Coming off of a slew of stories about Call of Duty’s lackluster success in a year filled with excellent first-person shooters, a free weekend is opening up for Infinite Warfare from December 15th to the 20th. Last week CNBC brought news that Call of Duty physical sales were down nearly 50 percent, triggering a sharp decline in the stock value of Activision. The NPD market data research group also estimated that overall sales were down nearly 17 percent from the previous year.

Indeed, Activision’s stock value is down nearly 20 percent from its yearly high, reached in late October before Infinite Warfare launched. Perhaps to drum up interest in a sagging entry in their massive series that sees Black Ops 3 maintaining higher numbers than Infinite Warfare less than a month after release, Infinity Ward announced on December 12th that a free weekend would be coming, and it involves multiplayer, singleplayer, and Zombies. Two campaign levels will be available, and while you can’t level up past 15 in multiplayer or level three in Zombies, the experiences are there, if you so choose.

Of course, with every good move comes another, worse choice. I brought news earlier this week that Modern Warfare Remastered would be getting six new maps, plus Winter Crash in a free update. It seems as though Infinity Ward wasn’t quite satisfied with the older title, as they have added in “supply drops,” Call of Duty’s take on the loot crate. This line snuck into a blog post on Activision’s website, and curiously is missing from the update trailer.

Thrilling… regardless, hopefully this will be enough to drum up at least some interest in a series known for massive, bombastic appeal. Look forward to my review of the “Call of Duties” coming soon.