Warzone devs investigating ‘unplayable’ footstep audio issues following season one launch

It's not just you having audio issues.

Warzone operator
Image via Activision

Game audio is always a contentious topic in the Warzone community or any battle royale, and footstep audio issues are already plaguing MW3.

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It’s been an ongoing struggle to balance audio levels perfectly in Warzone. WZ2 saw problems at launch that messed with directional audio and audio occlusion. Players struggled to hear where enemies were coming from because of noise interference from the environment.

CoD players battling on a train in Warzone.
You have a better chance of hearing this train miles away than an enemy around the corner. Image via Activision

Raven Software finally addressed the issue in Season Two Reloaded earlier this year by reverting audio to normal levels. The troubling pattern continued this year as Modern Warfare 3’s Warzone integration launched with “atrocious” audio

A community member, for example, claimed “someone could be 5 meters away sprinting at full speed and this is zero audio to be able to tell which direction they are moving, or if they are moving at all.” Raven Software is looking to reassure fans before frustration reaches a boiling point by launching an investigation.

Warzone devs look into footstep issues 

On Dec. 8, Raven Software acknowledged community complaints about audio issues and promised players a fix. “We’ve seen a great deal of feedback surrounding audio, more specifically footsteps,” Raven said. “We are currently investigating this feedback and will share more information at a later date.” 

Players have raised issues concerning silent footsteps, ladder audio, and directional gunshot audio being glitched. 

Players can track the progress of the audio investigation on Raven Software’s Trello board. The devs have not yet added the issue as of writing, but we expect it to be shown soon. 

In the meantime, there are a few approaches to getting past audio issues. Players can equip Tracker in their third perk slot, which makes enemies leave behind a footprint trail.

Alternatively, you can follow these simple steps in the settings:

  • Go to audio.
  • Scroll down to audio mix.
  • Select PC Speaker.

This could help improve your audio levels while we wait for an official update. 

Author
Image of Ryan Lemay
Ryan Lemay
Ryan graduated from Ithaca College in 2021 with a sports media degree and a journalism minor. He gained experience as a writer with the Morning Times newspaper and then Dexerto as a games writer. He mainly writes about first-person shooters, including Call of Duty and Battlefield, but he is also a big FIFA fan. You can contact him at ryanlemay@dotesports.com.