The closed beta for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 has lost more than half of its concurrent Steam players a day after opening, Destructoid reported on August 23.
Destructoid put the beta at more than 115,000 concurrent players on Steam during peak hours the previous day. By the time of its report, that figure had fallen to just over 44,000.
The test is gated rather than open. Access is limited to players who pre-ordered the game or obtained an access key, so the counts describe a restricted population and, being Steam figures, exclude console players entirely. No platform-wide numbers were reported.
Destructoid characterises the opening turnout as ordinary for an Infinity Ward Call of Duty, with players moving into the beta as soon as access went live. That framing is what makes the second day the notable part of the report: the initial interest arrived as expected, and then did not hold.
A mixed reception on Steam
The beta’s Steam page carries a 49 percent positive review score, which Steam renders as a mixed rating. Destructoid reported that the most common complaint among the top reviews is that this entry is not different enough from previous Call of Duty games.
The outlet pushed back on that specific criticism, arguing that an annual series was never going to differ sharply between instalments, while noting the argument is common enough to be driving the review score down. Its own reservations about the build were a very fast time-to-kill that leaves little room to react, and server instability — both of which it said it hoped would be addressed before release. It rated the campaign mission included in the test positively.
What the game is
Modern Warfare 4 is the next entry in Activision’s Call of Duty series. Destructoid reports it is set in East Asia against the backdrop of a new Korean War, and that it draws heavily on the original Modern Warfare sub-series across its menus, gameplay and music.