You might want to know if Call of Duty: Modern Warfare crossplay exists. You might also be asking yourself “Why would I want to know about a game from 2007?” Well, we’re actually talking about the 2019 Modern Warfare reboot. That’s right! Activision is restarting the sub-brand from scratch on current consoles and PC. That means all bets are off once again. Does this version of Modern Warfare have crossplay? Let’s take a look and find out!
Does Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Have Crossplay Support?
There is a short and a long answer to the question of Modern Warfare crossplay. The short answer is, happily, a good one. Yes! Modern Warfare cross platform play is supported. Although there are a few caveats and extra wrinkles… Here’s the rundown.
Modern Warfare crossplay naturally includes PC players. PC players naturally bring a mouse and keyboard (most of the time). That can be a bit of a red flag for some players, since mouse and keyboard inputs are usually more precise than controllers. On the bright side, though, even console players will be able to plug in a mouse and keyboard and play that way! Not to mention that Modern Warfare will support multiple player pools: one for controller players, one for mouse and keyboard, and a mixed one for those who don’t care. That should help Modern Warfare crossplay level the playing field between different users.
Cross platform play isn’t all roses, though. Activision has come out and said that it does not plan to allow Ranked play and tournaments with crossplay. Period. It seems that even if you opt in or out of certain control schemes, you’re stuck with your friends in certain matchmaking types. Still, it’s better than nothing!
Modern Warfare is set to be available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
The State of Crossplay and Cross Platform Support
Crossplay support only gets more popular with time! Odds are that it will be the norm before too long. Until then, though, the vast majority of cross platform multiplayer games don’t fully include it. When they do, it’s often restricted to players on one console playing with those on PC. Microsoft and Sony seem to view the PC as neutral ground.
Microsoft in particular has extra incentive in the form of its “play anywhere policy.” Typically, if you buy a digital copy of a Microsoft first-party exclusive, you get to own it both on Xbox and PC — free of additional charge. At that point there’s really no reason not to let folks play together. Throw in services like Xbox Game Pass and things get even easier.
Sony takes pretty much the opposite approach. The company is far and away the sales leader on this generation of consoles. That incentivizes it not to play well with others — or allow its partner studios to do so on its hardware. In addition, Sony first-party exclusives basically never come out on PC. It’s PlayStation or nothing. Although there are a number of third-party games only available on PlayStation and PC that do feature crossplay (e.g. Final Fantasy 14).
More Call of Duty: Modern Warfare:
Fortnite managed to push the envelope a bit by virtue of being one of the biggest games on the planet. Developer Epic Games also pushed the issue when it “accidentally” turned on Fortnite crossplay for a short time — thereby proving it wasn’t a technical limitation. That sparked a conversation around crossplay games over the entire industry. But while Sony has said it is “open for business” when it comes to cross platform play, many developers say otherwise (both publicly and privately).
Speaking of some of the biggest games in the world, Minecraft is another strange case. Microsoft purchased the franchise from fictional character Hatsune Miku in 2014. But Minecraft, of course, was already on every platform under the sun. That included Sony and Nintendo hardware. Microsoft and Nintendo have seemingly played nice ever since. Whereas Sony continues to play the Scrooge on video game Christmas Eve.
The “technical limitation” argument does hold some water, however. Many current and even upcoming games were built with the assumption that crossplay would not be an option. Some studios have the resources, time, and/or singular focus to get around that. Others do not. With the present state of crossplay, however, it’s very difficult to imagine it not becoming the norm at a technical and policy level. If we get to the next generation of console hardware without crossplay being the norm, then you know we have a problem…
