Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 is officially here, with its global release date now upon us.
While there was a period of campaign Early Access for those who pre-ordered, everyone can now jumping into Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 thanks to its main launch date passing. If you thinking about picking up the new game, you can check out our Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 review to get our in-progress thoughts on the campaign and DMZ multiplayer mode.
Putting a focus on a "boots on the ground" experience, it's already shaping to be one of the best Call of Duty games of recent times, and if you're looking to learn more before you jump in, we've broken it all down for you below along with some handy guides for those of you getting stuck in.
Modern Warfare 4 release date
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 released globally on October 23, 2026.
Activision initially revealed the new Call of Duty game and its release date on May 28, 2026. For a refresher on the series, you can check out our guide to all of the Call of Duty games in order.
Modern Warfare 4 platforms
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 released PC, PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S.
It's launch on Switch 2 marks the first Call of Duty game to release on Nintendo's platform since Call of Duty: Ghosts landed on the Wii U back in 2013. While Activision confirmed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 won't be coming to Xbox Game Pass, Crossplay will be supported for all platforms, including Switch 2.
Modern Warfare 4 trailer
Modern Warfare 4 campaign
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's campaign is centered around the Korean Peninsula, with the threat of a full-scale invasion of South Korea sparking potential global destabilization.
While there is a focus on Korea and the trench style warfare that you will be experiencing there, Modern Warfare 4 also features some more locations, too, with missions in the campaign taking you to the likes of New York, Mumbai, and Paris.
In terms of plot details for the campaign, Private Park is the leading playable character, a young Korean grunt soldier who is thrust into combat for the first time. Expect to see a journey from "zero to hero" here as Park and his company have to survive against some impossible odds.
With an official campaign trailer (which you can watch above) dropping during the Tokyo Game Show 2026 broadcast, Infinity Ward promised a "darker, more dangerous campaign", with Captain Price, who's returning to set up a rogue alliance, making another appearance after his cameo in the initial reveal. Now operating outside the system, Price is on the run, and a "catastrophic weapon of war is on brink of falling into the wrong hands".
Hannibal star Mads Mikkelsen (who also appeared in Death Stranding) features in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 as an antagonist.
Modern Warfare 4 gameplay
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is a first-person shooter developed by Infinity Ward that features a single-player campaign, multiplayer, and DMZ.
The campaign mode will have players following a narrative as they complete various missions that offer variations of military-based gameplay such as close-quarters battles, high-speed pursuits, SAS night raids, and city-wide assaults.
For multiplayer, players will deploy across 12 all-new core 6v6 maps set in visually and tactically distinct locations around the world. These various maps are built to support a range of playstyles from tight close-quarters combat to more open engagements. Multiplayer also features dedicated Gunfight maps, Big War maps (for vehicle and infantry fans), and a dynamic battleground with more than 500 configurations called Kill Block.
Finally, DMZ is something for all you extraction shooter enthusiasts. This is a living sandbox, where you (either solo or with a squad) are sent into a living combat zone and are tasked with recovering advanced military technology. The exclusion zones are also constantly shifting, keeping things fresh with weather changes, military objectives and plenty of hostiles for you to deal with as well.
Besides these three core gameplay offerings, it's also worth mentioning that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is giving players more choice than ever before through two Prestige paths: Classic Prestige and Regular Prestige. Classic Prestige delivers the traditional reset experience, relocking Create-a-Class progression in exchange for increased XP earn rates and access to exclusive Prestige rewards.
Ballistic Authority is also a new weapon-first technology stack that is used to deliver the most authentic gunplay experience in Modern Warfare yet too by unifying precision aiming, physical handling, realistic audio propagation, enhanced visibility, and smarter combat perception. Honestly, it all sounds like we'll be getting very precise and fair shooting experiences with this one, which is always welcomed.
As first revealed in the beta and a patch, there have been some gameplay tweaks and additions. There is a new mode called Inflation where eliminating enemies gives you cash, but be warned: the higher your value becomes, the bigger target you are as well. Footstep volume has been reduced, and map voting has also been introduced. I'll keep you posted as we discover more before the beta ends.
If you're jumping into the action, you can check out our guide to the best guns in Call of Duty Modern Warefare 4, or our breakdown of the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 mastery camos.
If you are after some COD alternatives while you wait, head over to our list of the best games like Call of Duty. Or for more future releases, you can read our round-ups of all the upcoming PS5 games, upcoming Xbox Series X games, and upcoming PC games as well.
