A new season is beckoning
Despite overwhelming financial success and a positive reception at launch, both Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 and Modern Warfare 2 have recently seen diminishing player counts. Both games have hit an all-time low for active players since they launched in late 2022.
Warzone 2.0 and MW2 player count hits record low
First noticed on Reddit, Warzone 2.0 and MW2 both hit a record low of active players. According to SteamCharts, both games had just under 50,000 concurrent players around March 27, 2023. Worse still, the overall player count was less than 90,000 for about 24 hours straight. It has hovered around 90,000 since then.
That is significantly lower than the 150,000 active players that both games enjoyed on the weekend of March 18, 2023. To make matters more dire, SteamCharts’ player counts are for both games altogether. Since Warzone 2.0 and MW2 use the same engine, and you can switch between both games simultaneously without leaving the other, their player count is combined.
I should note, though, that this record low player count was only reported for Steam users on PC. This doesn’t include players on Xbox and PlayStation, but numbers could be low there, too. I know that I recently had an abnormally long wait time for Battle Royale and Ranked Play matches on PS5. And that was during a weekend with cross-play turned on, no less.
Why so few players are playing on PC
These days, MW2 and Warzone 2.0 are far from the peak PC player count of nearly 500,000 players when Warzone 2.0 launched in November 2022. There could be many reasons for this, including the fact that Season 2 is wrapping up.
In truth, this player drought has happened before. Around February 13, 2023, both games nearly reached the same low. Coincidentally, Season 1 was ending at that time and Season 2 was slated to begin on February 15, 2023.
With only a few days left in Season 2, it seems most players aren’t playing until Season 3 drops. It is possible that most players already completed the Season 2 Battle Pass, and others may feel frustrated with the state of Warzone 2.0.
Ranked Play is the only saving grace
According to comments on the original Reddit post, it seems the few players who are sticking around are doing so because of Ranked Play. Ranked Play is the only reason I’m playing these days, too. Its progression system is endless and engrossing with its ever-changing ranked tiers.
However, there is, understandably, almost no reason to play public multiplayer matches or battle royale at this point. Infinity Ward needs to quickly find a solution to bump up interest in public matches. For instance, a mix of new maps and game modes could make players excited to return. It also wouldn’t hurt to see Shipment 24/7 become a permanent option.
Warzone 2.0 needs a vast revamp
On the other side, Warzone 2.0 has declined sharply across the board. This is due to a general public dislike of the Al Mazrah map. While Ashika Island is fantastic, the smaller nature of Resurgence isn’t for everyone. It doesn’t help that competitive events are infrequent, leading some prominent content creators like Aydan to jump ship
Warzone 2.0 is in dire need of a revamp. Season 3 aims to bring Warzone Ranked, which should help quite a bit in that regard. But it may already be time to think about a new battle royale map or the long-awaited return of Verdansk.
The second iteration of Warzone launched without Plunder, a classic mode from the original game. While this is changing in Season 3, Infinity Ward has to commit to more events to keep players engaged. Otherwise, Warzone 2.0 could continue this downward spiral.
