Warzone gets shock player count change in Season 3 Reloaded update

Warzone players have been demanding that the lobby player count be increased from 150 — but in a surprising twist, the count has actually decreased with the Pacific Season 3 Reloaded update. 

Raven Software, the developers of the BR mode, tested a 200-player lobby with a limited-time mode in Modern Warfare’s Season 4 Reloaded, and the tester was pretty well received.

Since then, Caldera has been criticized for being too wide open and the community has often called for a permanent increase in lobby size.

However, after a year of waiting for another similar event or for a permanent upgrade, the player count has instead been decreased by a significant amount.

Warzone player count change explained

How many people in one Warzone game?

In the Season 3 Reloaded update, Warzone’s player count per game will be decreased from 150 to 120 in all core game modes.

This means that all of the Caldera-based game modes will see a 30-man drop in population in a move that hopes to help ease the strain across all platforms.

In the patch notes, they said the following about the change:

• Player Count Adjustment | 
  • Reduced total Player count per match to 120

“With the addition of new second-chance mechanics, we are very conscious of making sure the mid-game doesn’t feel unfairly claustrophobic compared to the current Battle Royale pacing. We will therefore be trialing a slightly reduced Player count across all core Battle Royale squad sizes,” Raven devs stated.

“We will be carefully reviewing sentiment and data to make sure that the engagement pacing remains more or less in line with the current experience and that Players can still pursue new personal records.”

• Read More: How Warzone’s Champion of Caldera LTM works: New BR mode explained

In a March 2022 interview with FaZe Swagg, Raven Creative Lead Josh Bridge stated that the concept of changing player counts had been “internally tested” by the team. However, there were “technical challenges” standing in the way, particularly on last-gen consoles.

During the same interview, Raven Creative Director Ted Timmins also noted that the team is prioritizing new gameplay features over the additions of new game modes and LTMs. Though, he did not rule out the possibility of a max capacity game mode.

• Read More: Call of Duty players urge Warzone 2 devs to make major weapon change

The official patch notes state that the development team will monitor the feedback on the player count as Season 3 reloaded happens, so fans may still eventually get their wish of 200-player lobbies at some point in the future.

For more information on what’s changing in Season 3 Reloaded, check out our hub to catch up on all the action.