The Killstreaks Call of Duty Cut Before They Ever Shipped

Every Call of Duty has killstreaks that never actually made it out of development, and thanks to leftover code and unused game files, we know quite a bit about what they would have been. Here is a rundown of the ones that got cut before launch, starting with a weapon streak that would have been genuinely ridiculous.

The Overpowered MP40 Was Supposed To Be A Black Ops Care Package Streak

Could you imagine how much more insane Black Ops would have been if the overpowered World at War MP40 showed up as a killstreak? According to several leaks and unused game files, that was actually the plan. Treyarch was going to lean into the fact that they made the MP40 completely broken in World at War and turn it into a power weapon killstreak you could pull straight out of a care package.

That would have worked similarly to how the Death Machine and the Grim Reaper function in the final version of Black Ops. It is unclear why Treyarch scrapped the killstreak version of the MP40, but I kind of wish they had kept it in. Running around the battlefield, calling in a care package, cracking it open, and just having the World at War MP40 in your hands would have been insane.

The Advanced UAV Was Cut From Modern Warfare 2 Before Reappearing In MW3

There was apparently a lot cut from Modern Warfare 2 during development, and the Advanced UAV is one that still has evidence left over in the game files. It is pretty straightforward: it would have given enemy locations as well as the direction enemies were facing, adding another layer of recon for you and your team. It got cut from the final build of MW2 but made its proper debut a couple of years later in Modern Warfare 3.

I still think Black Ops 1's Blackbird was better than the Advanced UAV, because you couldn't shoot the Blackbird down and it worked in real time instead of using radar sweeps.

Infinity Ward Was Originally Planning An AC-130 Killstreak For COD4

COD4 was originally going to have the AC-130 as a killstreak. There is an AC-130 mission in the campaign that functions the exact same way the classic Modern Warfare 2 AC-130 killstreak does, and according to several lines of unused code in COD4, Infinity Ward was originally planning on making this part of the multiplayer.

I have no idea how that would have worked with a 3-5-7 killstreak setup, and I also have no idea how you were supposed to counter it, because COD4 did not have any lock-on launchers or SAM turrets. So what do you do? Just sit there and take it? Were you supposed to shoot it down with bullets? Obviously the AC-130 killstreak did not make it into the final version of COD4, but there was a lot of evidence in the game files that Infinity Ward was originally planning on debuting the multiplayer AC-130 in the original Modern Warfare. That would have been bonkers.

Black Ops 2 Almost Brought Back The Black Ops 1 Gunship

The gunship from Black Ops 1 is the absolutely ridiculous flying fortress you could pilot around the map to shred through the enemy team. Apparently that was supposed to come back in Black Ops 2, and there are remnants of it in the game code, unfinished and unusable.

I am not really sure why Treyarch cut this one, because the Black Ops 1 gunship was one of the most gratifying killstreaks in Call of Duty history. It never made it to the full release of Black Ops 2, so we never got to see how ridiculous it would have been running on the Black Ops 2 engine with Black Ops 2 map design.

A Mysterious Super Air Strike Was Left Unfinished In Modern Warfare 2

In the game files of Modern Warfare 2 there is leftover code for an unfinished killstreak called Super Air Strike. I have no idea what this would have been, or whether it would have been crazier than the stuff already in the game, but now you know it is there.

The EMP Was Planned For Ghosts But Never Finished

The EMP is one of the most iconic streaks in Call of Duty history, so it is not shocking that it was originally going to come back in another game. What surprises me is that Infinity Ward decided to cut it from Ghosts. With how dead set Infinity Ward was on making Ghosts as tactical as possible, I feel like the EMP would have fit like a glove, would have fit perfectly.

According to unfinished game files, the EMP was in development for Ghosts but was never finished, so it did not make it to the final release and we never got to play with it.

