PC gamers may find one more reason to grumble about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, as Infinity Ward has confirmed that the maximum number of players in the game's multiplayer mode has taken a hit from 32 to 18.

A max of 18 players has been the norm for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of previous entries Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: World At War, but it's considerably less than previous iterations for the PC. Infinity Ward's Mackey McCandlish and Vince Zampella confirmed that 9 versus 9 multiplayer battles would be the max going forward to the chagrin of a few PC gamers already feeling burned by the switch from dedicated servers to the IW.net service.

McCandlish explained that an 18-player cap was related to "the number of players we focused on when we were balancing map size, perks, classes, challenges, etc."

That lead to one fan venting in the Infinity Ward developer Q&A session hosted by Best Buy's Geek Squad. "Please explain how a 9v9 match is a multiplayer experience? I'd have more fun serving lunch at a local nursing home," complained a user named "Axen."

Man, there's such a fine line between Modern Warfare 2 team deathmatch and food service for invalids.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Live Chat Session - Transcript [Best Buy Forums]

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