‘Warzone 2’ Launch File Size, Season 1 Patch Notes, Social Menu Bug And Everything You Need To Know

Updated 11/16/22 at 6:30pm ET. See update below.

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 #1 11/15/22:

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!

Update #2 11/16/22

Warzone 2.0 is officially out along with Season 1 of Modern Warfare II which launched a few hours early.

I snagged my first Warzone 2 victory in my third match, getting the final kill in a tense 1v1 after my three squad-mates were taken out.

In any case, we now have some official file sizes from Activision, which are as follows:

Warzone 2.0 only:

• PS4: 55.7GB
• PS5: 65.5 GB
• Xbox One: 70.0 GB
• Xbox Series X/S: 62.0 GB
• Battlenet: 23.6 GB
• Steam: 22.6 GB

Modern Warfare II (includes Warzone 2.0):

• PS4: 96.2 GB
• PS5: 105.0 GB
• Xbox One: 111.5 GB
• Xbox Series X/S: 107.0 GB
• Battlenet: 70.0 GB
• Steam: 70.0 GB

Modern Warfare II + Warzone 2.0 Season 01 Update:

• PS4: 34.1 GB
• PS5: 18.1 GB
• Xbox One: 84.0 GB
• Xbox Series X/S: 68.0 GB
• Battlenet: 49.3 GB
• Steam: 32.9GB

Known Issues

As with any big multiplayer game launch, there are lots of issues including—for many players—not being able to access the social menu to play with friends. You can work around this glaring problem by inviting friends to your party via the new Voice Channels system (look for the headphones icon at the top of the screen).

These and other known issues are being tracked on Raven Software’s Trello board.

Patch Notes

Infinity Ward also released the Season 1 Patch Notes. Some highlights include damage range increase to my favorite SMG, the Vel 46 and a nerf in the opposite direction to my favorite shotgun, the Lockwood 300.

One very nice addition is the return of the Combat Record, which allows you to see your stats at long last.

Here are the patch notes:

WEAPON BALANCING

» Assault Rifles «

• Increase to long distance flinch on all Assault Rifles

Kastov 545

• ADS speed increase
• Improved ironsight ADS sight picture

Kastov-74u

• ADS speed decrease
• Hip spread increase

M4

M16

• Rate of fire increase
• Hip spread reduction
• Recoil recenter speed increase
• Shot grouping improvement
• Increase ADS movement speed
• Increase strafing movement speed
• Semi auto recoil reduction
• Semi auto damage reduction

STB 556

• Close range damage reduction
• Reduced sprint to fire speed

» Battle Rifles «

FTac Recon

• ADS speed improvement
• 5 round magazine – speed and handling improvement
• Increased flinch caused by bullets
• Hip spread decrease

SO-14

• Increased hip fire when full auto

» Handguns «

• Increase to close range flinch on all Handguns

» Light Machine Guns «

• Increase to long distance flinch on all Light Machine Guns

» Marksman Rifles «

SA-B 50

• Minor increase to flinch when hit

SP-R 208

• Large increase to flinch when hit

» Shotguns «

• Increase to close range flinch on all Shotguns

Lockwood 300

Bryson 800

• Close range damage increase
• Hip spread increase

» Submachine Guns «

• Increase to long distance flinch on all Submachine Guns

FFS Hurricane

• ADS move speed increase
• Increased headshot damage
• Increased far damage range

Minibak

• Movement speed decrease
• Damage range decrease
• ADS speed decrease
• Hip spread increase

PDSW 528

• Movement speed increase
• Damage range increase
• ADS speed increase
• Hip spread decrease
• Adding Laser and Flashlight Attachments
• 1mW Artemis Laser
• 1mW Quick Fire Laser
• Accu-Shot 5mW Laser
• VLK LZR 7mW
• 7mW Canted Laser
• Schlager ULO-66 Laser

