The goal when ray tracing any game is to enhance existing technology by taking an effect or feature a step beyond what was previously possible, bringing us closer to digitally replicating reality to heighten immersion and realism. For Modern Warfare, we partnered with Activision and Infinity Ward to ray trace the game's shadows, rendering additional lifelike shadows, and adding an extra level of refinement to further improve fidelity for gamers with ray tracing-capable GPUs.
Specifically, ray tracing casts new shadows and enhances shadows cast by Point Lights (light bulbs and other man-made lights) and Spot Lights (flashlights, searchlights, and other game elements that cast a cone of light) in the single-player campaign and all core multiplayer modes.
Without ray tracing, traditional shadowmaps are utilized, which can't properly account for complex game elements, and lack shadows for many smaller game elements and details. For instance, in this scene, foliage is correctly shadowed, the shadows of soldiers combine into one smooth shadow instead of unnaturally overlapping with hard shadows, and extra shadows add depth and detail to bricks, fences, and other objects in the alley. Immersion, realism and graphical fidelity are all heightened, and everything appears as you would expect to see in real-life, as is our intent when applying ray tracing to any title.