The original Warzone significantly impacted the Call of Duty franchise, dominating the gaming scene throughout 2020 and 2021. Its massive success led to the development of a sequel, Warzone 2, featuring improvements like better weapons and new maps. However, whether these changes retained the player base remains uncertain. Let's explore the player counts for Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 in September 2023.
Warzone 2 Player Count
After its launch, Activision reported that Warzone 2 amassed a remarkable 25 million players within just five days.
While Warzone 2, a part of Modern Warfare 2, is free on Steam, player data for other platforms like Xbox, PlayStation, and Battle.net is not publicly disclosed. Steam's API allows tracking of player numbers for its platform, providing the most accurate insights into Warzone 2 and MW2's player counts.
In November 2022, during Warzone 2's release month, the game maintained an average of approximately 250,000 to 430,000 concurrent players, varying with the time of day.
The highest player count reached was 488,897, recorded on Sunday, November 20, based on data from SteamCharts.
As of July 30, 2023, the average player count on Steam decreased to 60,512, down from June 2023 when it averaged 65,739 players. In July, the peak player count was 86,278, down from June's peak of 113,002. Earlier months saw the player count reach 156,956 in March and 308,833 in December.
It's essential to note that these numbers encompass players on the MW2 app, engaging in Campaign, Multiplayer, Warzone 2, or the new DMZ mode.
Total Player Count for MW2 and Warzone 2
Precisely determining player counts on other platforms is challenging, but the Call of Duty series historically enjoys immense popularity on consoles. Consequently, the peak player count across all platforms could reach up to 2 million concurrent players.
Notably, Modern Warfare 2 set records as the best-selling CoD release in its first weekend, generating $800 million in revenue within three days.
During the MW2 beta, the peak concurrent player number reached 169,000, again on Steam exclusively. Activision reported it as the most-played beta for any CoD release.
Warzone 2's free-to-play model contributed to a sharp increase in player numbers on Steam upon its November 16 launch.
