Modern Warfare spikes on Steam with 10,000% more players this week

50,000 players currently live here

Call of Duty has had a rocky reception over the last few years, but arguably the best series installment in the last decade, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare from 2019, is undergoing a huge resurgence of players on Steam right now.

Until Thursday, March 19, Modern Warfare was peaking at around 500 concurrent players according to SteamDB. For the last week? It's consistently been reaching 50,000, peaking overall at 61,667 over the weekend. All because it's currently on sale at 90% off, making it just $5.99 — its lowest price ever.

Modern Warfare was the much-anticipated reboot of the Modern Warfare subseries that started with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in 2007. Complicated naming conventions aside, it brought back a number of fan-favorite characters, including Soap MacTavish, Captain Price, and Ghost. Our review considers it "one of the best campaigns the series has ever given us, filled with complicated politics, quiet setups, and brutal moments of violence."

On the multiplayer front, it was widely praised for its slightly slower paced approach to gameplay, especially compared to the much faster environment recent entries have opted for. Gunplay is responsive and smooth, and movement is as fluid as ever. The only downside is that it dropped the ball when it came to original map design, but it also has plenty of fan-favorite original maps, such as Crash, Rust, Vacant, and Shipment.

Unfortunately, this is a Steam-only sale (sorry, console players), and there's only a few hours left to grab it at that price, so don't hesitate. Hopefully the popularity will persist for a while yet; I'm looking forward to jumping back in and flexing my Obsidian camo on all my guns after six years away.