New data shows why Modern Warfare lag could be worse than Black Ops 4

Alan Bernal

A deep dive analysis into the Call of Duty Modern Warfare beta revealed huge problems in the game’s netcode, which “could be worse than Black Ops 4.”

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Infinity Ward and Activision are gearing up to release their reimagining of the legendary Modern Warfare series on October 25, and have been giving players a taste of the action with a ton of chances to demo the title.

Everything from guns, character models, settings, game physics and more have been impressing their fans, but some players’ experiences are being marred by the less-than-stellar performances experienced from wonky connections.

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ActivisionWith all the action happening in a typical CoD match, the network needs to be able to catch up.

But YouTuber ‘Battle(non)sense’ gave players a closer look into the netcode for the upcoming CoD title, “which should give us a good idea of what the final version will be like.”

The results, however, weren’t encouraging as Battle(non)sense saw consistent trends that highlighted many flaws that can cause anything from network delays, in-game latency, and more.

(Timestamp at 5:13 for mobile viewers)

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Right off the bat, the YouTuber noticed that the ping values he was reading in-game did NOT match up with what he was actually getting.

But what was more worrying was that MW’s voice over IP solution uses a Peer-to-Peer system, which apparently made it impossible to prevent teammates from seeing his IP address even after disabling comms.

When comparing the network delays for damage, gunfire, and movement in the MW beta, they were “much, much worse” compared to the result of Black Ops 4.

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Battle(non)sense YouTubeNetwork lag measures that show MW’s net code being worse than Black Ops 4.

Modern Warfare’s netcode favors the shooter. So aggressive players racking up kills might have noticed smooth gameplay.

As for the people getting shot in the MW beta, you’ve probably “died behind cover or wondered why in the kill cam you sometimes didn’t fire a single shot even though you fired at least five shots before you died.”

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This could be attributed to the “way too long” network delays when getting shot at, since the network struggles to keep up with all the action.

Modern Warfare is set for a huge worldwide release, but it seems like the teams at Activision and Infinity Ward should improve the network before the millions of players bombard their servers.

About The Author

Alan is a former staff writer for Dexerto based in Southern California who covered esports, internet culture, and the broader games/streaming industry. He is a CSUF Alum with a B.A. in Journalism. He's reported on sports medicine, emerging technology, and local community issues. Got a tip or want to talk?