In a new short interview with Belong Gaming Arenas, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's game director (Marc-Alexandre Milot) states that the game's implementation of cross-play will help lower pings across the board. With a larger pool of players to draw from, matches should be filled with "double or triple" the amount of players than in the past. This will have a knock-on effect of making games run smoother since players will be closer together.
While Call of Duty has never suffered from a lack of players, uniting each platform under a single eco-system is a great move. Even with the PS4 having a year-long exclusivity on a single mode, the fact that everyone else will be able to play together regardless of platform should ensure that Modern Warfare remains relevant for years to come.
In the past, Call of Duty has relied on peer-to-peer networking to handle its matchmaking system. While this was fine for people closer together, years later the games would begin to suffer from connectivity issues. With player pools diminishing as each new entry is released, it only stands to reason that these past titles would begin to see decreased playability as players get farther apart. This was further exasperated by the lack of cross-play in the past, with PS3 players suffering from an extreme drought of opponents.
Modern Warfare has already been confirmed to contain dedicated servers (which should help even further in keeping connections strong), but the single massive group of players should ensure that players won't encounter lag all that often. I know this is a huge issue for last year's installment, Black Ops 4, so it would be nice to say goodbye to the days of old.
Whether or not Modern Warfare lives up to the hype remains to be seen. Short demos, clips, and interviews haven't really instilled me with confidence, but the recent beta did showcase an intense, visceral experience. This could be the Call of Duty to finally bring the series back to its roots, which would be incredibly welcome after years of awkward experimentation.
Source: Twitter