Edited 08/22: Contrary to Activision’s official dates, the Modern Warfare Alpha appears to have gone live earlier than planned. It’s currently unclear whether this was intentional or not. The option to pre-load was made available today, on the 22nd, and fans discovered that the game mode is available to play as soon as the download is complete.
Three days ago, Activision and Infinity Ward surprised fans when they announced an unexpected Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Alpha. Running ahead of the upcoming Beta, the Alpha will only be available for a single weekend and only on PS4. It will give players a chance to experience the new 2v2 Gunfight mode, a new gameplay mode which has so far been at the forefront of the game’s multiplayer marketing.
The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Alpha on PS4
The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Alpha will launch tomorrow, on the 23rd of August, on PS4. It will be available to play through to the 25th. A trailer released several days ago to announce the Alpha suggests that it will only include Gunfight; the new 2v2 multiplayer mode. However, the Alpha will include more maps than when Gunfight was made available to content creators for a promotional event. At that time, only three maps were shown. The Alpha will add two more to the roster called Docks and Speedball.
Gunfight is a very fast-paced 2v2 multiplayer mode which takes place on very close-quarters maps. Players compete to eliminate their opponents with an extremely short round time limit. If players don’t manage to kill their rivals in time, the game transitions to a flag capture victory condition for a limited time. Each round, every player starts with the same loadout. However, the game will change the loadout every 2 rounds, ensuring that players have to make use of different weapons.
The full Modern Warfare Beta is due to launch on the 12th of September, first on the PS4 and then later on the Xbox One and PC one week later. In both cases, it will launch with a staggered release. Early Access will span the first two days, with the event transitioning to an Open Beta after that.