When Modern Warfare 2, successor to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was announced everyone assumed the game would be the sixth installment in the Call of Duty series. But Activision dropped the name Call of Duty, and will be releasing it as Modern Warfare 2 pur sang.

The tracking firm OTX concluded that this small change in name had significant consequences. According to Nick Williams, head honcho of the GamePlan Insights division at OTX, the change means a brand awareness drop of some 20%.

In comparisson, when people were asked wether or not they had heard of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, 40% had answered positively. That same question a bit later about Modern Warfare 2 - without the monniker Call of Duty - produced a brand awareness of only 20%.

On the other hand though, the intention to purchase with people tracking the product is four times higher than average. This way the shooter is the sixth most anticipated game for the Xbox 360, at least, according to OTX's data.

Of course Activision will counter the drop in brand awareness by deploying a suitable marketing strategy when the launch of the game draws near. If we add that up to the already high purchase intent (a.o. shown by a multitude of pre-orders) things for Modern Warfare 2 aren't looking grim at all. On the contrary, the game would be set to be another very succesful title in Activision's lineup.

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