Modern Warfare II Open Beta: Infinity Ward Gives Reasoning on Dead Silence and Red Dots on Minimap

Infinity Ward put out a community update following the first weekend of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II Open Beta talking about hotly contested topics including red dots on the minimap and Dead Silence as a feature.

Modern Warfare II is the direct sequel to the Modern Warfare (2019) reboot and the next iteration in the Call of Duty franchise. The Open Beta's first weekend took place exclusively on PlayStation platforms with another beta scheduled this coming weekend for the aforementioned plus Xbox and PC.

Two features that have been at the forefront of conversation so far surrounding the beta is the removal of red dots on the minimap and Dead Silence.

Modern Warfare II Open Beta: Infinity Ward Gives Reasoning on Dead Silence and Red Dots on Minimap

Red dots appearing on the minimap, in previous entries, would appear when an enemy fires a weapon unsilenced in Call of Duty. Dead Silence, whether a Perk or a Field Upgrade, or otherwise known under a different name like Ninja, would reduce or eliminate the sound of a player's footsteps on the map.

Infinity Ward issued statements on both topics.

Red Dots on the Minimap

• "Currently in the MW2 Beta, we only show enemy player dots when a UAV is active. The design reason for this is that we do not want to punish players for firing their weapons. We also want players to actively search out the origin of a gunshot versus just traveling directly to where the dot is on the mini-map. We continue to gather feedback on how the game is playing in regards to this topic," Infinity Ward said.

Dead Silence as a Field Upgrade

• "Dead Silence is another hot topic as many players have expressed that they would like to see it as a Perk instead of a Field Upgrade. We believe it is important to game health that rushers are not able to move at high speeds without consequence. Dead Silence as a Field Upgrade creates a balance between freedom of movement and predictability of combat," Infinity Ward said.

Fans are not happy with the response to either issue. A common response to the minimap issue is that silencers have historically concealed enemies on the minimap when firing weapons. Dead Silence is a different issue considering the new Perk system.

Infinity Ward also announced changes including updates to movement, a potential fix to a slide cancelling method and more. Check out the full patch notes here.