"I promise I won't kill you": Warzone 2 proximity chat is working as intended

Warzone 2
(Image credit: Activision)

Warzone 2 has introduced proximity chat as an option, and interactions between players are every bit as unhinged as you'd expect.

For the uninitiated, proximity chat lets you talk to other players within your vicinity even if they aren't in your party. The feature lets you communicate with members of your team without having to squad up, but it also lets you be a merciless troll, which is basically the unspoken purpose of proximity chat. 

There's even a playlist called Unhinged BR Trios built around proximity chat. And although Warzone 2 has been live for just a few hours at this point, we're already seeing proximity chat produce some highly entertaining clips. 

This first one has a pretty long setup but the payoff is 1000% worth it. Here, we see popular streamer and 100 Thieves co-owner Jack "CouRage" Dunlop ruthlessly trick a player into lowering their defenses before killing them dead and laughing maniacally. "Welcome to Warzone 2, bitch," he says at the end of the clip.

This one from TimTheTatman is a lot less organized but just shows how proximity chat can add some, uh, color to an otherwise pretty standard situation in Warzone.

This interaction between streamer Stallion and some random players he'd just killed is probably my favorite of them all. The clip shows Stallion standing over a pair of dead Operators and asking how he can bring them back. "I feel bad for killing you," he says to laughs. "How do I bring you back?"

"You can't!" one of the players responds. "Once you're dead you're dead... you blew us up."

Stallion then asks politely if he can teabag their corpses. You know, as one does.

We could go on and on here. A quick search for 'Warzone 2 proximity chat' on Twitter already yields dozens of results. I'll note that a shameful proportion of them are just pure toxic filth - as you might expect from a free-to-play Call of Duty game - but I was able to sift through and find some genuine gold.

In case you aren't vibing with the Warzone 2 community's decidedly chaotic evil use of proximity chat, not to mention echoing mics and shoddy sound quality, you can turn off the feature in the game's settings. Do keep in mind that proximity chat appears to be the default setting in the main battle royale mode as well as the new narrative-focused Warzone 2 DMZ mode, so you'll have to toggle it off should you choose to opt out.

These Call of Duty Warzone tips are essential whether you're dropping down in Caldera or the new Warzone 2 map Al Mazrah.

Jordan Gerblick

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

Read more
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 screenshot
I swore I'd never even look at a Call of Duty game, but then I started falling asleep to the sound of Black Ops 6
Helldivers 2 screenshot of two soldiers clasping hands in victory
Helldivers 2 leads say the game is fun because, yes, "you get to play as the bad guys" and "shout 'freedom!' while killing bugs"
Two Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 players using omnimovement to dive past each other on the Skyline map
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2 brings back a beloved game mode fans have been begging for, but all I care about is a practically meaningless bug fix
Helldivers 2
Beware of Helldivers 2's new vehicles - Arrowhead were trying to maximize "laughter-per-minute" with High Command's cars
Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 CEO praises players for their "brilliant" DSS strategy, but follows up with a grave threat: "J.O.E.L. is out to get you now"
Helldivers 2 Escalation of Freedom
Helldivers 2's funniest feature was removed last year, but it's finally been reinstated – although it won't save you from certain doom anymore
Latest in FPS
Battlefield Bad Company 2
Battlefield dev reveals more of his Bad Company 3 script and confirms the plot would revolve around the squad getting kicked out of the military and brought back for a final suicide mission
A Titan readies for combat in an animated trailer for Apex Legends Season 19
Yet another Respawn shooter has reportedly been canceled, following the studio's Star Wars FPS and rumored Titanfall Legends game to the grave
A cropped screenshot from the pre-alpha gameplay footage shown in the 'Introducing Battlefield Labs' video.
Battlefield 6's first teaser takes me back to the days of Modern Warfare 2 lobbies and 24/7 Metro matches, proving we all crave a return to shooters' simpler times
Doom
Doom: The Dark Ages' new cutscenes exist because of fans' unlikely obsession with the series' lore: "A Doom game that doesn’t have a story is just an arcade game”
Battlefield Bad Company 2
"I am freaked out by how much might actually have been accurate": Battlefield Bad Company 3 writer unearths forgotten script
Fragpunk
Marvel Rivals publisher indefinitely delays its other hero shooter on Xbox and PS5 2 days before its free-to-play launch
Latest in News
Players in GTA Online running businesses and playing missions
GTA publisher is suing a GTA Online website that lets you buy hacked accounts, which "risks upending the GTA 5 player experience"
Death Stranding 2 trailer showing Sam shooting at an enemy
Hideo Kojima aims to beat the ‘walking simulator’ allegations as Death Stranding 2 releases combat-heavy trailer
Giancarlo Esposito and Stanley Tucci in The Electric State
Stars Stanley Tucci and Giancarlo Esposito say their new dystopian sci-fi movie The Electric State is more like our own reality than we might realize
Suikoden
Suikoden lead hopes to expand the cult JRPG series "beyond where it ended" and would happily follow Zelda to the silver screen: "If you have any friends in Hollywood, please let us know"
Stardew Valley Baldur's Gate 3 mod Baldur's Village
Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke gives his official approval to the Stardew Valley mod that brings the D&D RPG to Pelican Town
Kaitlyn Dever as Abby in The Last Of Us season 2
The Last of Us season 2's Abby star Kaitlyn Dever admits it's been hard to not look at character backlash on the internet