COD: Modern Warfare 4 — What to Expect

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on 23 October 2026 on PC (Steam and Battle.net), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2. Digital pre-orders get into the campaign a week early, on 16 October.

With the multiplayer beta over and launch a month away, this is a good moment to go through what Modern Warfare 4 actually is. Here is what to expect from the campaign, multiplayer and DMZ, what the beta changed, what each edition costs, and one thing Xbox players should know before they plan around Game Pass.

The official Modern Warfare 4 reveal trailer from Call of Duty, published 28 May 2026. Click to play.

Modern Warfare 4 at a glance

• Release date: 23 October 2026 (campaign early access from 16 October for digital pre-orders)
• Platforms: PC (Steam, Battle.net), PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2 — no PS4 or Xbox One
• Developer: Infinity Ward, supported by ten studios including Treyarch, Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software
• Modes: campaign, 6v6 multiplayer, and DMZ
• Price: $69.99 Standard, $99.99 Vault Edition
• Game Pass: not on day one

What to expect from the Modern Warfare 4 campaign

The story is set around a North Korean invasion of South Korea, with missions that also travel to New York, Paris and Mumbai. It is told through two protagonists. Private Park Hyun Jun, a South Korean soldier played by Young Mazino, gives the war a ground-level view. Captain John Price, played again by Barry Sloane, is the other lead — and Activision's own marketing line is that Price "goes rogue" this time, operating outside the Task Force 141 he used to run.

The antagonist is a figure known as "the Archer", played by Mads Mikkelsen. Activision has kept most of his role under wraps, which usually means a big reveal is being saved for the campaign itself.

The setting has drawn criticism. The Korean War separated families who are still alive today, and some Korean commentators have argued that fiction built on a possible second war there is bound to cause pain. Infinity Ward says it consulted regional specialists, North Korean defectors and its own Korean staff to handle the subject respectfully. Whether it succeeds is something only the full campaign will answer.

Modern Warfare 4 is the first mainline Call of Duty built only for current-generation hardware. (Official Steam screenshot)

Multiplayer: 12 core maps, Kill Block and a less random gunfight

Multiplayer launches with 12 core 6v6 maps. The standout is Kill Block, a dynamic map with more than 500 possible configurations, so the layout you learn one match may not be the one you get the next. The beta also introduced two new modes, Hijack and Inflation, and gave players a first look at new large-scale Ground War gameplay.

Two gameplay changes stand out:

• Hip-fire bloom is gone. Shooting from the hip no longer adds random spread in the same way, so close-range fights should reward aim more and luck less.
• Better edge traversal. Movement over ledges and edges has been reworked to make climbing and mantling smoother.

Because Modern Warfare 4 drops last-generation consoles, Infinity Ward is no longer designing around PS4 and Xbox One limits. On PC, that shows up as expanded ray tracing, with ray-traced reflections, ambient occlusion and shadows.

Multiplayer launches with 12 core 6v6 maps, including the dynamic Kill Block. (Official Steam screenshot)

DMZ is back as the third pillar

Modern Warfare 4's third mode is DMZ, the extraction shooter that first appeared alongside Modern Warfare II. It drops 20 squads of three into an exclusion zone to complete objectives, gather loot and get out. If you enjoyed the tension of extraction games but found them too punishing, DMZ has always been the more approachable version, and the Vault Edition includes a DMZ Deployment Bonus to give early runs a head start.

Warzone is tied in too. The beta showed off Zodiac, a new Resurgence map that arrives in Call of Duty: Warzone with Modern Warfare 4's Season 1.

What the beta changed

The multiplayer beta ran from 21 August to 1 September 2026, open to everyone from 28 August. Unusually, it also included a slice of the campaign and the new Warzone map — a first for the series.

Infinity Ward made wide changes between the two beta weekends, touching weapons, time-to-kill, movement and spawns. It has also said it is not yet fully satisfied with time-to-kill and will keep tuning weapons before launch, is reworking Perk tiers so the choices feel more meaningful, and is already working on aim assist changes. In short: expect the launch version to feel noticeably different from the beta you may have played.

The official campaign trailer shown during the Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2026 broadcast (via IGN). Click to play.

Modern Warfare 4 on Nintendo Switch 2

The Switch 2 version is developed by Digital Legends and supports cross-play with the other platforms, plus optional Joy-Con mouse controls — a real advantage for a shooter on a hybrid console. Switch 2 pre-orders opened on 26 August, and it sells in the same Standard and Vault editions as everywhere else.

Editions, prices and pre-order bonuses

There are two editions on every platform:

• Standard Edition — $69.99: the full game (campaign, multiplayer and DMZ).
• Vault Edition — $99.99: everything in Standard plus the Hostile Alliance Operator Pack (Price, Valeria, Ghost and Blix), the Special Forces Operator Pack, the Signature Weapon Collection of five weapon blueprints, one season of BlackCell and the DMZ Deployment Bonus. Owners of a qualifying previous Call of Duty on the same platform account get a 10% Loyalty Discount, which brings it to about $89.99.

Any pre-order includes the Hunter Killer Operator skin, which you can use right away in Black Ops 7 and Warzone, and digital pre-orders unlock the campaign on 16 October.

The honest advice: the Vault Edition is mostly cosmetics and a battle pass season. If you only care about the campaign or casual multiplayer, the Standard Edition is the better value. Before you pre-order, check the Modern Warfare 4 price comparison — keyshop prices for new releases often sit below the official $69.99, and our page shows every store side by side.

No Game Pass on day one

This is the biggest change for Xbox and PC Game Pass subscribers. Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7 both launched straight into Game Pass. Modern Warfare 4 will not — it is not expected on the service until at least a year after launch. If you were counting on playing through a subscription, budget for buying it instead.

Modern Warfare 4 skips Game Pass at launch, unlike Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7. (Official Steam screenshot)

Should you pre-order Modern Warfare 4?

If you want the campaign early, a digital pre-order is the only way to start on 16 October. Otherwise, there is little reason to rush: Infinity Ward is still tuning time-to-kill and aim assist, and launch-week reviews will tell you far more than the beta did.

If you want to catch up on the story first, Modern Warfare II and Modern Warfare III set up Price, Ghost and Task Force 141, and both are often discounted. Black Ops 7 and Black Ops 6 are the current alternatives if you want Call of Duty right now, and Battlefield 6 is the main rival this autumn. Browse our best FPS games on sale for more.