The Auto Grenade Launcher Would Have Made Modern Warfare 2 Even More Absurd

It is unknown just how many kills this would have required to earn, and it is unknown just how ridiculous it would have been, but there was a streak in Modern Warfare 2's files called the auto grenade launcher. Picture something like the War Machine, but fully automatic. I did not even know it was possible to make Modern Warfare 2 more ridiculous than it already was, but this would have done it.

Nobody Knows What The GPS Buddy Was Supposed To Do In Ghosts

Ghosts is the same game that gave us the riot shield guy, so maybe the GPS Buddy would have been another buddy-based streak. Would he have just given you directions to the nearest objective? I have no idea what the point would have been here, but it could have been funny.

Honestly, I want a GPS Buddy in Call of Duty regardless of what it is. If it is just a guy who gives me encouraging words in a gunfight and picks me up when I am doing badly, I want it.

The Predator Airdrop Name Survives In Modern Warfare 2's Files Without Any Detail

The Predator Airdrop might be one of the coolest names for a killstreak ever, but we do not know much beyond the name. If I had to guess, it would be something like the Osprey from Modern Warfare 3, a ship that comes in, drops a pile of care packages, and shoots at anybody that moves so nobody steals the goodies. Modern Warfare 2 already had the Emergency Airdrop and the Predator Missile separately, but I don't know what Predator Airdrop could mean beyond that, maybe it just drops six Predator missiles at once. It is interesting to think about.

The Strafe Run Was Meant To Return In Ghosts Despite Its Bad AI

The Strafe Run is a line of helicopters that fly across the battlefield and shoot down anything they see. They debuted in classic Modern Warfare 3 but were not very popular because the AI was pretty crappy: if anything was between them and their target, they would seemingly forget the target existed, so you could just stand behind a telephone pole or a tree and they would ignore you.

That does not mean I would not have liked to see them fixed up and given a second chance in Ghosts, especially given how wide open a lot of those maps were. Infinity Ward apparently had other ideas, though, and cut it from the game before finishing it.

The Little Bird Skipped Modern Warfare 2 But Returned In MW3 As The AH6 Overwatch

The Little Bird is another streak cut from Modern Warfare 2 that got brought back in Modern Warfare 3, where it was called the AH6 Overwatch: a small mobile helicopter that follows you around, shoots at anybody it sees, and keeps a safe perimeter around you. I actually really liked the Overwatch in Modern Warfare 3.

I am not sure why it did not make it into the final build of Modern Warfare 2. My guess is Infinity Ward thought they already had enough AI controlled air support in the game between the various attack helicopter variants and the legendary Harriers. I don't think this is really a big one to be missing from Modern Warfare 2.

The Ammo Station Would Have Been A Fairly Pointless Black Ops Streak

This one is a little goofy, and it is probably best it was left out. It would have been a placeable killstreak in Black Ops 1 where you and your teammates could run over to it and resupply your ammo, basically a pop-up version of the big ammo stashes you find around a war zone map. I am not sure why anyone would use one of their killstreak slots on it, especially when Black Ops 1 already had the Scavenger perk.

The SAM Turret Was Pulled From Ghosts Once It Became Pointless

The SAM Turret was actually pulled out of Ghosts during development once Infinity Ward realized there was a critical issue with it. Ninety-nine percent of the streaks in Ghosts were not flying around in the air. UAVs were now little boxes on the ground, and almost all the other main killstreaks spent little or no time airborne, so the SAM Turret would have been pointless.

If any streak deserved to be deleted during development, frankly, I think that was the right move. It basically would have just been free points for the other team, since it would not shoot anything down and an enemy player could simply walk up and knife it for free points toward their own streaks.

An Unfinished Gas Killstreak In Ghosts Reportedly Became White Phosphorus In Modern Warfare 2019

A gas-based killstreak still has some voice lines left in the Ghosts game files. Nobody has ever seen it in action, but thanks to data miners we have an idea of what it would have been like. It is believed this gas killstreak would have functioned similarly to the Sabotage field order, which did make it into the final version of Ghosts, meaning thick white smoke that hindered enemy vision for about 30 seconds, just in killstreak form.

