Modern Warfare 4 Beta Patch Targets Footsteps With Cachette and Inflation

Infinity Ward announced a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 beta update built around quieter footsteps, weapon tuning, and the addition of the Cachette map and Inflation mode. The update was scheduled to go live on Saturday, August 22 at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. BST / 7 p.m. CEST, ahead of the beta’s second day.

Footstep audio is the clearest response to early player feedback. Enemy footsteps and gear sounds will be audible from a shorter distance, while their overall volume will also be lower. Infinity Ward said the aim is to warn players that an opponent is approaching without giving away an exact position from far away, with more audio changes still under review during the beta.

Weapon balance changes target fast kills

The patch also addresses the beta’s current time-to-kill by reducing the lethality of several weapons and items. The ISO Nightshade submachine gun will lose damage more quickly at longer ranges and receive a slightly lower headshot multiplier.

The Oris 8.6 marksman rifle will begin its damage falloff sooner and receive a lower headshot multiplier. The Razor attachment will have a longer delay between throws, while Frangible Rounds will lose 26.8% of their slow duration and 21.4% of their slow strength.

Cachette and Inflation expand the beta

Cachette is a core 6v6 map built around an abandoned wine warehouse and a mechanic’s garage near a French rail terminal. Its arrival will bring the beta’s map roster to four, allowing map voting to enter the test.

Inflation adds a cash-collection objective to the multiplayer rotation. Eliminating opponents earns money, while defeating HVT Operators lets players take the funds they carry. The wealthiest players become HVTs for the rest of the match to hunt, and surviving for longer increases their cash multipliers.

Beta schedule and available content

The first beta period began on August 21, with its early-access portion ending on August 25. A second open beta period will begin on August 28 and run through September 1, giving more players access to the multiplayer test and the latest iteration of Warzone. The current session also includes multiplayer modes and a playable campaign mission.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 beta patch notes

The update covers audio, weapon balance, visibility, and several quality-of-life issues. Infinity Ward’s official beta patch notes include the following changes:

• Movement audio: Enemy footsteps and gear sounds will have reduced range and lower overall volume.
• Weapon tuning: The ISO Nightshade, Oris 8.6, Razor attachment, and Frangible Rounds will receive the balance changes described above.
• Transit 213: Darker shadowed areas will be brighter, alongside an adjustment to the map’s overall color balance.
• New content: Cachette, Inflation, and map voting will be added to the beta.
• Daily challenges: Players will be able to reroll daily challenges.
• Bug fixes: The patch targets problems that could prevent players from starting or completing the mobility course, produce incorrect wet-surface footstep audio, cause errors in Gunsmith, or make some magnified optics appear opaque while aiming down sights.

At the time of the announcement, Infinity Ward was still working on a fix for the inability to join an active Kill Block match in progress. The team was also investigating reports that cooking lethal equipment could cause frame-rate drops, so neither issue had a confirmed fix in this update.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4

Developed by Infinity Ward

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is a first-person shooter and the follow-up to Modern Warfare III (2023), continuing the rebooted Modern Warfare storyline. The campaign is set during a North Korean invasion of South Korea and features dual perspectives: a young South Korean soldier named Private Park facing his first combat deployment, and Captain Price operating outside official channels on a personal mission. The game also includes multiplayer with 6v6 core maps, large-scale vehicle combat maps, and a dynamic map system called Kill Block that reshapes layouts between rounds. A DMZ extraction mode is also featured. The game is released exclusively on current-generation platforms and PC.

• Genre Shooter
• Platforms Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5
• Perspective First person
• Modes Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative
• Release October 23, 2026
• Publisher Activision
• Age Rating

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