Call of Duty has announced Season 1 for Modern Warfare 4 will begin on November 6 at midnight ET, and DMZ is already getting a new map.

Future locations have already been teased for DMZ before the launch of the game, but the first one is already arriving a mere two weeks post-launch.

But it's not just a new map; it's quite different to Hajin and is more reminiscent of Building 21 from the original DMZ.

"A previously undiscovered weapons facility — codenamed X01 — has recently been seized by enemy forces. Recent reconnaissance along the northern border of North Korea has determined an infiltration point, allowing for deployment through Hajin. Current data suggests this facility was a GRANIT Arms black site. It appears comprised of a dimly lit, labyrinthian network of passageways, tunnels, and linking chambers surrounding a clandestine weapons assembly line and other, more surprising locations. Appearing to be fully enclosed from the outside world, ground-penetrating radar has revealed multi-floored vertical traversals, where the only reliable edge you may have is the back-up of your squadmates."

Expect a fairly strong PvP experience, though apparently that's not the worst thing you'll encounter. We're told it "may be unwise to engage them in head-to-head combat" referring not to players, but to the 100 Spirits NK Faction that is active in the vicinity.

Ghost will act as our Watcher for infils into X01, and alongside the map will be new pages of DMZ Orders for players to complete.

X01 will also be home to a bunch of new enemy types, items, and equipment, though the first two are labelled as [CLASSIFIED]. So you'll need to take the plunge and go see for yourself. But it sounds like the best way to dominate X01 will be to plunder the loot within its walls.

Elsewhere, the FOB will be getting some upgrades, with something new and [CLASSIFIED] for the 3D Printer Station, new weapons and gear at the Vendor which apparently are linked to the BlackCell pass from Season 1 (which you also have if you bought the Vault Edition) and new Lieutenants and Commanders added to the Boss Board.

Season 1 for DMZ also promises two events: Threat Briefing and Resupply Run. The former will see you engaging with either The Captain or a Battle Tank, and in each case extracting parts of their respective armor. The more parts you get, the better the rewards.

Resupply Run is a bit like a trolley dash, but in Hajin, with enemies shooting at you. You'll be tasked with finding specific items to trade in for high-value gear such as Self Revive Kits and 3-Plate Armor Vests.

More events are promised throughout Season 1, but it's definitely a positive to see DMZ frontloaded with content so early on. It requires a decent investment of your time, but so far, it looks like it's well worth it.

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Call of Duty has revealed Season 1 for Modern Warfare 4, slated to go live on November 6 at midnight ET. That breaks usual tradition for new seasons, and indeed, it's a 5am launch here in the UK. I won't be getting up that early, that's for sure.

While the intel drop is full of information on what DMZ and multiplayer fans can expect, for those still waiting on knowing more about what's coming to Warzone, there's still a wait to be had.

We know that there will be two new maps joining the rotation. Hajin, the DMZ map, will be joining the battle royale mode alongside the returning Verdansk. Whether it's an exact copy or will be tweaked in some way, we'll have to wait and see. Zodiac, the new Resurgence map we already saw during the beta, and it will join the (sigh) returning Rebirth Island.

Warzone fans will have to wait, though, to find out the full details on what the first integration with Modern Warfare 4 will look like, though.

"Play across two new maps in Call of Duty®: Warzone™ as the Season 1 update brings both Hajin and Zodiac, plus the return of Verdansk and Rebirth Island, additional game modes, gameplay features, and more as Modern Warfare 4 becomes fully integrated with the free-to-play game. Keep your eyes on the Call of Duty blog this Monday, November 2, for a separate post and Roadmapfully covering everything coming to Call of Duty: Warzone in Season 1."

The only other thing we know for sure is that before that time, Call of Duty: Warzone will go offline for good on Xbox One and PS4.

It was already confirmed earlier this year that due to Modern Warfare 4 not being available on last-gen consoles, those platforms would not be able to play Warzone once the integration happened.

