Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launched on October 23, 2026, and it is Infinity Ward's biggest shake-up of the series in years. It is the first Call of Duty built only for current consoles and PC, the first on a Nintendo console since 2013, and the first in the rebooted Modern Warfare line to trade Zombies for a full extraction mode, DMZ, set in a Korean exclusion zone. The campaign brings dialogue choices, multiplayer ships with 20 maps and 33 weapons, and progression adds two prestige paths and the deepest camo grind the series has had. Below, we go through the release dates and editions, the three modes, what is new in multiplayer, what changed after the beta, and what Season 1 adds on November 6.
Modern Warfare 4 came out worldwide on October 23, 2026, after two early access windows for digital pre-orders: the campaign opened on October 16 and DMZ on October 20. Physical copies got neither early access window. The dates below cover everything announced so far.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| August 21 to September 1 | Open beta, open to everyone from August 28 |
| October 16 | Campaign Early Access for any digital edition |
| October 20 | DMZ Early Access for any digital edition |
| October 23 | Global launch |
| October 27 | Shipment returns to multiplayer |
| November 6 | Season 1 and the Warzone integration |
The game runs on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC through Battle.net, Steam and the Xbox app, and Nintendo Switch 2. There are no PS4 or Xbox One versions. Multiplayer and DMZ need a permanent online connection, and split-screen multiplayer works only on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
No. Modern Warfare 4 launched as a standalone purchase. The official announcement says Modern Warfare 4 won't be included with Game Pass until Holiday 2027.
There are two editions. Every digital edition includes both early access windows, the Hunter Killer Operator skin, the Gilded Pearl camo pack and the Inner Circuit M4 blueprint. The Vault Edition adds Operators, weapon blueprints, a season of BlackCell and a DMZ starter kit.
| Edition | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Standard, digital | $69.99 | The game, both early access windows, Hunter Killer Operator, Gilded Pearl camos, Inner Circuit M4 blueprint |
| Standard, physical | $69.99 | The game only, no early access, can't be upgraded to Vault |
| Vault, digital | $99.99 | Everything in Standard, plus the Hostile Alliance and Special Forces Operator packs, five Signature weapon blueprints, one season of BlackCell and the DMZ Deployment Bonus |
The DMZ Deployment Bonus gives you a third Active Duty Operator slot, two Weapon Insurance Contracts, two Operator Rescue Beacons, two Fulton Drop Markers, two Medium Backpacks and two 2-Plate Carriers. Owners of the Standard digital edition can upgrade to Vault for $30.
Modern Warfare 4 has three modes. The campaign is a single-player story, multiplayer is the classic 6v6 core plus large-scale and small-team modes, and DMZ is an extraction mode with persistent gear. Warzone joins the same progression in Season 1.
No. There is no Zombies mode in Modern Warfare 4 at launch, and none has been announced. DMZ fills the third slot instead, and Zombies stays in Black Ops 7. Multiplayer does get Infected and a new Possession mode as part of a Halloween event shortly after launch.
The campaign has 16 missions across the Korean Peninsula, Paris, New York and Mumbai, and you play mainly as South Korean Private Park Hyun Jun and Captain Price. It is the first Modern Warfare campaign with dialogue choices, it has an open-world mission called Stranded, and it takes most players six to nine hours. Each finished mission unlocks a reward for multiplayer and DMZ: eight Operators, cosmetics, three Double XP tokens and two Double Weapon XP tokens.
Every decision in the story and what it changes is covered in our MW4 campaign choices guide.
Multiplayer launches with 20 maps, more than a dozen modes, 33 weapons and 33 Operators. The new modes are Inflation, Hijack, Collateral, a Search and Destroy variant with a buy phase, and Combat Outpost for Ground War. Kill Block is a new dynamic map with more than 500 layouts that runs 3v3 and 10v10 Gunfight at launch.
The map pool at launch looks like this:
| Map type | Maps |
|---|---|
| Core 6v6 (12) | Cachette, Coal, Lithium, Lotus, Mumbai, Munition, Nautical, Reactor U92, Rooftops, Sentry, Silkworm, Transit 213 |
| Ground War (3) | Imjin Farmland, Wolves Stadium, Forest |
| Gunfight (4) | Cafe, Library, NYC, Smuggler |
| Dynamic (1) | Kill Block |
The 33 weapons are split into 8 assault rifles, 5 SMGs, 2 shotguns, 3 LMGs, 3 marksman rifles, 3 sniper rifles, 4 pistols, 4 launchers and one knife.
DMZ drops 60 players in squads of three into Hajin, an exclusion zone carved out of North and South Korea. You loot, craft, take on missions and AI bosses, and keep only what you extract with. It has its own Forward Operating Base, its own 70-level progression and trait trees for each Operator.
Everything from the Hajin map to Operator Prestige is explained in our MW4 DMZ guide.
Most of what is new in MW4 sits in progression and the Gunsmith rather than in movement. There is no omnimovement this time, hipfire bloom is gone, and you can hang from ledges and shimmy along pipes.
Our MW4 prestige guide compares the two prestige paths, and the MW4 camo guide walks through the full camo ladder.
If you played the open beta, these are the changes you'll notice first:
Season 1 starts on November 6. It brings Warzone into MW4 progression, so camos and levels carry across, and adds the new Hajin map alongside Verdansk, with Zodiac and Rebirth Island for Resurgence. Warzone also gets a Zipline Launcher and a Grabber Drone. Until then, Warzone stays on its Black Ops 7 integration. A launch Boot Camp event runs until November 6 with an F.N.G. M4 blueprint as its reward.
On PC, every tier needs Windows with TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot enabled, a DirectX 12 GPU and an SSD with 115 GB free. The recommended tier targets 90 fps in multiplayer at High settings.
| Tier | CPU | RAM | GPU |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Ryzen 5 1400 or Core i5-6600 | 8 GB | RX 470, GTX 970 or Arc A580 |
| Recommended | Ryzen 5 3600 or Core i7-8700 | 16 GB | RX 6600 XT, RTX 3060 Ti or Arc B580 |
| Ray tracing | Ryzen 7 3700X or Core i7-10700K | 32 GB | RX 9070 XT or RTX 5070 Ti |
The settings that get the most frames out of these cards are in our MW4 best settings guide.
Pick the guide that matches where you are in the game.
These are the questions players ask most in launch week.
On October 23, 2026. Digital pre-orders could play the campaign from October 16 and DMZ from October 20.
No. DMZ is the third mode instead, and Zombies remains in Black Ops 7.
No. It is a standalone purchase and won't join Game Pass until Holiday 2027.
No. It is released only on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo Switch 2.
No. The campaign comes only with the full game, starting from the $69.99 Standard Edition.
Activision only lists multiplayer and DMZ as always-online modes. It hasn't said whether the campaign can be played fully offline.
No, DMZ needs a copy of Modern Warfare 4.
On November 6, 2026, together with the Warzone integration.
20 multiplayer maps and 33 weapons.
