Steam’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) servers have been taken down thanks to worm-like malware which can spread through simply joining a match. The trojan was reported via Steam forums on June 26, leading to the server shutdown a month later.
The virus spread as soon as players unknowingly joined “hacked lobbies” in MW2 servers, according to Steam forum reports. As of July 25, 2023, the classic game’s servers have been closed as developers investigate the issue. Despite developers not outrightly mentioning the virus, it most certainly has something to do with the malware spreading from player to player.
This would affect a small number of players who use the original MW2 servers. Roughly 600 concurrent players still hop on at once to trickshot on maps like Showdown, however, odds are this number will drop even further.
While it boasted a 22,614 concurrent player peak 14 years ago, MW2 (2009) hasn’t seen a concurrent spike over 1,500 for over three years according to stats site SteamDB. However, the severity of the malware situation shouldn’t be shrugged off.
It has the potential to infect hundreds of PCs due to its ability to spread by simply joining a server. The fact that around 600 players are logging onto MW2 daily, means there could be thousands infected with the malware. Players claim the malware exists under the name “dsound.dll”, hidden within the game files.
Activision previously cut the head off modding servers like X Labs in May this year via letters of cease and desist. Servers provided by X Labs gave gamers the opportunity to play older CoD titles with a solid anti-cheat and malware protection behind them.
Now just a few months after they’re gone, players are being infected with malware by joining the game’s official servers—and without a fix or a large-scale alternative, we may very well see MW2’s final death.