Players who want to continue can, of course, still use Xbox Cloud Gaming or alternatives such as NVIDIA GeForce Now, and all their previous purchases in Warzone will be permanently applied to their Activision ID.

It'll be interesting to see what the player reaction to Warzone under Modern Warfare 4 is. DMZ has been received pretty positively, though the PvP elements still feel a little unbalanced in my opinion. But the new movement that came with Modern Warfare 4 definitely rewards a slower, more tactical style of play (for better or worse) but then, we all know that Warzone players love to fly around the map. So who knows?

Nevertheless, we'll know a lot more on November 2.

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It takes a lot for me to get excited at the prospect of playing Shipment in Call of Duty again, but here we are. The original brainrot map has now landed in Modern Warfare 4.

And I am excited for it. But that's only because the first weekend of multiplayer has been hard. The launch maps are OK at best, the matchmaking makes every game feel like the Call of Duty League finals, and it just feels like hard work. Video games shouldn't feel like hard work.

While Infinity Ward can certainly fix it, for now, we turn to Shipment for some good old-fashioned brainless run and gun. For those chasing the mastery camos, it's definitely a welcome sight to speed up the process a little.

Even so, it's not perfect. The TTK feels too long for Shipment (in my opinion), and there's clear weapon balancing that needs to be done that will presumably not have a chance to happen until Season 1 starts next week.

But whether it's nostalgia or just the fact that the launch weekend has been absolutely mollywhopping you, Shipment 24/7 is live, and most of the game modes are available on rotation on the now smallest map in Modern Warfare 4.

After an incredible campaign, the debut of DMZ which mostly has been a great time (exfil campers aside), multiplayer has been a very mixed bag. Compared to the beta earlier this year, it just doesn't feel as, well, fun.

The maps are definitely not some of Call of Duty's best, though I have been enjoying Mumbai especially, and Cachette is pretty fun, too. But I also think the movement needs to be updated, because while being slower is fine, it feels too clunky and like you have to work hard just to get into and out of a gunfight.

But the gunplay, as in the beta, is really good, even if I think the TTK is still too high. Or maybe it's the weapon balancing that's off, as some, even on Shipment, feel like you're slapping someone in the face with a napkin from a little kid's birthday party.

But if you're camo grinding, go forth and rot thy brain in the name of Orion Reforged. May the shipping containers make your journey take a more profitable path.

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Original article:

Infinity Ward is celebrating some glowing reviews right now for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, which has hit a comfortable 89 on PlayStation and 86 on PC. By extension, it should be a slam dunk for Microsoft, given that they, you know, own Activision.

Unfortunately, there is one glaring omission from that Metacritic infographic, and it's Xbox.

If you head over to Metacritic, the lack of mention of an Xbox score makes sense immediately. The Xbox Series X version of Modern Warfare 4 doesn't have an official Metascore at all. It sits at a bleak "tbd" based on a grand total of two critic reviews.

So Microsoft owns Activision. Microsoft owns Call of Duty. Yet when it comes time to aggregate critical acclaim for the biggest blockbuster under its banner, there aren't enough critic reviews on Xbox to even generate a baseline score. It's not a good look, is it?

I'm not going to lay blame with "Xbox tax" on this one, don't worry; the reality is far more banal. Platform preference isn't to blame here, but the review process itself on Xbox is unnecessarily painful, and Xbox needs to do something about it.

Game keys vs Whitelisting shenanigans

Most gaming journalists and creators will be offered a choice of platforms on which to review a game, and they choose the path of least resistance. That path is generally PC/Steam, where you get a simple game code or access to a pre-release beta branch, or PlayStation, where you can redeem a code and you're good to go.

On Xbox, however, the process is more convoluted. You have to give your Xbox Live Device ID, which is buried within developer and system settings, to a PR company and wait for the publisher to manually whitelist your individual hardware before a code or build will even register.

