Call of Duty: WWII still has issues with online play, and the developer is scrambling

It was only just this February when Activision touted its ability to host three large communities of Call of Duty players online at the same time. Now, barely 10 days after the release of Call of Duty: WWII, it’s all hands on deck as the game struggles to meet player expectations.

On Sunday, developer Sledgehammer issued a statement regarding a host of issues with the game’s multiplayer. It began with an apology.

“We’re seeing millions of fans play every day,” it said. “However, we also know we’ve had issues, there’s frustration. We recognize that and we hear you. Our highest priority is to deliver the best online experience possible. We’re not there yet, and we won’t rest until we are. Our entire team is working around the clock.”

Difficulties began at launch when the game’s multiplayer lobby, called Headquarters, wasn’t working correctly. It was quickly converted to default as a single-player-only experience with the ability to invite small groups of friends along for the ride. It’s a workaround, but it’s also the least of fans’ worries.

“Hang in there,” said Sledgehammer, “while we address the most pressing concerns first.”

Right now, that means shoring up online connectivity across all three platforms — PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One. It seems that many players are getting disconnected regularly, which is especially frustrating at the end of a match when experience and supply drops can be lost. It’s gotten so bad that Sledgehammer has offlined its own dedicated servers.

That means multiplayer is now running peer-to-peer.

“Overall, the game is stable,” Sledgehammer said. “However we know that P2P brings things like host migrations and other issues that make for inconsistent gameplay experiences. Our objective to return to dedicated servers is our highest priority.”

Sledgehammer says it’s running tests of new server architecture in “limited markets” and hopes to roll it out widely when the time is right.

Meanwhile, fans on Reddit are becoming ever more shrill by the day. One post with nearly 3,000 upvotes is already asking for compensation.

“I, like many others, have lost countless amounts of supply drops and am worried we will not be compensated for all of the missing ones,” wrote user Sedroc. “It seems like a ploy to get us to invest in COD points to make up for the lost ones.”

Polygon has reached out to Activision and Sledgehammer for comment.