Modern Warfare dev provides major update on killstreaks on CDL playlist

Matt Porter

A Modern Warfare developer has provided fans with a major update about the future of killstreaks in the game’s Call of Duty League playlist.

With the start of the Call of Duty League in January, Infinity Ward finally released a playlist featuring the game modes, maps, and rules that fans can watch their favorite professional players and teams compete under during competition matches.

In CDL matches, one thing that is noticeably missing from play are killstreaks, which are normally earned by competitors when they chain together kill after kill, with things like UAVs, rockets, or attack helicopters all available to be called in during public matches in the game.

In professional competition, these strikes are either banned by Infinity Ward themselves or not used by players as part of gentlemen’s agreements, However, when the playlist launched, they were all available inside it.

A Personal Radar killstreak from Modern Warfare.
Pro players don’t use streaks, but they are still available in the CDL playlist.

Unsurprisingly, this was extremely frustrating for those who had been excited about competing against opponents under the same ruleset as the pro players, with many calling on the developers to introduce the same settings that pro players use, even including some Call of Duty League casters who grew frustrated by the situation.

“I love Call of Duty,” wrote Miles Ross, who can regularly be heard calling the action with Phillip ‘Momo’ Whitfield, “But killstreaks in the CDL playlist have got to go.”

The good news is that Infinity Ward are not only aware of the sentiment, but will be rolling out a patch to address the issue, with Infinity Ward multiplayer designer David Mickner replying: “The playlist settings reflect all killstreaks being restricted, but we need a small patch update to validate. Coming in the near future.”

Under current CDL rules, the only streaks that are not specifically banned are the VTOL Jet, Cruise Missile, and Gunship, although those are not in use by pro players anyway.

Whether they will be available to unlock in the playlist once the patch is issued remains to be seen, but Mickner’s statement that “all” killstreaks will be restricted implies that Infinity Ward will be following the pros with this update.

There is currently no official release time for this patch, but the developer did confirm that it would be coming in the near future, and with Modern Warfare usually receiving updates on Tuesdays, the earliest we can likely expect to see it is February 25.