Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4‘s beta has received mostly negative reviews on Steam, and things aren’t looking any better on other platforms either. Developer Infinity Ward plans to release Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on October 23, with one more beta playtest scheduled for August 28. However, the overall sentiment surrounding this new installment doesn’t seem particularly positive.
Developer Infinity Ward is known for creating the Call of Duty series, and many were hoping the studio would return to the franchise’s roots with Modern Warfare 4. While the studio has indeed brought back some popular aspects from previous installments in its upcoming game, some of the new features tested in the beta haven’t gone down well with fans so far.
Modern Warfare 4 Beta Has Over 60% Negative Reviews on Steam
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The latest data from SteamDB suggests that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4‘s beta reviews across all languages have dropped to mostly negative. Many long-time fans of the franchise have historically used Battle.net to play the series’ installments, so some might argue that Steam statistics aren’t the most reliable success metric. However, it appears that Valve’s platform has indeed been one of the most popular choices for Modern Warfare 4‘s beta, behind PS5 and Xbox Series X.
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Another discouraging detail about the beta is how quickly the player count dropped, despite the event taking place over the weekend. Again, according to SteamDB, MW4‘s beta reached a peak concurrent player count of about 115,000 at launch. However, that figure started to decline rapidly, eventually dropping as low as 16,000 at one point. There are no reliable sources to estimate the player count on platforms other than Steam, but if these numbers are anything to go by, Modern Warfare 4‘s first beta hasn’t exactly been a success.
Some of the biggest problems players have pointed out with Modern Warfare 4‘s new features include movement, time-to-kill ratios, and skill-based matchmaking. Infinity Ward has not implemented the omni-movement system in its game, instead using new mechanics that some players believe have made the multiplayer experience “overwhelmingly fast.” Many have also complained that the TTK in MW4 is so short that they essentially have no time to react. But these are only a few examples of players’ criticisms, and it appears there are even more issues, such as the revamped perk system, which many fans appear to dislike.
Despite the negativity surrounding the beta, Modern Warfare 4 has also received praise from many users for how it looks and feels. The player base seems to be mostly happy with the graphics and gunplay, which could be good news for Infinity Ward. If these core aspects are already well-received, balance patches and other adjustments might be enough to turn things around and win players over ahead of launch. In the coming months, it will be interesting to see whether Modern Warfare 4 becomes the go-to installment for multiplayer-enthusiast Call of Duty players or faces a rather gloomy fate and continues to receive the same not-so-positive reviews from players.
- Released
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October 23, 2026
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