Many of us are working against tight embargoes under an influx of game releases, especially in this absolute storm of releases that is Q4, and any extra steps to take can mount up in the inbox. Even if someone wants to cover the Xbox version of a game, convenience almost always dictates picking Steam or PS5 instead.

Xbox had the forethought to take over everyone's Xbox dashboard for Modern Warfare 4, but not to secure any kind of Metacritic presence.

Even Xbox outlets struggle (like us!)

Here at Windows Central, we obviously try to play within the Xbox ecosystem, yet even we constantly run into this wall. Case in point: for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 specifically, our own review was conducted on PC simply because that was the platform offered for the official review event.

When covering major releases or updates, PC and Steam codes are almost always pushed first because beta branches make distribution painless for publishers. Meanwhile, getting early access on Xbox feels a bit like doing my tax self-assessment.

Some titles, like Gears of War: E-Day, have had a healthier ratio. It was accessible through an insider build on the dashboard and much easier, so yes of course while it wasn't on PlayStation, we've a healthier skew of 87 Xbox reviews to 83 PC reviews. This isn't the norm, though.

When reviewing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, I had to start my playthrough on Steam and wait a few days for the Xbox whitelisting to be completed before I could switch platforms (thank heavens for cross-save). I could have waited, sure, but when you're on a tight schedule, time is a luxury you don't have. I've had this exact same problem when checking out DLC for Goat Simulator 3, too.

When an outlet specifically dedicated to covering Xbox has to resort to playing pre-release games on PC just to hit embargo, what chance does the average reviewer at a multiplatform outlet have? Why would a critic jump through extra technical hoops for Xbox when a PS5 or Steam key is sitting in their inbox ready to download with a single click?

Xbox needs to fix this early access issue

Xbox already faces an uphill battle when it comes to hardware market share and media coverage. But allowing its own pre-release access to remain this cumbersome is self-harming to the brand.

When publishers don't distribute Xbox codes efficiently, fewer outlets review Xbox builds. When fewer outlets review Xbox builds, Metacritic scores sit at "TBD." This, in turn, creates a public perception that nobody is playing or caring about the platform, even when the game in question is published by Microsoft itself. Gamers looking for reviews may purchase on the platform where more coverage exists. It quickly becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If Microsoft wants Xbox to remain a primary platform for game reviews and media coverage, it needs to make access to its platform for reviews much easier. Until redeeming an early-access Xbox code is as simple as punching in a key on PlayStation or Steam, we’re going to keep seeing Xbox-owned games celebrated everywhere except on Xbox.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is out, and honestly, it looks like the first truly good Call of Duty campaign in a decade. That’s impressive in itself, but the data tells a slightly more worrying story.

According to figures obtained via TrueAchievements and SteamDB, Modern Warfare 4 is reportedly down 32% from last year’s Black Ops 7 on Xbox. The game has also fallen short in player counts when compared to titles like Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War: E-Day, and Forza Horizon 6, again on Xbox. Since all of those games were available on Game Pass, it makes sense why the numbers look the way they do.

What makes this even more interesting is that the situation doesn't appear to be much better over on Steam.

Steam numbers show a significant dip

According to SteamDB, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 has peaked at around 215,000 concurrent players so far. That’s not terrible by any means, but it falls considerably short of previous releases.

For comparison, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 reached a peak of 306,460 concurrent players on Steam during its launch weekend in October 2024, despite also releasing on Game Pass. That means Modern Warfare 4 has seen roughly 30% fewer concurrent players so far on Steam.

I should mention that these figures are for Call of Duty HQ, which includes multiple Call of Duty games, as well as Warzone and DMZ.

Of course, there are several things to consider here. Modern Warfare 4 isn't available on Game Pass, meaning players who previously relied on the service for access now have to purchase the game outright. Naturally, that makes jumping into the latest Call of Duty considerably more expensive. Given the times we live in, you can’t blame people for not throwing down $70.

That said, lower player counts don't necessarily translate into poor sales; the game was the number one best seller on Steam when it released. But without official figures from Activision, it's difficult to determine just how successful Modern Warfare 4 has been.

