without putting yourself at risk. https://t.co/DxwjNWzMGsHunter@HUN2RFaZe Jev reacted to the recent Activision take downs like X Labs “It’s a time capsule into the past to how games used to be, and it shines a light into how profit hungry all of their games are now”46959FaZe Jev reacted to the recent Activision take downs like X Labs “It’s a time capsule into the past to how games used to be, and it shines a light into how profit hungry all of their games are now” https://t.co/sUfUGI8FwoProReborn@ProRebornYTActivision Blizzard is going on a shutdown spree for fan-made projects centered around reviving or improving their old works on PC. First Sm2, now X Labs. Plutonium is probably next. Of course they have their own rights, but at the end of the day, a 70 billion dollar… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…X Labs@XLabsProjectToday, we have received a Cease & Desist letter on behalf of Activision Publishing in relation to the X Labs project. We are complying with this order and shutting down all operations permanently. Thank you all for your support over the years.142331852Today, we have received a Cease & Desist letter on behalf of Activision Publishing in relation to the X Labs project. We are complying with this order and shutting down all operations permanently. Thank you all for your support over the years.Activision Blizzard is going on a shutdown spree for fan-made projects centered around reviving or improving their old works on PC. First Sm2, now X Labs. Plutonium is probably next. Of course they have their own rights, but at the end of the day, a 70 billion dollar… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…Erik@M3RKMUS1CRIP XLabs...I was right, and I’ll say it again, Activision will do this because they CAN. They don’t even need a good reason. It’s clear that they hate the OG players/games and only want us suffering on the newest trash. I’m speechless... twitter.com/xlabsproject/s…X Labs@XLabsProjectToday, we have received a Cease & Desist letter on behalf of Activision Publishing in relation to the X Labs project. We are complying with this order and shutting down all operations permanently. Thank you all for your support over the years.3252343Today, we have received a Cease & Desist letter on behalf of Activision Publishing in relation to the X Labs project. We are complying with this order and shutting down all operations permanently. Thank you all for your support over the years.RIP XLabs...I was right, and I’ll say it again, Activision will do this because they CAN. They don’t even need a good reason. It’s clear that they hate the OG players/games and only want us suffering on the newest trash. I’m speechless... 💔 twitter.com/xlabsproject/s… Comment by u/Jarbarino- from discussion [COD] XLabs has received a cease and desist from Activision. IW4x (MW2), S1X (AW), IW6x (Ghosts). in CallOfDuty Plutonium Project, which has clients for Black Ops, Black Ops II, Modern Warfare 3, and World at War, is the only remaining significant community-made mod that is currently live. There is a high chance that Activision may send a cease and desist letter to the developers and shut it down as well.Jev@Jev@ModernWarzone RUN PLUTONIUM RUNNNNNN94443@ModernWarzone RUN PLUTONIUM RUNNNNNNPlutonium Project@PlutoniumModIn light of recent events, we are trying to show good faith where possible. We would like to inform you all of our intention to add ownership verification to our supported games to ensure players and server owners are using authorized copies of the games. More info to come.3785228In light of recent events, we are trying to show good faith where possible. We would like to inform you all of our intention to add ownership verification to our supported games to ensure players and server owners are using authorized copies of the games. More info to come.Tripnip@Tripnip333Activision are the most braindead devs. sm2 banned, xlabs, boiii banned. all cease and desists. if plutonium is next, i'm done with COD11Activision are the most braindead devs. sm2 banned, xlabs, boiii banned. all cease and desists. if plutonium is next, i'm done with CODZekxsy@ZekxsyIf plutonium gets shut down I literally won’t have any reason to play cod85061If plutonium gets shut down I literally won’t have any reason to play codObey Roy@oceanmangodThe COD Clients such as XLabs and Plutonium were made to play the older games safely since Activision can't seem to do it themselves. It's sad to see they are targeting their own FANS. We aren't the enemies here.3434268The COD Clients such as XLabs and Plutonium were made to play the older games safely since Activision can't seem to do it themselves. It's sad to see they are targeting their own FANS. We aren't the enemies here.Given the initiative Plutonium Project is taking by ensuring all the players on their servers own the game legitimately, Activision may not take the measure to shut it down.Even though the publishers have the full legal right to take down such mods as they use Activision's intellectual property and resell it to players without permission, it hurts the community more as the developers have stopped supporting the older games. Furthermore, there is no known reason why the company is taking down the projects now when they have been live for several years.Players and fans will only have to wait and watch whether the last major mod is taken down by another cease and desist letter. However, given the latest outrage by the community, Activision may see that this is hurting the company more than it is causing gain with the reduced Call of Duty player base numbers and take a step back.