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Sequel may be closer as Activision secretly acquires BlackOps2.com domain

Black Ops 2

A sequel to Call of Duty: Black Ops, one of the best-selling games of all-time, may seem more likely as it appears Activision has secretly acquired the domain name blackops2.com.

First registered in May 2010 shortly after Black Ops was announced, the domain remained under Whois privacy up until this week using Go Daddy’s Domains by Proxy service.

Now, the domain blackops2.com (Whois) has switched from Domains by Proxy to the privacy service provided by internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, who caters to over half the Fortune 100, of which Activision is a client.

In August, I reported that Activision went through MarkMonitor to buy up a slew of Black Ops domains, all the way up to BlackOps6.com. 

Missing from the list was blackops2.com. 

A deal has now apparently been struck.

Treyarch, the development studio behind Call of Duty: Black Ops, hasn’t officially gone on record to say it is creating a sequel.  But with all these domain acquisitions, signs point to a Black Ops 2 being a very strong possibility in 2012.

If a cash amount was paid, the sale price of the domain will likely remain unknown, as the previous owner’s identity and contact information were hidden through Go Daddy’s privacy service.

As of today, BlackOps2.com does not resolve a web page.

[Update 1 on February 17, 2012: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has been outed by Amazon reports GameSpy.]

Discussion: Joystiq, Game Informer, IGN, N4G, Side Mission, PC Gamer Magazine, Cinema Blend, Forbes, Shacknews, This Is Xbox, VG247, Xbox 360 Achievements, Onlinewelten, elotrolado.net, Digital Trends, MMOMFG, RipTen, Just Push Start, Gameranx, Yahoo! News, GameDynamo, GamersHell.com, JVN.com, RevogamersWe Got This Covered, Product Reviews4Gamer.netCo-Optimus, Connected Consoles, Eurogamer.se, iNSIDE, Power Unlimited, games.co.il, GamingSackGamefly and GamesRadar

Categories
News Video Games

Activision may go up to Modern Warfare 6, Black Ops 6 with its newest domains

Call of Duty Black Ops 6

Activision has apparently gone on a domain name shopping spree through the registrar MarkMonitor, acquiring over a dozen Call of Duty-related domain names that hint we might see the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Black Ops series go up to at least six titles.

Domain names like BlackOps6.com and CallofDutyMW6.com were registered.

Here’s a look at the full list of domain registrations that took place on August 15, 2011.

http://whois.domaintools.com/blackops4.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/blackops5.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/blackops6.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/callofdutyblackops3.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/callofdutyblackops4.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/callofdutyblackops5.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/callofdutyblackops6.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/callofdutymw5.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/callofdutymw6.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/codblackops3.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/codblackops4.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/codblackops5.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/codblackops6.com 

The actual registrant of the name is DNS tination Inc, a Whois privacy service offered by MarkMonitor.  But these domain names are almost certainly owned by Activision, as MarkMonitor is a well-known brand protection company used by top companies like Apple.

It’s entirely possible that these recent registrations are nothing more than part of the company’s intellectual property strategy, but if it’s learned anything from the fiasco over ModernWarfare3.com, it may be planning ahead.

Discussion: Kotaku and VGChartz

Categories
News Video Games

CallofDutyModernWarfare.com, doesn’t go to Activision after being released

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3

The owner of ModernWarfare3.com has managed to rack up nearly 7,000 “Likes” on Facebook for its unofficial fan site that looks a whole lot like the official MW3 site, but the bad news is most people Liking the page probably have no idea that the website is not an official Activision property. 

The fact is, Activision continues to blunder when it comes to domain names. 

Of course, the chore of registering domain names or getting them on the drop or aftermarket, is made all the more difficult by having the best video game franchise ever made and because there are plenty of people buying up every variation of the “Call of Duty” and “Modern Warfare” name.

The domain name callofdutymodernwarfare.com recently expired and was quickly scooped up by InTrust Domains on Thursday.

Domain: callofdutymodernwarfare.com

  Date Registered: 06/02/11
    Date Modified: 06/03/11
      Expiry Date: 06/02/12
                   DNS1: ns1.above.com
                   DNS2: ns2.above.com
  Registrant
                   InTrust Domains
                   Kenn Palm
                   11605 Meridian Market View                  
                   Falcon, CO (US)
                   80831
  Administrative Contact
                   InTrust Domains
                   Kenn Palm
                   11605 Meridian Market View                  
                   Falcon, CO (US)
                   80831

While Activision Publishing has never seemed all too interested in acquiring generic domains (bad news for owners of generics waiting for a big payday) or disputing domain names it missed out on (good news for squatters), it does own one of the best, callofduty.com. 

This week the company has been busy working on plans for its fall release of Call of Duty Elite, a premium online service for Call of Duty gamers. 

It’s also been registering domain names including callofduty-elite.org and callofduty-elite.net, according to DomainTools.

By the way, if you haven’t seen the Modern Warfare 3 trailer by The Onion — it has over 11 million views on YouTube.