Modern Warfare 3: 50 % of Players can't Start the Early Access Campaign

German English

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was actually released today, on November 2, 2023, at 6:00 PM. However, around half of all pre-order customers are currently unable to play the campaign. We'll summarize the current situation and provide possible fixes.

• Modern Warfare 3 was released several hours ago.
• 47% of pre-order customers cannot start the campaign.
• The issue primarily affects the PC version.
• MW2 also had a similar problem.

Modern Warfare 3 Campaign Unavailable for Pre-Order Customers - What's the Issue?

Complaints are piling up on Twitter and in our community Discord about pre-order customers not being able to play MW3's campaign. All early buyers were supposed to be able to enjoy the story at 6:00 PM German time, but there are issues.

On Twitter, user Valkence started a poll, saying:

Guys, can you get in?

Yes -- No

Currently, 220 users have voted, and 48.1% of respondents say no, we can't get into the game. Even in the Guided editorial team, our responsible authors Sascha Asendorf and Kevin Willing (myself) are affected by the issue. It quickly became clear to me what's causing the campaign's early access launch to fail:

The servers are overloaded.

Back when Modern Warfare 2 was released in 2022, many users had problems playing the story campaign as pre-order customers. Back then, servers were to blame, buckling under the weight of pre-order customers.

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Is the Early Access Campaign Access in MW3 not working? Try this:

It may sound silly, but trying is better than getting frustrated—so let's try a fix with the usual suspects:

• Log out and back into BattleNet & Steam.
• Restart your PC or console.
• Keep an eye on Twitter for a status update from the developers (you can also find it here if available later!).
• Try launching Modern Warfare 3 without an internet connection.
• Do NOT purchase the Vault Edition, as the game might suggest in the main menu.

Update incoming

Currently, there are no official reports regarding the issue. Currently, it seems like a coin toss whether you, as a pre-order customer, can jump into the Modern Warfare 3 campaign or not. We'll keep you updated here and update this article if possible. Save it as a bookmark for later. See you later!