Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 – Player Count Dips Despite Warzone Beta and Major Patch

The open beta for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 enters its second and final weekend – and is getting a good chunk of new content for it. Infinity Ward has rolled out a comprehensive patch and, for the first time, integrated a Warzone mode into the beta. Nevertheless, player numbers on Steam are not really picking up.

The open test window is now accessible without a pre-order and is also running on the Switch 2 for the first time. Newly included: a section of the upcoming Resurgence map for Warzone, as well as two additional Ground War maps – making it the first Warzone content ever featured in a Call of Duty beta.

What Did the New Patch Change in the Modern Warfare 4 Beta?

After a bumpy start during the first weekend, Infinity Ward has tweaked several key aspects. Here’s an overview of the most important changes:

• Adjustments to Time-to-Kill, after many players felt the elimination speed was too high
• Balance changes to several weapons from the beta weapon pool
• Fixes for frame-pacing issues that caused stuttering even on powerful hardware
• First nerf to the highly aggressive Aim Assist, which was criticized by the community
• First-time integration of a Warzone mode, including a Resurgence map section, into the beta

Full technical details are listed by Infinity Ward in the official Patch Notes.

Why Aren't Player Numbers Increasing Despite the Warzone Mode?

The numbers speak for themselves: during the first weekend, the beta reached a peak of 115,145 concurrent players on Steam – barely 24 hours later, this number had dropped to around 28,730, less than a quarter of its peak. Despite the patch and new Warzone content, the curve has barely budged in the second weekend, according to Eurogamer.

From our perspective, this is hardly surprising: the patch primarily addresses technical issues like frame pacing and individual balance outliers. However, the fundamental criticisms of the gunplay – maps that are too small, an overly fast Time-to-Kill, and an Aim Assist that feels unfair to many PC players – largely persist. Accordingly, early Early Access reviews on Steam show around 45 percent negative ratings. Once players have dropped off, they apparently aren't returning just for a new Warzone morsel.

How Much Longer Does the Open Beta Run, and What Does That Mean for Release?

The open test window is available until September 1st, after which the preview period will conclude. So, anyone who wants to try out the current changes for themselves only has a few days left. For Infinity Ward, the tight timeframe until release will likely be the real stress test: if feedback on TTK and Aim Assist remains as critical as it has been, there will be little room for major adjustments before launch. In our report on the initial beta changes, we already noted where the community wanted improvements from the start – a large portion of these criticisms apparently have not yet been fully addressed.

Anyone who wants to test the beta themselves can find it via the Steam page for the beta; Activision summarizes all platforms and details in the official Beta Overview.

Source: Eurogamer, TweakTown

Have you played the Modern Warfare 4 beta yourself? Tell us in the comments whether the patch made a noticeable difference for you or if the old problems are still annoying.