VEL 46

» Sniper Rifles «

Signal .50

• Fixed attributes on the Signal .50 barrels:
• 21.5″ Fluted Fifty
• 23.5″ SA Fifty-H7

WEAPON BUG FIXES

• Fixed an issue with the Schlager TTF3 Riser ammo comb on the STB 556 Assault Rifle
• Dropshot exploit fix
• Fixed exploit with bipod mount launching, re-enabled bipod use.
• Fixed incendiary damage over time to not flinch the player

VEHICLE UPDATES

Balancing

• Reduced the critical damage multiplier on the Heavy Tank (from 1.6 to 1.25)
• Reduced the damage of the PILA against tanks from 30 to 25%
• Reduced vehicle explosive damage against other vehicles (percentage varies by vehicle)

Bug Fixes

• Tuned exiting the RHIB to help mitigate an issue with players getting stuck
• Exiting the RHIB now places you within the boat. You’ll no longer be left in the water behind the boat when moving.
• Fixes to vehicle-on-vehicle bug that caused vehicles flying as a result of certain collisions and vehicles pushing others back.
• Fixed a bug where the vehicle camera was re-initializing after repairing a wheel.
• Fixed vehicles becoming permanently submerged when another vehicle lands on top of them.

MULTIPLAYER

Maps

• Shoot House (6v6) is now live with Season 01. Set in Las Almas, this map will engage new and veteran players alike. Get all the intel on this location here.

Battle Maps

• Fixed floating grass in Sarrif Bay
• Fixed stretched texture in Santa Seña
• Miscellaneous bug and exploit fixes across all Battle Maps

Core Maps

• Fixed bullet penetration issues across some maps
• Player and equipment collision fixes
• Al Bagra Fortress barracks lighting fixed
• Fixed some deployable cover locations
• General exploit fixes

Modes

Multiplayer

• Tier 1 is live with Season 01

Special Ops

• “Defender: Mt. Zaya – Modified” mission is now available
• “High Ground” mission now available
• Fixed bug where players were unable to revive a teammate if they went down near an ammo box
• Now rewards Stars when collecting intel
• Stars awarded upon collecting 5 intel; 2 for every intel

Single Player

• Addressed issue where player could get stuck in the elevator during the “Countdown” mission
• Fixed issue where sequence would not kick off during second half of “Kill or Capture” mission

Equipment

• The Drill Charge sticking to the Riot Shield will always kill the player using the Riot Shield (even if they have the Bomb Squad perk).

Killstreaks

• Cluster Mines now stick to all vehicles.
• Ally deaths no longer give the player assist points while their Counter UAV is active.

UI/UX

• Combat Record has been added for Core Multiplayer
• Calling card menu has been revamped to show challenges
• Customize tab added (with the addition of custom loading screens)
• Other new content types:
• Operator finishing moves
• Gunscreens
• War Tracks
• Updates to Weapons tab including:
• Weapon brands visible
• Streamlined Blueprint navigation

CDL Moshpit

• Due to recently discovered issues, CDL Moshpit will not go live on the morning of 11/16, as expected. Stay tuned to @Treyarch on Twitter for updates on launch timing while fixes are implemented.
• When enabled, play competitive, 4v4 matches using the same modes, maps, and settings used in the Call of Duty League 2023 ruleset.
• Select Weapons, Attachments, Equipment, Perks, Field Upgrades, and Streaks are restricted based on official CDL Competitive rules.

Game Modes and Maps:

• CDL Search and Destroy
• Al Bagra Fortress
• Breenburgh Hotel
• El Asilo
• Embassy
• Mercado Las Almas
• CDL Hardpoint
• Al Bagra Fortress
• Breenburgh Hotel
• Embassy
• Mercado Las Almas
• Zarqwa Hydroelectric
• CDL Control
• Al Bagra Fortress
• Breenburgh Hotel
• El Asilo

Read more about the giant Season 1 and Warzone 2 update here.

Check out some Warzone 2 gameplay—and my first place victory!—in the video below: