On Thursday, September 19, the second Call of Duty: Modern Warfare beta weekend will go live, open to all PS4 players and allowing early access Xbox One and PC preorders. On September 20, it will open up to all players regardless of purchase. The entire weekend will feature cross play testing, which means that PS4, Xbox One, and PC players will all be playing together. Beta weekend two will set the stage for the future of Modern Warfare cross play (and perhaps more widely adopted platform cross play for other games), but it’s not quite as simple as saying “all players can play together now.” Here’s everything you need to know about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare cross play.
Everything You Need to Know About Call of Duty Modern Warfare Cross Play
As one of the first major AAA games to include cross play across all platforms, all eyes are going to be on how Activision and Infinity Ward implement this feature. It’s more than just a new era for Call of Duty, it’s the beginning of bridging the gaps between players on all systems. These are all the little details you need to know about Modern Warfare cross play.
You Need a Call of Duty Account
In order to engage in cross play, your platform account will need to be linked with a Call of Duty account. The Call of Duty account handles the matchmaking, friends lists, and parties.
The best part is you can create and log into a Call of Duty account using your platform of choice’s login, so it’s not difficult at all to get all set up. Create one now on the Call of Duty site.
Friends and Parties
Thanks to that Call of Duty account, you can add friends from any platform and party up with players playing on any of the three supported systems. All of this is handled in the game, independent of any platform-based friends lists or party systems. This includes seamless cross-platform voice chat.
Opt In or Opt Out
Don’t worry. You won’t be forced into cross play. You can opt in or opt out at will. If you’d prefer to only play with other players on PS4 (or Xbox One or PC, depending on what your specific platform is), you can choose to opt out of cross play. If you opt in however, there are a few other notable details and options.
Platform Matchmaking and Peripheral Balancing
To avoid giving anyone an unfair advantage, Modern Warfare cross play will not only factor in platform, but also what peripheral players are using to play. Matchmaking will match controller players with other controllers, and keyboard & mouse with other KBM players. You can choose to use a keyboard & mouse on console, or a controller on PC.
You can also opt in to lobbies without any control scheme filters, which means if you’re a PS4 controller player brave enough to face off against a PC keyboard & mouse player, you have that ability. It’s all about player comfort and making sure that every person feels that every game is a fair one.
Multiplayer Modes
All multiplayer modes in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare support cross play, however there are currently no plans to support ranked play and competitive tournaments cross platform.
Post Launch
Previously Call of Duty has seen maps release early for PS4 players thanks to the partnership between Activision and Sony, however, Infinity Ward will need to adjust its strategy with cross play in mind. Activision says that all new multiplayer maps, new multiplayer modes, special ops missions, and more will release simultaneously on all platforms to allow all players to continue playing seamlessly together. The publisher promises to talk more about post-launch content plans ahead of Modern Warfare’s October 25 launch.
That doesn’t mean Sony is left out in the cold though. The partnership between Activision and Sony will continue for Call of Duty, with “an exciting Day 1 advantage” for PS4 players that the publisher will detail soon. Whether that’s cosmetics, some kind of level boost, or something else entirely remains to be seen, but the word “advantage” makes it sound like PS4 players will get a leg up in some way on launch day.
Want to know more about how Call of Duty: Modern Warfare cross play will work? Infinity Ward plans on exploring cross play in depth with a livestream today at 1 pm Eastern/10 am Pacific. You can watch on Twitch or right here in the embedded player below.
Are you eager to try out cross-platform play on a major release like Call of Duty? Still have any questions about how cross play will work? Let us know in the comments.