We do have one figure to go by, though. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma recently took to X to reveal that the Call of Duty franchise as a whole has passed $40 billion in revenue. That means the franchise has achieved $10 billion in revenue since 2022, when it was last reported at $30 billion.

With all that said, let me know your thoughts. Are people feeling fatigued by the yearly Call of Duty release cycle, or is it just that other games are out and Call of Duty isn’t quite worth the $70 on release, especially with a Game Pass release expected a year later?

Leave a comment down below, and be sure to take part in our poll!

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I fell in love with Call of Duty way back in 2009, when my friend group pushed me to make the jump from Halo 3 to Modern Warfare 2. While initially I was concerned I couldn't get a handle on certain mechanics, like learning weapon types beyond the simplified "AR" and "BR" I had grown accustomed to in Halo, I ended up really getting my footing in Modern Warfare 2 after a couple of months. It was the start of a fixation with Call of Duty that only 2016's Infinite Warfare could put at risk. I still quote several lines from MW2 (2009) to this day, even.

17 years after my first foray into Call of Duty's Modern Warfare subseries, my attachment to the franchise has only grown. For quite a while, I considered the 2019 reboot of the Modern Warfare franchise among my favorite games of all time. After completing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, however, I think that list has been shaken up — and I can finally tell you why.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 — Story, setting, and art

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is divided up between three different modes: a single-player campaign, the revival of the PvPvE experience in DMZ, and classic multiplayer.

Modern Warfare 4 was piecemealed out over the last week, with players who had preordered gaining access to the Campaign one week in advance, followed by an early access period for DMZ lasting a few days before the launch of MW4 multiplayer (which the team ended up releasing a few hours earlier than originally planned, as well).

Because of the staggered launch window, I went ahead and wrote a longer review explaining why I felt the campaign for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is a cinematic masterpiece, as well as an individual article discussing my first impressions of the DMZ. But I'd also like to reflect on those modes as part of the full launch, too.

The singleplayer campaign for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is a cinematic masterpiece

I'm reiterating that headline because I don't think I can say it enough to stress how incredibly well done the campaign for MW4 truly is. In the very beginning, MW4 introduces a new squad — Sierra-1, a collaborative group of young soldiers consisting of South Korean conscripts and American Marines.

The narrative team from Infinity Ward really showed their chops with the opening sequence, as the American soldiers introduce the ROK members of Sierra-1 to Wu-Tang's rap classic, C.R.E.A.M. The team banter and poke at one another before side-questing into a convenience store to purchase junk food and stomach medicine for some light hazing of the squad's newbie.

The sequence feels like a video game's cold open and more like an expertly shot film, with care and attention to detail oozing from every neon light, every brightly colored and meticulously packed item on the corner store's shelves, all the way to the silly expression on the American corporal's face when you lie and tell him that a specific food item is, well — fish soaked in piss.

Modern Warfare 4 is a war game, though, not a shopping simulator, so of course things have to go awry for our charming young squad when they find themselves thrust into the front lines of urban warfare in downtown Seoul after North Koreans invade under the cover of night.

Fighting through this battle with this inexperienced squadron adds more risk to the invasion of North Korea, and as they are forced to retreat, we learn that the story here is not being told in a linear fashion. Instead, we're pushed back to 5 days before NK's attack on Seoul.

It's through these time jumps that Infinity Ward's narrative team weaves a complicated tale of brotherhood and comradery between squad mates, the weight of grief when a squadmate is lost in battle, and the consequences of how that grief is dealt with. Sierra-1's story intertwines with MW staple, Task Force 141, which has been severely affected by the loss of Johnny "Soap" MacTavish (at the end of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023).)

While the young squad of Sierra-1 grapples with loss in one way, TF141's leader, Captain John Price, has gone the revenge route. Now rogue after having killed American General Shepherd, Price finds himself at the mercy of his former enemy, El Sin Nombre (Valeria Garza.)

