As with any multiplayer game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is not immune to bugs. One of the more persistent problems is sometimes referred to as the mute bug, which makes it seem as if everyone in a match is muted. As it so happens, there are a number of settings that affect voice communication, and some of them are easy to overlook. Plus, you may have accidentally muted the entire lobby without knowing it. If everyone is muted in Modern Warfare matches and you’re looking for a fix, this is the guide for you.
Why is everyone muted in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare?
There are several reasons why you might find that everyone is muted in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. You may have muted everyone on accident, or inadvertently changed a communication option in the game’s audio settings. It’s also possible that your cross-platform chat has been disabled. Otherwise, the mute bug may be caused by a some kind of problem in the game software.
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You’ll have to do a bit of troubleshooting in order to figure out why everyone is muted. With any luck, these steps will help you figure out whether you’ve muted everyone on accident or if you’re experiencing some kind of mute bug.
Modern Warfare Mute Bug Fix | Toggle mute manually
If everyone is muted in your Modern Warfare game, the first thing you should do to fix the problem is to unmute them manually. This can be achieved in the lobby screen by highlighting players and pressing the X button on PS4 or A button on Xbox One. On PC, all you need to do is click their name. From the menu that appears, select the Toggle Mute option. If you’re in a match, you can bring up the roster screen, highlight a player, then press either X or A to unmute them.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare also has an option to mute an entire lobby. On consoles, this is accomplished by pressing in the right analog stick — R3 on PS4 or RS on Xbox One. On PC, you can press F10 to unmute or mute everyone.
Modern Warfare Mute Bug Fix | Change audio settings
If you can’t hear a player’s voice after toggling mute manually, the next step is to check out the game’s voice communication settings. You may have inadvertently toggled the mute on for everyone. If you didn’t mean to do that, you’ll need to make sure that voice chat is enabled across the entire game.
To enable (or disable) voice chat in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, first head into the main menu. From there, head into Options menu and look for the Audio tab. At the bottom of the page will be a listing for Voice Chat settings. Here you can set the Voice Chat option to Enabled or Disabled. Within this menu you can also choose from several Mute Strategy settings: Unmute all, Mute All, Mute All Except Party, and Mute All Except Friends.
For the purpose of this fix, make sure Voice Chat is set to Enabled, then choose the Unmute All option. This should re-enable all voice communications within Modern Warfare.
Modern Warfare Mute Bug Fix | Enable cross-platform chat
If everyone is still muted after you’ve enabled all voice communications, the next step is to make sure cross-platform communication is enabled. This setting is found in the Options menu under the Account tab. Near the top of the page, look for the Crossplay Communication option and set it to Enabled.
Even if you have voice chat enabled globally, having the Crossplay Communication option disabled will mute everyone not playing the game on the same platform. Toggling this option on will enable voice communication across all supported platforms, including PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Modern Warfare Mute Bug Fix | What to do if everyone is still muted
If voice communication still isn’t working as intended after following the steps above, you may be experiencing some kind of mute bug. However, before trying to contact Activision support, it may be worth trying one more thing: Toggling mute on and off before a match ends.
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A post on the Modern Warfare subreddit details a bug that results in the party being silenced after muting players in a match or lobby. Effectively, if you use the Mute All function in-game and don’t toggle it off before the match ends, you’ll find that all players in your party remain muted. If that’s the case, you’ll have to wait until the next match begins before you can once again use the Mute All function to re-enable voice chat.
If that doesn’t work for you, you may just be experiencing a bug. This isn’t exactly a new issue, as the developers have previously addressed problems with voice communication in prior updates. However, since the game is always being patched, it’s possible that the bug has since reappeared. Assuming this is the case, your best bet is to contact Activision support directly. That, or try out a third-party voice communication service such as Discord.
There are many reasons why it seems like everyone is muted in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The game has a number of different settings that impact voice communication, and you’ll need to check all of them to make sure other players can be heard. In most cases, enabling Voice Chat and Crossplay Communication should do the trick. If not, you may have been hit by a mute bug, in which case you’ll simply have to wait for the developers to issue a fix in an upcoming patch.
