Back in March when Modern Warfare 2 was announced we learned the game would be dropping the ‘Call of Duty’ moniker. While some gamers simply made a mental note to keep an eye on the shorter title, this little tidbit of info seems to have slipped by quite a few. In a conversation with the people over at Gamasutra, Nick Williams of OTX, a tracking firm, said that awareness of the title had dropped 20 percent after Activision announced the name change.

Williams stated that until the beginning of May, the title Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 registered with roughly 40 percent of all gamers in the U.S.  “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.”

But don’t count the game out yet. Even without having as much awareness as it had previously, Williams notes that there is still a very strong purchase intent behind it. “In our latest charts based on the last four weeks of data, Modern Warfare 2 for the Xbox 360 ranks as the sixth most anticipated title,” falling just behind such games as Halo 3: ODST, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, God of War III, Final Fantasy XIII, and Assassin’s Creed II.