The MW3 early access period for Xbox and PC players has arrived, and players on both these systems can finally experience all the new features that Activision’s latest installment offers. Unfortunately, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for those playing on Windows platforms, as desktop gamers have reported low FPS and poor optimization in-game compared to how it was with the previous series entry in 2022’s MW2.
Of course, with this only being an early access/open beta period, Sledgehammer Games will likely introduce more improvements and changes in the lead-up to the Modern Warfare 3 release date. However, this hasn’t stopped some fans from voicing their concerns, as the difference between this installment and its predecessor is night and day.
One fan named Akrillion recently went on Reddit to share their experiences with MW3 on PC. They initially began their thread by describing what their gaming rig looks like: “I want to preface this post with the fact that I don’t have a great system. I’ve got an i5-9400f and a 1050Ti, so I know my rig needs a bit of an upgrade. However, I still feel like the optimization [in MW3] is worse than MWII.”
“For starters, the worst performing maps on MWII give me around 40-50 FPS, which is doable and playable for me,” they continued. “On the other hand, this beta has me playing at around 20 [FPS] average consistently.” They would then finish their post by mentioning that their friend, whose PC has better specs, is also getting much lower FPS than their benchmark with Modern Warfare 2.
Other MW3 PC players commenting below the post mentioned similar problems, meaning this issue isn’t only isolated to the thread’s creator. However, other responders did note that they didn’t encounter any problems and that performance was the same as MW2’s. Sledgehammer Games is yet to respond to these claims of poor performance, but based on the number of changes they’ve provided so far, they’ll likely be introducing fixes soon if this proves to be a prevalent concern.
While you wait for a PC optimization update, take a look at our guides on the best Striker loadout in MW3, the best MCW loadout in MW3, and the best Pulemyot 762 loadout in MW3 so you can frag out with ease.
