Warzone 2 YouTuber claims devs intentionally make footsteps hard to hear

Warzone 2’s audio fidelity has been long criticized, and now, a Warzone YouTuber claims the devs are intentionally making footsteps softer for no real reason.

Warzone 2’s audio has been the subject of debate and anger for quite a while. Even the original BR came under fire on countless occasions due to similar controversy. As a result, we’ve seen many updates over the months and years tweaking various systems. We’ve even made our own guides for optimal audio settings to work around the game’s shortcomings.

But according to a Warzone YouTuber, TheTacticalBrit, the devs might be intentionally making footsteps hard to hear, rather than doing the opposite and fixing it.

The content creator specifically explains why it sometimes can be extremely hard to hear footsteps, even though an enemy may be fully sprinting near you. He showcased an example of a clip from Warzone streamer Zachdubs, where he is shot from behind despite three enemy players sprinting loudly in close proximity.

Firstly, you must understand how Warzone 2’s audio system works. The game functions on a ducking system, according to the YouTuber. Essentially, there is one master track, which is what the players hear, which all the various layers of sound are funneled into.

Because the game is composed of many different sounds, such as smokes, announcers, gunfire and footsteps, the game makes the choice for which audio will be louder than the rest at any given time.

The volume and direction of the sound is all dependent on its in-game source. If there’s an air strike to the North far away, it will sound soft and originate from the north.

The problem therein, is Warzone aims for relatively realistic audio. In his video, TheTacticalbrit shows various examples of gunfire, smokes, vehicles, and missile strikes happening nearby or far away masking the sound of footsteps. 

As the YouTuber points out, Warzone is not exactly a realistic game. The battle royale has announcers, kill streaks, and airdrops, just to name a few outliers. But the game prioritizes the player hearing kill streaks, idle map noise, and smokes, more than it does the footsteps near a player. 

While it’s unclear just how the problem can be resolved, TheTacticalbrit went on to claim it’s a “very easy fix” for the developers. We’ll obviously have to wait and see if that holds true.