Sledgehammer Games had joined the Modern Warfare 3 development force, with Raven Software also developing the game's multiplayer mode. Other members had been fired or had left the company following the duo's departure. Prior to development, Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella left the company to form Respawn Entertainment. Using an enhanced version of Modern Warfare 2 's IW engine, development for the game began in 2010 with more than one developer studio. Improvements were also made to the mode that solved issues that appeared in Modern Warfare 2. For the game's multiplayer mode, new mode types and killstreak choices were brought in. He leads several terror attacks across Europe, triggering a large-scale war between the Ultranationalists and friendly forces. Alongside the Delta Force and Special Air Service, they hunt Vladimir Makarov (the main antagonist of the trilogy), a Russian terrorist who leads the Russian Ultranationalist party. Similar to Modern Warfare 2, it is centered around the Task Force 141, which contains Captain Price, Soap MacTavish, and a newly introduced playable character, Yuri.

The game's campaign follows Modern Warfare 2 and begins right after the events of its final mission.

In Japan, Square Enix published the game with a separate subtitled and dubbed version.

A separate version for the Nintendo DS was developed by n-Space, while Treyarch developed the game's Wii port. It is the third and final installment in the original Modern Warfare saga, a direct sequel to 2009's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and the eighth Call of Duty installment overall. The game was released worldwide in November 2011 for Microsoft Windows, the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and OS X. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a 2011 first-person shooter video game, jointly developed by Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games and published by Activision.

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