From Accidental Creation to Legendary Status: The Story of Shipment, Call of Duty’s Beloved Map

Shipment, one of the most recognizable maps in the Call of Duty franchise, was “truly an accident,” according to the developers, who merely “forgot” to remove it from the launch build before Modern Warfare 2 went global. Everyone prefers the most well-liked maps in Call of Duty history. We all have our favorite games, whether Strike or Slums for the competitive players, Highrise or Terminal for the rapid scorers at heart, or Nuketown for the more laid-back bunch. However, it can’t be denied that for many local veterans, Shipment is frequently the first thing that comes to mind.

It has been one of the genre’s most significant maps since it debuted in Modern Warfare (the first) in 2007. In the years that followed, it might have overtaken Rust as the most popular location for 1v1s. This gloomy, tiny layout is where wars would be fought if there were ever a need to settle disputes. Infinity Ward’s designers had no idea that Shipment would become so well-liked. In reality, the now-popular map wasn’t even intended to exist, at least not in its current shape. Geoff Smith, Multiplayer Design Director, recently told us that the Shipment was “truly an accident.”

The most famous map in Modern Warfare was never intended to be Shipment

As our recent interview ended, we pushed two senior multiplayer developers to name their favorite maps from the previous 20 years. Smith joked that it was “too personal a question.” So he went into the history of one map that many would name their favorite: Shipment. There are a few joyful experiments—those that worked out and those that, for whatever reason, didn’t work out. Shipment is the bane of my existence. Shipment was initially intended only as a “split-screen map, back when that was a thing,” Smith said. These elements were designed to accommodate players as their old TV displays were halved, including the smaller land area, simpler geometry, and more straightforward structure.

However, during the production of Modern Warfare, the developers used this playspace for specific internal testing. As a result, it was added to the game’s more extensive “playlist script.” It was simply never taken away from there. “When we went live, our MP lead at the time forgot to pull it out, and there was no turning back.” It was undoubtedly an accident.

Infinity Ward released Modern Warfare in 2007 with one more than initially anticipated map. It’s impossible to say what may have happened to Shipment if developers had thought to recheck the playlist script at the last minute. It could have been another CoD map lost to time. Yet it may have appealed to the limited few that prefer split-screen.