[Updated] COD: Modern Warfare 2 game chat not working or broken? Here's what we know so far

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on November 1, 2022) follows:

Gear up and get ready for some late-night gaming sessions with your friends as COD: Modern Warfare 2 is out now.

Filled with state-of-the-art gameplay, all-new gun handling, a new Gunsmith, and graphical innovations by Infinity Ward could elevate the franchise to new heights.

However, recently, many players have been facing issues like ‘SAE killstreak’ where players aren’t able to call in airstrike, Riot Shield invincibility (God mode glitch) and many more.

According to reports, many COD: Modern Warfare 2 players say that the game chat is not working or broken and they are facing multiple issues with it (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9).

Recently, some players found out that their mic doesn’t work in matches. However, when they tested it during party chat, it works fine.

Furthermore, during mic testing, players can hear themselves, but they cannot speak in-game and instead, they only hear others. This happens even when the microphone is not muted.

Is there also a problem with game chat because for some reason I can’t hear any and no one can hear me. But when I’m in a party it’s fine.
Source

@InfinityWard why is voice chat in parties on PS4 not possible? Since Friday night it won’t work. Microphone works in Settings / test but no mic in Party / Voice Chat
Source

In some cases, COD: Modern Warfare 2 players can’t hear others in the match (1,2,3,4,5).

Affected players report that the party chat voice works fine. But for some reason, they are unable to hear anybody in the game chat. Their friends are also unable to hear them.

When using the in-game chat, the mic symbol does not even reflect that players are talking. The mic icon stays active when talking but you can’t be heard.

@InfinityWard why can I not use in game voice chat? My mic works and it picks up my audio when I do a mic test but I can’t communicate with my teammates because the server won’t let me, please fix this I can’t communicate with my pc friends
Source

Several other players are also having issues where the text chat just doesn’t appear in between matches (1,2,3).

Players say that the text chat opens fine and that they can see other match messages, whispers, and conversations. However, they are unable to send a message in the chat during a match.

Potential workaround

Fortunately, we have come across a potential workaround for PS5 users. Follow these steps:

1: Press the PS Button and go to Game Base.
2: Press Options and then select “Go to Game Base”
3: Press “Game Base Settings”.
4: Press “Voice Chat Settings”.
5: Make sure “Mute Game Voice Chat” is not selected.*
Source

While this could solve the issue for PS5 users that have the wrong settings enabled, it does not mean that the game doesn’t have its own chat issues.

These are massive issues with voice chat for COD: Modern Warfare 2. For a game that is dependent on teamwork, it becomes unplayable without communication.

That being said, stay tuned to PiunikaWeb to know if and when there are any further developments regarding these issues.

03:46 pm (IST): A Redditor seems to have found a fix for the broken game chat issue. It includes the following steps:

Open the Xbox Guide by pressing the guide button on the controller and selecting Settings.

Select Network Settings.

Select Advanced Settings.

Under Change Settings select Alternate MAC Address.

Select Clear.

Allow the console to restart when prompted.
Source

06:10 pm (IST): A Redditor has suggested a workaround for game chat not working issue on Xbox. You can check it out below.

06:12 pm (IST): One of the affected players has managed to fix this issue using some bizarre steps. However, it’s unclear how this method will work, but you can at least give it a try.

06:05 pm (IST): According to reports, some players (1,2,3) are also getting a ‘Voice chat unavailable’ error message when trying to use the game chat.

01:10 pm (IST): It appears that even simple troubleshooting steps like leaving the party channel and rejoining it can serve as a potential workaround for game chat issues.

However, the effects of the workaround are temporary and the steps need to be repeated every time the issue occurs.

What helped was after you party up, leave the party channel and rejoin it. This usually works for a minimum of 2hours. Sometimes it bugs out, then again leave and rejoin the party channel (NOT the party just the voice channel)
Source

14:59 pm (IST): MW2 players report that some are misusing the ‘offensive chat’ option by reporting other players for no valid reason, but affecting their accounts.

False report

I don’t know if anyone else has this issue, but I received a report status for “offensive chat” haven’t even talked in chat for days my mic is plugged into my monitor because my controller port is broken and I can’t type In chat without a pc.
Source

Offensive Username, Offensive Voice Chat and Offensive Text Chat?

My username is PrimaryAmmo I’ve had since MW2019 and many cods before this. I hope making these posts the devs will overturn the false reporting everyone is currently getting.
Source

12:31 pm (IST): Now, many Modern Warfare 2 players are reporting that the ‘Friends List’ or ‘Social Tab’ feature is currently broken or not working.

When players try to access the Friend List, they are being kicked out to the main menu.

Lmao I can’t even open my friends list without the game sending me to main menu. PLZ FIX THIS #Warzone2 #MW2 #PS5
Source

Wz2 broke mw2….. nothing works on mw2 cant see my friends list kicks me out.. cant see loadouts for mw2 it only shows wz2 loadouts
Source

Fortunately, MW2 devs are aware of this problem and working on a fix. In the meantime, there’s a potential workaround you can try.

check your router/modem to make sure your device is in a state where two-way communication is possible (IP open, port open, etc.).

We’ve seen cases where it doesn’t work even with some providers.
Source

03:22 pm (IST): Since many hours have passed without any new related reports, everything indicates that the issue where the ‘Friends List’ or ‘Social Tab’ feature was not working got a fix.

However, if you are still dealing with the problem, restarting the game could help you.

06:25 pm (IST): According to a Redditor, the cross-platform chat on Xbox has been broken for quite some time now. So, players can use Discord and Xbox party chat as alternatives for the time being.

