What Happened in Modern Warfare II Beta? [Dates & Rewards Included]

The much-anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is set to release on October 28th, and gamers around the world are getting excited to play it.

So to give them a taste of what is in store and stoke further interest, Activision arranged Early Access and Open Beta sessions with much to show.

Find out what all Call of Duty players were up to these last weekends below!

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II Beta Weekends

The Modern Warfare II Beta was first made available on September 16 for PlayStation pre-orders and eventually made its way to all players on every available platform.

The Beta schedule as it took place is outlined below:

Starting with this year’s game, the ‘Crossplay’ feature will once again include the Steam PC platform, in addition to Xbox, PlayStation, and Battle.net. The last time Steam hosted a Call of Duty was in 2017, so the player count boost should be significant. 

A day before the Beta, Activision organized a showcase event called Call of Duty: Next, during which over 200 content creators streamed an early MWII build to their fans.

Note: No new Beta dates are planned until the official game release.

Content Available During the MWII Beta Weekends

While the first weekend was short and sweet, with a limited number of maps and modes, players were pleasantly surprised by the additional content of the subsequent ‘Crossplay’ weekend.

Moreover, all players could try out four of the seven new modes coming with MWII, and two of the 32v32 maps are POIs (Points of Interest) in the new Warzone 2.0 map—Al Mazrah that is coming on November 16th with the first Season of MWII.

Weekend 1

Weekend 2

But, there are many more gameplay innovations players will see in the game’s full version, so make sure to check out the full list of major changes in our thorough guide.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II Beta Rewards

Call of Duty Beta weekends are known to offer unlockable rewards that you can use in the full game, and this Beta was no exception as it included an impressive list of goodies.

In total, players were able to acquire ten different rewards as they advanced to Level 30:

• “Smashed It”—animated emblem at Level 2
• “Buckle Up”—charm at Level 4
• “Passed the Test”—animated player card at Level 6
• “Operation First Blood”—sticker at Level 10
• “Side Impact”—weapon blueprint at Level 15
• “Collision”—operator skin at Level 18
• “No Competition”—vinyl at Level 19
• “Safety First”—sticker at Level 21
• “Floor It”—vehicle skin at Level 26
• “Frontal Impact”—weapon blueprint at Level 30

While you could only get up to Level 15 during Weekend 1 and get the “Side Impact” weapon blueprint, the second Beta weekend included additional 15 levels and an impressive primary weapon blueprint in the end which were available in the new Gunsmith 2.0.

Gameplay Changes for the MWII Beta Weekend 2

Infinity Ward—the developer—shared a blog post ahead of Weekend 2 listing the various changes they made following community feedback, the most important of which include:

1. Muzzle Flash and Smoke

If you’ve played the MWII Beta during the first weekend, you might have had trouble following your enemy due to the low visibility caused by too much weapon smoke and muzzle flash, which has since been reduced to allow for better combat engagements.

2. Footsteps Audio

The footsteps directional audio is so crisp and noticeable this year that players were able to easily pinpoint their enemies even from far away. Therefore, to make it more realistic and competitive, the devs turned down the volume of nearby footsteps.

3. Perk Earn Rate

The players found that the new ‘Perk’ system was too slow to award players with the third (bonus) and fourth (ultimate) perk. To address the issue, Infinity Ward boosted their earn rate, thus making it much easier for players to unlock and use them during the match.

4. Hackers

And, of course, it's not a PC Beta weekend if there aren't hackers and cheaters involved. Videos started popping out all over social media of players using aimbot and wallhacks during gameplay. Thankfully, the devs acted swiftly and banned everyone involved.

What’s in Store for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II?

According to SteamDB, the Call of Duty Modern Warfare II Beta had a concurrent player count of 168,330 players on Steam alone, making it one of the highest-played games on the platform during the second weekend, ahead of Destiny 2, GTA 5, and Cyberpunk 2077.

These numbers are very impressive, considering it was only a Beta weekend and a very encouraging sign for the player count we expect to see at full game release.

The devs are preparing to handle players in the millions, so the gameplay and servers must be ready to accommodate everyone and ensure they have the time of their lives. There are 30 days to do so, and Infinity Ward and Activision will probably do it, judging by past releases.