Beta Weekend for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Detailed

In a brief stream on Twitch, Infinity Ward shared what will be coming to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s second beta weekend. The primary focus of this weekend’s test will be to evaluate the new cross-play functionality. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will support full cross-play across all game modes at launch, though Paul Haile – Production Manager at Infinity Ward – did state that Infinity Ward is able to restrict cross-play as needed. To better facilitate this push, all players this weekend are encouraged to utilize the cross-play feature by first creating a Call of Duty account (something you’ll need to play game, regardless). Once created, players will then log into their accounts within the game, connecting them to other Call of Duty account holders across all platforms.

Modern Warfare Crossplay Explained

Within the stream, Haile shared more details as to how cross-play would work. Once the aforementioned Call of Duty account is made and logged into within the game, players can add each other as friends via these accounts. They will then become ‘Activision Friends’, thus allowing players to communicate without having to go through either Sony’s or Microsoft’s services. There will be integrated voice-chat to help players communicate across platforms, as well as UI elements to distinguish with platform your friends and foes are playing on. Furthermore, matchmaking will take control scheme into account, only matching similar control types (to ensure PC players are not trouncing their controller wielding brethren). The system will relax this rule as needed, say if it’s taking too long to find a match or a premade party is a mix of different controls. For players who would rather not deal with all the cross-play hullabaloo, there is an option to opt-out entirely.

What’s In It for Me?

Also announced during the stream by Multiplayer Design Director Joe Cecot was the reward for participating in this weekend’s beta: The Hammer Shotgun, which uses the .725 frame as it’s base. As long as players reach level 10 prior to the end of the beta, they will unlock the shotgun in the launch version of the game: no preorder required. Cecot went into more details concerning the Gunsmith feature within game, that allows players to take guns like The Hammer Shotgun, take the attachments and use them elsewhere. More details can be found on the Activation Blog, but the short of the new Gunsmith is it’ll allow you to unlock mods across a wide-array of categories to fine tune your weapons as you see fit.

An Extra Mode to Play

Finally, it was confirmed in the stream that the new game mode – Ground War – will make its debut this beta weekend. Ground War is a new 32v32 mode that tasks players with securing multiple objectives across the map, with vehicles taking on a larger roll than they have in the series’ past. There will be one map to play the mode on this weekend – Karst River Quarry – featuring conveyor belts, helicopters, and more. Players can spawn on squadmates, objectives, or even within the Armored Personnel Carries players can control.

But When Can I Play?

Beta early access opens at 10am PST September 19th for those with either a pre-order, or on the PlayStation 4. At 6pm PST September 20th the floodgates open for all platforms, no preorder needed. The beta comes to an end at 10am PST Sep 23rd. Infinity Ward teased more to come, leaving a nice splash screen I’ll leave below. For more information, check out Activision’s posts about what you’ll need to play, and info about the beta weekend. For more on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare take a peak at our multiplayer impression here.