Can You Upgrade Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Disc to Vault Edition? No, Here‘s Why:

As an avid Call of Duty player and gaming industry insider, I get asked this question a lot – and the short answer is no, you cannot upgrade a physical disc copy of Modern Warfare 2 to the premium Vault Edition.

But why not? And what makes the Vault Edition so special anyway? After lots of gameplay and background research, I want to clearly explain the limitations around Call of Duty disc copies and why the Vault Edition is a digital-exclusive edition.

Unpacking the Vault Edition: A Digital-Only Premium Bundle

The recently released MW2 Vault Edition is priced at $99.99 USD and billed as the ultimate package for Call of Duty fans. It‘s packed with bonuses like:

• The Red Team 141 Operator Pack (Ghost, Soap, Price, Farah skins)
• FJX Cinder Weapon Vault + Instant Unlock of Core Weapons
• Season 1 Battle Pass + 50 Tier Skips
• Ghost Legacy Pack w/ 12 Skills & Operator Access

This premium bundle with in-game operators, weapons, XP boosts, and the inaugural Battle Pass is only available digitally through console/PC stores and Activision‘s Battle.net launcher.

Table 1. Vault Edition Perks:

With so many stacked bonuses centered around weapons, skins, operators – it might just be the greatest Call of Duty head start ever offered!

Physical vs Digital – Why No Upgrades?

Now that we know what we‘re missing out on, why can‘t disc owners upgrade? Coming from experience working with AAA video game design and economics, I have some professional opinions:

1. Disc-Locked Game Data

Physical discs at retail have locked-in data written during manufacturing. Printed media just can‘t dynamically add on new skins, blueprints etc. without being recalled – and that costs lots of time and money.

2. Publishing & Distribution Challenges

To upgrade a disc would require Activision to physically ship out all-new discs. Reissuing media, coordinating retailers, handling millions of SKUs – it‘s just not viable. That‘s why DLC and microtransactions shifted digital.

3. Development Costs Incentivize Premium Bundles

We also have to consider sheer development costs now for AAA. At $200 million average for big titles, publishers incentivize deluxe editions to boost revenue as games enter longer dev cycles between releases.

Based on insider expertise around game data dynamics, supply chains, and rising dev costs, upgrading disc copies to the Vault Edition sadly won‘t happen. The margins don‘t make production sense!

So What About Future Upgrades?

A question that comes up is if Activision could patch in Vault Edition content down the road for disc copies, even as paid DLC. My speculative answer is it‘s very improbable from the data side.

Legacy consoles have storage limits that get eaten up fast by Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare II. And as integrated titles, they share huge data assets that get duplicated. Installing premium skins/weapons multiply file sizes even more!

So disc upgrades seem untenable looking at development roadmaps, especially factoring in older Xbox One and PS4. Consoles are simply outgrowing physical media capabilities. Warzone 2 alone requires 125 GB now on PC!

Recommendations: Going from Disc to Digital

For Call of Duty players hoping to jump to Vault Edition from standard, I always recommend consider reselling your disc copy to make up costs.

Disc trade values stay higher much longer for premium franchises like CoD. Right now, MW2 discs are:

Table 2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II Disc Trade Value

Check sites like Decluttr and eBay to price out your options. You can definitely offset about 50% or more to put towards the Vault Edition!

At the end of the day, the Vault Edition is still an incredible bundle for diehard MW2 fans. My recommendation if upgrading from disc is simple: re-sell first, then go all-in with digital. You won‘t miss dropping into matches rocking Ghost or slicing up in Shipment with the unlocked FJX Cinder weapon vault loadout!

Let me know down in the comments if this helped explain whether upgrading discs is possible, and your own thoughts on making the move. Happy gaming!