The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 beta will fix some issues that have plagued the series for the better part of a decade.
In a new blog post, Activision said it is reducing the number of times players will be prompted with the “update requires restart” message. For the last six years or so, Call of Duty players have been forced to restart their game right after booting up to apply new updates and patches. It’s extremely annoying and slows down how fast you can get into the action. With the Modern Warfare 4 beta, the team is planning to reduce how often you see this upon booting up the game, but you might still get this screen if you’re playing while an update is pushed out.
During the beta, your platform will dictate how much you see this screen. PC and PS5 will see it the least, with it only expected if you’re actively playing during an update, while Xbox Series X and S and Switch 2 will continue to be prompted to restart the game. However, once the game launches, this situation is expected to be reduced across all platforms.
In addition to this change, the beta won’t be a part of the larger Call of Duty HQ launcher. As many fans know, many Call of Duty titles fall under a single umbrella rather than being standalone executables. That has changed over time, with games like Modern Warfare 3 being offloaded into standalone releases, but Modern Warfare 4’s beta will debut as a standalone file. That means you won’t need to have the entire Call of Duty HQ app installed to play the beta, which should create a more seamless experience for fans.
As for when you can jump in on the action, Modern Warfare 4’s beta begins on Friday, August 21 at 11am PT on all platforms except for Nintendo Switch 2, as Switch 2 players will only be able to join in on the beta’s second weekend starting on August 28. Pre-loading for the beta will begin on August 20 at 9am PT. In addition to multiplayer content, the beta will also include a level from Modern Warfare 4’s campaign in a first for the first-person shooter series.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN’s news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
