Warzone 2 befuddles players by requiring the Modern Warfare 2 launcher

The Warzone 2 pre-load is live, but a confusing rollout through the Modern Warfare 2 launcher has had players bewildered about the install process.

So, do you need Modern Warfare 2 for Warzone 2? As Activision Blizzard has previously confirmed, you do not have to buy MW2 in order to play the new Warzone. However, as with the previous Warzone and Modern Warfare, you will need to install the MW2 launcher in order to get access to the new battle royale.

The process is different on every platform. On PS5, a search for Warzone 2 yields no results - you have to navigate to the Modern Warfare 2 page and hit the options button to reach the Warzone 2 page. On Xbox, a Warzone 2 search will get you to an 'editions' page for Modern Warfare 2 that lets you download the battle royale as an add-on for MW2. On PC, both Steam and Battle.net have distinct store pages for Warzone 2, though they still install through the MW2 launcher.

For now, there's little indication once you've gone through the install process that you've actually successfully downloaded Warzone 2, but the devs insist that it's working as intended. (There may, however, be an additional download before launch.) On some platforms, you may see a message asking you to purchase MW2 when you try to launch the game, but the devs confirm on Twitter that this "is not necessary to experience Warzone 2.0".

If you do already own Modern Warfare 2, you don't need to make a separate download to preload Warzone 2. It should install automatically as an add-on pack for the game, so you'll be ready to drop into the new Warzone 2 map as soon as launch time rolls around.

Check out the Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 roadmap for details on what's coming in Season 01.