Every element of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 campaign will have you pulled in, waiting with bated breath to see what happens next. For a franchise that has historically been considered a vapid first-person shooter without any sort of deep-rooted story to tell, Modern Warfare 4 pulls out all the stops and effectively proves anything uttered by detractors as wrong.

MW4 juxtaposes the actions of its younger, inexperienced squad against those of the battle-hardened TF141. Both bands of brothers tackle grief and motivations for continuing on in the face of a heavy loss, doing so in ways that affect the other squad without their even knowing it.

These parallels also appear in the campaign's other subplot, which highlights the brutality of the invading North Korean regime and its hunt against defectors. We get yet a third angle to study the issue of blind loyalty and defecting from the safety of what one knows because it is inarguably just the right thing to do.

The MW4 campaign is a gut-wrenching story that serves as the finale for the Modern Warfare reboot. While we see several known characters' storylines come to an end in one way or another, there are still some characters for the subseries that are left in the wind who do not have neat little ties to their loose ends.

The story continues with the tense, beautifully haunting DMZ

Modern Warfare 4's "third mode" is a return of the MW2 (2022)'s PvPvE experience, DMZ. Set in a demilitarized zone in Hajin, on the border of the Korean peninsula and Russia, players can infiltrate the region and carry out missions to check off objectives for several missions that expand upon the post-credits world of Modern Warfare 4.

DMZ differs from the single-player campaign in that it takes on the form of an extraction shooter, with players able to take an operator from one of the game's story characters and put that operator through their paces in the DMZ, completing story missions and dynamic ops to level up and loot for better gear.

Because the Modern Warfare campaign wraps up most characters for the subseries, we're given a varied roster of operators, many of which have previously served as multiplayer Operators for Modern Warfare titles past.

Hajin is visually stunning. The open-world map is mostly controlled server-side, so Infinity Ward has been able to introduce new mechanics like dynamic weather to the mode. All players on a server will see the way weather and other factors affect Hajin collectively, so you can't blame the weather for your untimely demise in the DMZ.

A classic multiplayer experience tries something new for Modern Warfare 4

In an interview with Infinity Ward's multiplayer team, I was once told that the battles that go down in multiplayer should be looked at as if they're happening a block or two over from the events that happen in the campaign.

You can see that philosophy very clearly in Modern Warfare 4's 12 launch maps, each of which features very noticeable elements from the campaign that are arranged in a way that makes them feel like they could have been nearby, but not quite the same.

Multiplayer's maps offer an impressive variety of biomes, from a small, tight bus yard to the dilapidated remains of an old coal mining operation. It would be easy to expect Infinity Ward to let the visuals for multiplayer lapse — after all, who would even notice if the paint cans spill when hit or that bullets impact surrounding set pieces?

But the team wasn't content to just let these maps exist. Instead, the multiplayer maps of MW4 are beautiful sets ripe for destruction that offer adequate flanking opportunities and enhance the sustainability of using non-meta weapons, even on small maps, through the power of good design and reasonable player movement.

Infinity Ward did not just stop with multiplayer's classic map structure, though. Modern Warfare 4 introduces a new concept for how to play multiplayer with the new dynamic map, Kill Block.

Kill Block rotates the available set pieces for the map and selects three to piece together to create one unique gameplay experience from mere pieces. Despite being pulled from a multitude of different styles from Modern Warfare's past and present, Kill Block still manages to be a cohesive (and addictive) new feature for MW4.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 — Gameplay

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is a first-person shooter with intense action at its core. Everything about the game is meant to make you feel like you're a war hero, fighting the good fight, across all of its modes. However, there are some notable differences in how each mode gets you to that point (or keeps it dangling in front of you like a carrot.)

Modern Warfare 4's campaign gameplay is a reminder that sometimes we have to get our hands a little dirty

"We get dirty, and the world stays clean" is a recurring mantra throughout the Modern Warfare subseries. The idea is that Task Force 141 may sometimes make decisions or act in ways that might seem questionable or otherwise dirty, but it's okay when the end will inevitably justify the means.

