Tracking firm OTX believes that Activision and Infinity Ward's decision to drop the "Call of Duty" tag from Modern Warfare 2 has cost the game a fair chunk of brand recognition. Speaking to Gamasutra, OTX's GamePlan Insights division head Nick Williams said,

Up until the beginning of May, OTX had been tracking the title as Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 2. More specifically, we asked a representative group of gamers in the U.S. whether or not they had heard of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. At that time, approximately 40 percent of all gamers in the U.S. claimed that they had heard of this title.

However, once it became clear that Activision was positioning the title as Modern Warfare 2, OTX removed 'Call of Duty' from the consumer survey, and the awareness levels dropped to 20 percent. In other words, the Call of Duty brand association essentially doubles the awareness for the game. That is quite a remarkable statistic.

Despite the drop, Williams noted that purchase intent for Modern Warfare 2 is still strong, with the game's Xbox 360 version ranked as the sixth most anticipated title in OTX's charts.

The intensity of the purchase intent is particularly impressive, as illustrated by the high levels of Pre-Order Intent, which is the highest of any title currently being tracked. ... Even without the Call of Duty association, it is still perceived as a must have title.

Activision has also promised the "biggest launch ever" for Modern Warfare 2, so it's very likely that purchase intent and brand recognition for the game will still increase in the months leading up to November.

Modern Warfare 2 launches November 10 on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

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