Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Beta Will Fix Issues That Have Plagued the Series for the Better Part of a Decade

Activision has announced that the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 beta will address long-standing issues plaguing the series for over a decade. The team aims to minimize the frequency of players encountering the "update requires restart" message upon launching the game. For six years, Call of Duty players have been required to restart their consoles after booting up to apply updates and patches, an issue that slows down gameplay.

During the beta, the frequency of this message will be reduced, but players may still encounter it during updates. The extent of this issue depends on the player's platform, with PC and PS5 users experiencing it the least and Xbox Series X/S and Switch 2 users encountering it more frequently, especially if playing during an update.

By the time Modern Warfare 4 launches, this issue is expected to be diminished across all platforms.

Moreover, the beta will not be integrated into the larger Call of Duty HQ launcher. Instead, it will be a standalone file, allowing players to access the beta without having the entire Call of Duty HQ app installed. This change is expected to provide a smoother experience for fans. Modern Warfare 4's beta is scheduled to begin on Friday, August 21 at 11am PT on all platforms, except Nintendo Switch 2, which will only have access starting on August 28.

Pre-loading for the beta will commence on August 20 at 9am PT. Apart from multiplayer content, the beta will also feature a level from Modern Warfare 4's campaign for the first time in the first-person shooter series.