Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 has surged its way back to the top of the Steam charts following a 90% discount that reduced its price to 5.99 dollars. The sale increased its concurrent player count to a new record high, turning a seven-year-old FPS into the hottest Call of Duty title on Steam this week.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was initially released in October 2019, but the FPS has quietly accumulated a devoted fan base over the years. However, the FPS never quite took off on Steam, where it was initially released relatively late. All of this changed, though, with a limited-time 90% discount that reduced the price of its standard edition to 5.99 dollars, effective until March 26, 2023, on Steam.
Within a matter of hours of the sale being made available, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare obliterated its previous records, reaching a concurrent player count of 40,000 users on March 21, becoming the most-played Call of Duty title on Steam, even ahead of “Black Ops 7” and “Warzone” on the same platform.
While on paper, it’s simple math: a beloved Call of Duty game for six bucks is an easy sell, especially for fans who are nostalgic for the campaign and the more tactical multiplayer modes many fans still believe are among Infinity Ward’s best work.
But fans and creators are increasingly coming to believe that there is much more at play with this sale, with many calling it part of Activision’s marketing strategy for their much-rumored Modern Warfare 4 game later this year. Some are even going as far as calling it a “litmus test” to gauge interest in a return to MW2019’s tone and gameplay elements, with Activision closely monitoring both sales and engagement metrics.
This resurgence also shows how a heavily discounted legacy game can outsell a full-priced new game, at least for a short time, as word of mouth and social media all come together. For PC gamers, MW2019’s resurgence is a chance to play one of the most divisive but certainly one of the most important games in the series. For Activision, it’s a live test to see if it has the power to carry an entire new era of Modern Warfare games in 2026 and beyond.
