In the early days of the Modern Warfare series, the prestige in Prestige Mode was felt in the way players would sacrifice all of their progress in weapons and challenges. What was gained in return for that sacrifice was the opportunity to unlock everything all over again, alongside a shiny new icon that proved a player’s dedication to the grind. As the Call of Duty franchise evolved, so did the way Prestige Mode rewarded players for their continued dedication to the online multiplayer of each yearly release. That evolution has peaked in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which brings another iteration of the famed system, reimagining the mode itself in order to make sure players won’t lose out on making Prestige progress over time.

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Persistent Prestige Rewards Call of Duty Time Investment

In 2022, Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2’s version of Prestige Mode allows for a persistent seasonal progression, much unlike the Call of Duty titles of the previous half-decade. Where Prestige progress would reset at the end of each season in previous titles, now progress carries over from season to season. Prestige rank one unlocks at level 56, with Prestige rank two unlocking at level 100, and so on, up to Prestige rank five at level 250—this is as high as players can go in the first Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 season.

Infinity Ward’s goal with this change to the Prestige Mode seems to be one of forgiveness and flexibility. Thanks to Modern Warfare 2’s two-year-long life-cycle, Infinity Ward likely realized the extra difficulty of trying to keep a prestige status over such an extended period. Players will no longer need to worry about constantly playing every season to stay prestigious.

The Potential Downside of Persistent Prestige

While the changes to the Prestige Mode found in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 are a net benefit to all players, some would argue the way it now works invokes anything but prestige. Some players find the Prestige Mode of older Call of Duty titles best portrays the idea of prestige because they would choose to lose all of their progress and start all over again just to move up one prestigious rank. The only thing more prestigious than a player resetting their progress was doing it repeatedly until they reached the highest rank available for whichever Call of Duty they were playing at the time. To some, this process exemplifies the concept of prestige, whereas the current persistent seasonal Prestige Mode does the opposite.

At the end of the day, the truth of the matter is that the current Prestige Mode found in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 helps players more than it harms them through any perceived loss of prestige. The only thing left to ponder is whether Treyarch will follow suit with a similar approach to its Prestige Mode when its Call of Duty launches in 2024.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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