06:14 pm (IST): As per a new reporting system, COD introduces features that let players report offensive behavior in order to combat toxicity. So, this could mean that the voice chat may not work as it will mute the players who promote toxic behavior.

02:00 pm (IST): An Xbox Series X user was able to resolve game chat audio issues on their end by plugging in a keyboard and clicking the ‘F11’ key.

I tried resetting everything to no avail and finally plugged in a keyboard – when I hit F11 (which was the bind) it said mic unmuted and the audio test miraculously worked.
Source

10:52 am (IST): One of our readers suggested that players are required to confirm their email with Activision in order to fix this issue.

Hey All! Thanks for your great work… it pointed me to the answer. Activision is requiring you to confirm your email address with them and then they immediately “welcome” you and unmute your mic… despite them never mentioning they require this and/or are doing this and/or this is a solution. Go to Activision and confirm your email.

Thanks for the tip: Trevor Cowser!

06:28 pm (IST): Microsoft agents have suggested (1, 2) some troubleshooting steps to fix the voice chat issue on Xbox.

04:17 pm am (IST): Fresh reports indicate that some Modern Warfare 2 players are still facing multiple chat-related issues (1, 2). However, a Redditor has offered a workaround that consists of power cycling the console.

It’s worth pointing out that the workaround should be applied almost every time the game boots. If you play on Xbox, you can power cycle your console as follows:

-Turn off your console by holding the Xbox button on the front of the console for approximately 10 seconds. The console will turn off.

-Turn your console back on by pressing the Xbox button on the console or the Xbox button on your controller.

Source

If you play on PlayStation, the process is as follows:

You hold the power button on the PS4 until it beeps twice. When the system is completely off, unplug the power cable and then plug it back in. Restart your console and you should be good to go.
Source

12:53 pm (IST): Below is a workaround suggested by one of our readers, so you can try it out and see if it helps.

After several headphones, this finally helped. A little tricky to find but follow step by step and you should be good. I did so many google searches but this tip did it for us! Thank you!

– Xbox Players – If your Party can’t hear your mic, try this

– From the MW2 game menus, Press the menu button on your box controller (hamburger icon/3 horizontal lines)
– Press RB once (to go to the voice chat channel – reggnones com

– Look in the top right. If you see “RT Connect” and a black slider, press RT once to make the slider go green

Thanks for the tip: Carmen Zurita!

06:32 pm (IST): Even after the new Season 1 Reloaded update, it seems that this issue persists as fresh reports (1, 2, 3) continue to pour in.

05:41 pm (IST): Players are still reporting (1, 2, 3, 4) issues with game chat. And one of those affected said that they reached out to devs regarding this matter, but didn’t get any response.

Moreover, there’s a potential workaround to fix this problem, but you’ll have to repeat it for every round. You can check it out below.

So it seems there’s an issue with MW2 Voice Chat. You can’t hear anyone until you toggle off the Lobby Chat and toggle back on but you can only hear maybe 1-2 people. If you’re playing round based modes, you have to do that every round. (Source)

06:00 pm (IST): Some players claim that a recent bug in the game chat causes their names to remain on the screen even when they aren’t speaking.

Is anyone else experiencing a game chat glitch where their names still stay on your screen even if they aren’t talking or you go into a new match? I don’t like muting people bc I play search and destroy heavily, if you’ve experienced it please let me know
Source

06:21 pm (IST): One of the players on the console claims that speech is muffled in in-game chat rooms. However, this problem doesn’t appear to affect PC users.

05:27 pm (IST): A Redditor has suggested a workaround for PS5 players that involves clearing the saved data of Modern Warfare 2 on console.

Fam. On PS5, clear your console saved data. I tried everything and now I’ve been reconnected to the joyous occasion of Prox Chat. (Source)

10:55 am (IST): There’s another potential workaround for those Xbox players who are dealing with voice-chat related issues in Modern Warfare 2:

Start a party when in game (even if noone else is in the party) and select “switch to game chat”. Unfortunately once you’ve used party chat the first time, the xbox system has game chat off by default even when you don’t have a party open.
Source

12:56 pm (IST): Another issue with the game chat comes to light where a player is displayed offline despite being able to play/join a friend’s game (1,2). Even playing a match doesn’t address the problem.

12:50 pm (IST): There is a possibility that you have been reported by other players as toxic if the game keeps muting you for other players in the lobby.

As a result, you are blocked by the comms and other users won’t be able to hear you unless they manually unmute you.

This happens when you have a comms ban, stops you from being able to talk to players unless they specifically unmute you. Have you ever talked trash to someone before cause they might have reported you for it
Source

It also works the other way around that a teammate has been comms-banned if you are unable to hear them for any reason (1,2).

10:50 am (IST): A gamer provided a possible workaround that requires turning your headset off and then back on:

Next time you have it happen try turning off your headset then turning it back on. It always fixes the problem for me but only for that game.
Source

01:20 pm (IST): Some players (1,2,3) are facing another annoying issue where voice or proximity chat names stay stuck on their screen throughout various matches. Fortunately, the devs are aware of the bug.

Fix the dang names sticking on the side of the screen from proxy chat 10 games ago
Source

12:20 pm (IST): It seems that now Warzone 2 players are facing the game chat issues as well. However, Raven Software team has confirmed that they are already working on it.

01:04 pm (IST): One of our readers has suggested a workaround that might help you fix this issue. You can check it out below.

If you’re having this problem still, try updating your controller. It sounds weird but that was the only thing that worked. We tried everything possible before we just shot at the wind for that. This was for Xbox one. It was an issue that came up outta the blue. Took 4 days to figure it out.

Thanks for the tip: Mary Hill!

NOTE: You can also check out the COD saga tracker for updates on other bugs and issues.

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