Why have you decided to bring back two old maps in the Stimulus Pack - and what would you say to those who says claim it doesn't offer the best value in the world?
These are two of our most popular maps. There's some of the original ones that you played during the Call Of Duty 4 beta - they were our most popular maps all through the lifespan of Modern Warfare 1. So there's no question over the mileage our hardcore gamers are going to get out of these maps now that they're bringing them back into Modern Warfare 2. You get to experience them in a completely unique new way.

Now you get them to play CTF on Crash or Demolition on Overgrown and come up with all these new tactics based on not only the new game types but the new perks, the new equipment and the new kill streaks that you have to take into account when you're playing now.

It was really cool to bring in some maps people absolutely love to play on and have hundreds of hours of gameplay in, but then also have the experience where you come up with new tactics on familiar battlefields.

1200MP. Obviously we haven't seen the map pack yet so we don't know all the details - but can you reassure people that you're offering value for money?
There's definitely no doubt in my mind that these maps packs - and [Stimulus'] five maps - are definitely worth the investment. Anybody who buys them and then plays Modern Warfare 2 hardcore online is going to get their money's worth out of these maps.

I mean, five new locations to Modern Warfare 2, with three of those brand new to the series and each of them offering their own unique kind of gameplay - no matter what kind of play style you have, you're going to get something out of these maps. I mean, whether you love the objective game based types, you're going to love Storm. It's a huge map great for objective-based, big team games.

If you're a free-for-all kind of guy it's just all about the basics, you want to put guys down and you don't want to worry about campers and all that stuff, you're going to love Salvage - because it's geared to that type of player. We're adding a lot of variety and a lot of mileage to multiplayer with this map pack and anyone who buys it is going to see that investment is worthwhile.

DICE and EA are releasing their map pack for Battlefield Bad Company 2 on the same day - but it be free. Do you see that as natural competition? Are you worried about it at all?
No, we're not worried about it at all. I mean, we don't expect people to stop working on their games when we're working on ours. You know they have an audience that are excited about their map packs and I'm sure their excited about ours...

What do you make of them releasing on exactly the same day, do you think it's a bit cheeky?
No. I mean, I'm sure they had plans. We came in pretty strong there towards the end so I'm sure they didn't change their plans towards that.

Modern Warfare is still massively popular online but do you think its been a victim of its own success?
Yeah. I think any property that's Number One at anything - whether it's the number one at box office or number one most played game online like Modern Warfare 2 - is going to have that instinct of [a backlash].

You know once it hits a certain level of popularity in the mainstream that's when people start to stand back. But that doesn't mean they stop playing. I mean the numbers show that these guys are still logging on every night.

You mention being the number one played game online, do you see Modern Warfare 2 being knocked off that position any time soon?
No. I hope not - I certainly don't see any signs of it. We've been number one since launch and this map pack is going to bring even more people to playing MW2 and extend their play time. I don't see it slipping any time soon.

Do you think you could possibly last the whole of 2010 in that position if the map pack does its business?
I don't know. I mean, as long as players are supporting us and enjoying the game we're going to continue supporting them with various updates and DLC and events - so you know we're going to do everything we can to make sure the community is still playing.

Let's talk about the care package glitch. I understand it's all sorted now - but did it do you any damage?
No, there was no drop [in players]. Since people take this game very seriously and they play so hardcore - we do as well - you know that stuff gets a lot of attention. But in the grand scheme of things, I mean we have 25 million unique players and of the people who experienced those types of things and even participate in those types of things are very very small - like one per cent of our user base. So in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really impact the overall experience of the majority of players.

Just again on the online dominance of the game, do you see that growing at all this year? I mean have you hit a plateau now or are you hopeful that you can snare a few more players?
I think we're always looking to grow the community. With all this new content and with continued support of the game - and with us listening to our users - I think we're going to continue to pull in the people who hear about their friends [playing MW2] and want to experience and want to play the game that everyone else is playing.

If this map pack proves successful could we possibly see a GOTY or special edition pack where these would be included?
I'm not sure. That would definitely be much more Activision decision than one of us.

Would it be something that you would be keen on at all?
Yeah, I mean if there was demand for it I wouldn't be against it.

Battlefield BC2 is out, Medal Of Honor is on the horizon and then Activision's own COD7 is coming. Are you at all worried that any of those offer a threat to Modern Warfare 2's dominance - particularly online?
No. We'll just focus on keep providing for our audience who love our brand of game with something they can enjoy. Whatever comes out of that is just a bonus to that. But I think they'll always find what we have going on entertaining if they like it.

You've got the two map packs announced now two major pieces of DLC that people are excited about, would you consider doing more down the line if the popularity continued?
It really depends on what our schedule looks like. I mean right now we focus on one pack at a time so I really don't want to speculate on what could come after that.

Would it be something you'd be interested in?
If we had the time and resources to do it. I mean that's the really the biggest factor in anything for us right now.