Can You Play Private Matches in Warzone 2?

There are times when you don't want to drop into a battle royale lobby with a bunch of randoms, and in Warzone 2 that need can sometimes be greater than usual. So can you host your own private matches in Warzone 2?

Private Matches were a highly requested feature in the original Warzone, but despite the demand they took a while to make an appearance. Once they did, Private Matches became an element that players just couldn’t live without. They allowed players to host their own custom matches, making them as casual or as competitive as needed. Most of all, they worked wonders for those running tournaments and online competitions.

But when Warzone 2 rolled around last November, Private Matches were seemingly missing. This core feature left a lot of players feeling confused: how could a sequel not share some of the core elements of its predecessor?

Fortunately, though it took some time, Private Matches were added into Warzone 2 earlier this year in February, but it had some problems. Players were subject to some serious lag and game-breaking bugs, all of which put the game in a near-unplayable state. As a result, Private Matches were removed once more, almost as quickly as they were enabled.

Private Matches Return to Warzone 2

As of May 18, 2023, Private Matches have been reenabled in Warzone 2. Raven Software took to Twitter to announce the roll out of a minor update.

A minor update has gone live to reenable Private Matches in #Warzone2!

While this is great news for those looking to get back to hosting their own casual matches or tournaments, the announcement failed to clarify if the previous issues had been resolved. Hopefully, given the amount of downtime the feature has had since it first dropped, Raven Software has had enough time to get things running smoothly. 

How to Make a Private Match in Warzone 2

Making and hosting a Private Match in Warzone 2 is fairly straightforward. Players will need to launch Warzone 2 and head to the Playlists menu. From here, scroll down until the Warzone Private Match option is displayed and then and select Create Private Match

Players can then choose the type of match they want to host, be it Solos, Duos, Trios or other. 

Then, select whether to join a squad, a random squad, or spectate. A Game Code will be displayed in the Private Match lobby which should be sent to all players you wish to invite.