Call of Duty multiplayer exists as two distinct experiences, in my mind. The new: from Modern Warfare onward COD has been the essence of slick, with instant respawns, rewards for every kill I get, matches that are more about moment-to-moment action than larger narratives. And the old: Call of Duty 2 battles dominated by sneaking and bolt-action rifles, the tension of stalking a map with only one life in Search & Destroy. This week I played about two hours of Call of Duty: WWII, which launches its open PC beta today, and mostly felt the familiar pacing and presentation of modern Call of Duty.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ unstoppable rise continues, with the game hitting yet another milestone today. The massively popular battle royale shooter has now broken Dota 2’s record for highest concurrent player count on Steam.
Yes, Dota 2’s 1.29 million record has been shattered, with PUBG hitting 1.3 million concurrent players. That’s the most people playing at the same time any game on Steam has boasted.
This is even more impressive given that PUBG is still in Early Access, and the previous record holder is a free-to-play game developed by Valve.
SteamSpy was charting the game’s growth, and spotted the moment when it beat Dota 2’s record today. The number continues to rise, however, with Steamcharts showing a peak of 1,305,536.
The number might continue to rise, though, as more people jump in to see the new update. The September update adds a new town on the east coast, and more importantly, foggy weather. This new weather has a low probability to occur, but when it does, it changes the game entirely. You can barely see in front of you, so the already tense game becomes even more nerve-racking.
Are you one of the 1.3 million?
Call of Duty: WWII's ongoing multiplayer beta has been updated again. Activision announced today that a new mode has been added, while the level cap has been raised to 35, up from 30. With the level cap increase, players can now unlock new weapons and equipment, along with the Flamethrower Scorestreak.
The new mode is Kill Confirmed, which requires players to pick up their fallen enemy's dogtags to complete the kill.
There are other changes now available in the Call of Duty: WWII beta, based on feedback from the first weekend's beta phase. For example, Team Deathmatch games now end at 100 points instead of 75, while Domination's match limit is also now 100.
"We also reduced Molotovs to one per score streak, and raised the difficulty of the paratroopers," Activision explained. "We're monitoring game data and community feedback on these, to help inform our decision for the final game. In addition, we've adjusted the ADS out of sprint and those changes will roll into the MP Beta on Saturday."
Activision said it is also aware of "several other issues," one of which--Hitmarker paramaters--will be adjusted for launch in November. Additionally, Activision said it is considering making adjustments to "flinch" as well. Not only that, but the following controller layouts will be available at launch:
The Call of Duty: WWII beta is going on right now across PlayStation 4 andXbox One. It wraps up on September 4.
Early Access battle royale shooter PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is still quickly climbing the charts in terms of sales and player counts, but also on the rise are controversy, complaints, and negative reviews on Steam. Along with no small amount of hubbub over PUBG's policy of banning players for perceived stream-sniping and team-killing (even when someone had a seemingly good reason for the latter), the introduction of paid loot crates for cosmetic items continues to be a big point of contention.
PC upgrade in early October.