The footstep audio issue in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been a topic of controversy going back to the game’s beta. An Infinity Ward audio engineer claimed at the time that what players are hearing are their own footsteps, which will sound louder than what enemies hear, in part to pronounce the surfaces a player is standing on. When criticism continued, Infinity Ward acknowledged feedback and said it could change footstep volume leading into launch. It didn’t, though.

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It’s taken some time, but Infinity Ward has now made changes to the footstep audio in the game, appearing to completely revert all changes compared to other Call of Duty games. It isn’t entirely clear if everything has been reverted, as there are no notes about the initial changes and no notes about the reversion. Modern Warfare 2 players can only assume based on audio levels.

YouTuber Xclusive Ace does claim to have some insider information regarding the footstep audio issue, though. In what’s certainly a surprise, Ace says that a reliable source told them the audio change was due to an “unintended bug” and not an Infinity Ward design decision. That may seem contradictory, considering Infinity Ward acknowledged the changes prior to launch. It’s possible that it was just a confusing technical situation that took some time to fully understand.

It made sense that Infinity Ward would want to showcase its audio design changes, ensuring that surface-based footstep sounds are heard by players. Those kinds of audio cues can be highly immersive, after all. That lined up with what Infinity Ward told fans, as it reconsidered the audio balance based on feedback. But it could have all just been a bug.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 players should now be able to jump into Multiplayer and not stress too much over opponents hearing their every movement. They won’t have to rely more heavily on stealth than they’d otherwise prefer. This does mean Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is that much more akin to previous Call of Duty games, but for many fans that seems to be what they want.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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