How And When To Preload ‘Warzone 2’ Plus File Size On Xbox, PlayStation And PC — Launch Details

Warzone 2 is almost here, along with the start of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II Season 1, the addition of the new DMZ mode and a plethora of new content to dive into.

The new free-to-play Call Of Duty Battle Royale comes with the new Al Mazrah map, a brand new Battle Pass and overhauled game systems including 2v2 Gulag matches, all-new Buy Stations and a collapsing circle that can break into two or three smaller circles.

Pre-loading for Warzone 2 has now begun on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5 and PC via Battle.net and Steam. I’ve tested preloading and run into a few snags which I’m currently working on with Activision. Basically, head to your platform’s storefront and search for Warzone 2. When it pops up you should be able to simply press the pre-load button and begin the installation.

MORE FROM FORBESHere’s The Exact Time ‘Warzone 2’ Goes Live On Xbox, PlayStation And PCBy Erik Kain

However, the snags I’ve run into include:

• On Steam, when I press pre-load it simply launches Modern Warfare II. It could be that this means the game is already pre-loaded. I’m not sure!
• On PlayStation 5, when I search for Warzone 2 it does not appear. Modern Warfare II appears, as do some packs for the original Warzone, but no Warzone 2.

However, you can go to this link which will take you to the Warzone 2 website where you can pick your platform of choice and add the game to your library (theoretically this should work!) For instance, this link takes me directly to the PlayStation version of the game and gives me the option to add to my library.

When I followed the steps from that link I discovered that on PlayStation, Warzone 2 is showing up as Modern Warfare II. There is no separate game or icon or page for it. I was able to preload, but I can’t tell if it’s preloading the entire Modern Warfare II game (which I don’t own on PlayStation!) or just Warzone. The file size is 38.6 GB, however. More on that in a second.

Speaking of file sizes, how much space does Warzone 2 require?

I’m trying to get a confirmation on download size from Activision, but right now I’m seeing conflicting reports. For instance, many outlets are reporting that Warzone 2 will take up 115 GB on Xbox and PlayStation, but when I pre-loaded the game on my Xbox Series X here’s the screen I get when I go to manage game:

As you can see, here I show Warzone 2 taking up a measly 6.2 GB. The total footprint of Modern Warfare II’s campaign, Co-Op, Multiplayer and Warzone 2 is under 50 GB.

Meanwhile, I was able to see the pre-load size on Battle.net. I have Modern Warfare II installed on Steam and on the Warzone 2 page it says you need 125 GB of space on your machine to install the game. However, in Battle.net, pre-loading requires just 17.4 GB:

If Warzone 2 is just 6.2 GB on Xbox and 17.4 GB on Battle.net I can’t imagine it’s 38.6 GB on PlayStation, which suggests to me that there is some ‘base’ game that includes files for both Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2, and that’s also being installed on my PlayStation 5 (where I really don’t have all that much space! I’m just doing this for science!)

It’s possible that this is just the initial preload size, and there is another big update on the way that will require much more hard drive space. I have asked for clarification and will update this post when I find out more.

All of which is to say, we have limited information at this time but the actual preload isn’t that big as far as I can tell, ranging from 6.2 GB on Xbox to 17.4 GB on PC and 38.6 GB on PlayStation, though it’s likely smaller there if you already have Modern Warfare II installed.

Oh, and right now my Steam install of Modern Warfare II—presumably with Warzone 2 pre-loaded—is 55.45 GB. I believe it was about 30 GB at launch. So it’s possible that on Steam the Warzone 2 update was around 25 GB but I’m not entirely sure as updates between launch and now could impact the base install size.

Mysteries abound! See you in the Warzone this Wednesday! If it all goes according to plan and doesn’t crash on us constantly, that is!

Update: I was forced to restart my game this evening at around 8:30 pm MT for a pretty sizable update of around 34 GB (on Steam). This suggests to me that the smaller preload update from yesterday was only a small chunk of the entire thing.

The new update hasn’t changed anything that I can see in Modern Warfare II itself. The Battle Pass and Store are still locked. However, it has added a new main launcher screen with the option to choose between Modern Warfare II, Warzone: DMZ (Beta) and Warzone: Battle Royale.

Edit: According to my friends on Xbox, tonight’s update is roughly 68 GB. So make sure you update ASAP!

If you hover over MWII it looks like this:

Hover over DMZ:

And hover over Warzone 2.0:

As you can see, it’s a much cleaner interface than the previous Warzone/Modern Warfare integration. Hopefully it’s not a total disaster that breaks Modern Warfare II the way Warzone 1 broke Modern Warfare 2019. Even by the end of those games’ run, any time my squad would end a MW match, at least one or two players would get kicked into the WZ lobby. Very irritating!

We’ll see if there are any changes to the interface tomorrow morning when the game launches. I’m still hoping for some serious overhauls to the menus. While I like the clean presentation, navigating menus is cumbersome, and weird glitches like getting kicked out of whatever you’re doing when a party leader starts a match (etc. etc. etc.) bog down the experience pretty seriously.

New Battle Pass

Activision has also released a new trailer and information about the Season 1 Battle Pass, which is cross-progression across Warzone 2.0 and Modern Warfare II. You can watch the new trailer here:

According to the Call Of Duty blog post:

The base Battle Pass includes 20 free items. Upgrade to receive access to all 100+ items, or get the Battle Pass Bundle to get an instant 20 Battle Token Tier Skips — 25 if you’re on PlayStation® 4 or 5 — to get a head start on unlocking those rewards. Those who have the Vault Edition of Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II can also use their free Battle Pass and Battle Token Tier Skips as well.

Instead of a linear 100 tiers to unlock, players will now unlock sectors as they progress. The Battle Pass actually looks like some kind of board game or turn-based strategy game. (I’d actually love to see an XCOM-style Call Of Duty turn-based tactics game for what it’s worth).

I’ll have lots more Warzone 2.0 and Modern Warfare II Season 1 coverage tomorrow and in the coming days here on this blog, so stay tuned and follow me here and on on Twitter or Facebook. See you in the WARZONE!