Call of Duty: Warzone Update Reduces Player Count

Call of Duty: Warzone Season 3 arrived with high expectations, as fans of the battle royale hoped for the game to be reenergized. Frustrations with the Caldera map, gameplay balance, and technical issues have persisted. A month later and a new update for Call of Duty: Warzone has arrived -- Season 3 Reloaded. The update makes some substantial changes to the game, including some radical decisions. The most significant being a decision to cap Call of Duty Warzone's player count.

Call of Duty: Warzone's player count has always set it apart from other battle royales. Where 100 players was initially defined as the battle royale standard by the success of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Call of Duty: Warzone upped that total. It pushed up to 150, though some limited-time events have gone up to 200. In 2021, developer Raven Software temporarily decreased that total to 140 to help with server issues. Now the player count is being dropped again, this time permanently.

The new player count cap in Call of Duty: Warzone's battle royale is 120, a decrease of 30 players over the previous 150 player cap. The change is being made across Caldera queues, including BR Solo, Duo, and Quad game modes. While this is a permanent change, Raven does say that it's also watching closely to see how players respond to the change in case it needs to be altered in the future.

As for why Raven made the change, it has to do with the other changes made in Season 3 Reloaded. Raven's introduced several new second-chance mechanics, meaning players will be dying less. Instead, they'll be returning through the Gulag, buybacks, redeployment, and self-revives. With that in mind, Raven is worried mid-game could become flooded with players if it kept the 150-player cap. 120 players will allow for a smoother transition from early to mid-game, and beyond.

The goal of Raven with these changes should be clear. It wants players to last longer in a Call of Duty: Warzone match, perhaps conveying that it believes much of the negativity surrounding Warzone relates to players dying early without respite.

Such dramatic changes to Call of Duty: Warzone will take some time for both Raven and players to feel out. The pace of Warzone on Caldera is going to change, though for better or worse it isn't clear. It's still encouraging that Raven is experimenting with ideas it thinks players will enjoy. Here's hoping those good intentions improve Warzone like it hopes.