Infinity Ward cut it from Ghosts, but apparently liked the idea enough that they tweaked it, gave it a new name, and put it into Modern Warfare 2019 as White Phosphorus.

The Helicopter Blackbox Is Another Modern Warfare 2 Air Streak With Only A Name Left Behind

Helicopter Blackbox is yet another ridiculously cool name for an air streak from Modern Warfare 2, and once again we do not know much about it beyond that. Personally, I think it would have been a group of small helicopters that created a perimeter around you, like a circle of trust, shooting anyone who got close.

Basically, it would have been like a buffed up version of the AH6 Overwatch from Modern Warfare 3, or maybe the Escort Drone from Black Ops 2. It would have cluttered the screen, but I do not really know for sure.

World At War's Fourth Killstreak Changed Depending On Which Faction You Played

During the development of World at War, Treyarch was going to give every faction a fourth killstreak in addition to the 3-5-7 setup, possibly a 3-5-9 or 3-5-10, and that fourth streak changed depending on which of the four multiplayer factions you played as.

Kamikazes For The Japanese Faction

If you were playing on the Japanese team, your fourth streak would have been a squad of kamikazes diving into the battlefield, kind of like an early version of the Swarm from Black Ops 2 but larger and probably more devastating. If the announcer called out enemy kamikazes nearby, you were supposed to run inside or get destroyed, which could have been a balancing nightmare since a lot of World at War maps did not have much overhead cover, and if you were in a tank you were probably in big trouble.

The Flying Fortress For The US Marine Raiders

For the Marine Raiders, the fourth streak would have been a B17 Flying Fortress, which would have been absurd since there were no anti-air weapons or tools in the game for the enemy team to counter it with. I imagine it would have functioned similarly to the Ball Turret Gunner from COD WWII. I totally understand why this one was cut, since there was no way to counter it, but part of me would have loved to see it in the game anyway.

The Carpet Bomber For The Germans

Playing as the Germans, your fourth and final killstreak would have been a massive carpet bombing with a similar effect to the kamikazes, forcing everybody to run indoors for a few seconds or get annihilated, which would have been especially awkward on maps without much overhead cover. I think it is obvious why Treyarch pulled these streaks: they were basically a bunch of insta kills with no real counterplay.

The Katyusha Rocket Launcher For The Red Army

That reasoning weirdly did not apply to the last one. Playing as the Red Army, you basically got a beefed up air strike that was not nearly as good as the other three, essentially a larger version of the artillery strike you could already earn with five kills. You would end up frustrated going on a crazy streak, earning your fourth killstreak, and remembering you were playing as the Red Army and stuck with the lamest one by default. Ultimately I think that disparity, streaks that were either too strong or just kind of lame, is why Treyarch deleted the fourth killstreaks from World at War entirely.

A Full Tank Was Nearly A Modern Warfare 2 Killstreak

There was originally going to be a tank in Modern Warfare 2, similar to the tank streak that eventually showed up in Modern Warfare 2019. Honestly, this is the one I wish had made it to the final build, because there were not really any good ground based streaks in Modern Warfare 2, all the powerful ones came from above.

It got cut because it was too big. A lot of the maps in Modern Warfare 2 literally did not have the space for it. But picture a tank driving around Rust, or a tank driving around Highrise, that would have been crazy town. Modern Warfare 2 was already the most elevated, ridiculous, over-the-top broken game we have ever gotten in Call of Duty, and this could have made it a hundred times more, which is kind of wild to think about.

Those are the scrapped killstreaks that never made it out in their original form. A lot of them did eventually make it into the games, just with a different name, a different version, or in a different game entirely, but they were left on the editing floor of whichever game first dreamed them up. Which one of these do you wish had actually shipped?