So then it should come as no surprise that Captain Price, who is clearly built to be a brawler, gets his hands dirty in the literal sense by carrying out some of his revenge plot.

Most sequences with Sierra-1 feature classic linear COD set pieces that put you in the heart of battle. But some of Capt. Price's appearances lean into his ability to take down friends and foes in some good old-fashioned fisticuffs, pushing the player into using LT and RT to block, counter, and attack.

Infinity Ward also breaks up the long linear sequences by introducing classical mechanics like rappelling down a skyscraper with night vision goggles, clearing stairwells and rooms where enemies are waiting to take you out under the cover of darkness.

One mission, "Stranded", deviates from the standard gameplay funnel by introducing a semi-open world with three objectives that players can interact with in any order they choose. In addition to the three main objectives, there are multiple secrets littered around, including yellow storage crates with loot and keypad puzzles to unlock for bonus gear.

DMZ gets a major glow up thanks to feedback from the 2022 Beta

When Infinity Ward first introduced the concept of the DMZ in 2022, I was intrigued. I was originally a fan of The Division's Dark Zone concept, and really fell for the extraction mode DLC "Survival". But few games had managed to recapture the excitement of that PvPvE experience that won me over in the Dark Zone.

When the DMZ Beta dropped, I actually spent quite a lot of time with my friends exploring but ultimately ignored the mode sometime before it began to receive new content updates like Building 21.

The things that I felt were lacking and failed to keep me engaged in the DMZ beta for the long term seem to have been addressed with MW4's Beta. Players select their operator, which can be leveled up by earning XP completing story missions and Dynamic Ops, or free roaming to take out lieutenants and other players.

Unlocking Trait Perks lets you spec out a skill tree for your operator, but should they succumb to an untimely demise without extracting their gear and loot, the operator becomes MIA. MIA operators require in-game currency to recover.

This system has proved to add a significant amount of tension to the DMZ, which also offers players a heightened sense of discomfort by introducing NPC characters that behave much more like players than any we have ever seen before. These NPCs drive recklessly, attempt to run players over or take off-road shortcuts, flank squads, and otherwise offer a formidable foe to the DMZ.

It's a challenging new mode, and the community seems to be at odds over whether PvP or PvE elements should reign supreme, but as it stands at launch, DMZ's a tense and exciting experience with friends that has managed to make loss and success both feel more gratifying than its predecessor.

The desire for nostalgia meets the push for innovation in multiplayer

Despite having reviewed every single Call of Duty that has launched in the last 5 years, I still find myself pointing out with each one just how much the development team has had to find a balance between half of a player base that longs for a nostalgic past and half of a player base that craves something new for multiplayer.

Modern Warfare 4 is no different, but I do think there's a chance that Infinity Ward has found a way to walk that line with precision. Launching into Modern Warfare 4's multiplayer when it went live, I immediately felt at home. Despite new menus that allow players to attach custom class loadouts to one specific operator, the system feels familiar and comfortable.

Many of the menus for Multiplayer have gone back to a vertical layout, making them more manageable and a welcome change of pace from the last few years of seemingly endless horizontal options.

Like how DMZ had a glow-up based on player feedback, so has Multiplayer. Many of the game's ills from its open beta earlier this fall seem to have been addressed. UAV spam, for example, led to the developers increasing the cost of all killstreaks by one to help lessen their frequency.

There is still some room for improvement, however. The Time-to-Kill speed was adjusted based on player feedback during the beta, but the open beta period only offered a core playlist. That means players who preferred Hardcore modes were unable to experience exactly what Hardcore had to offer before its launch.

As an avid hardcore fan, I find that there's definitely still wiggle room for some minor weapon balance passes in the mode, but those sorts of quality-of-life improvements are typically made throughout the game's post-launch lifetime. It wouldn't even surprise me if the TTK for Hardcore wasn't already addressed even before this review goes live.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 — Should you buy it?

Few games make it to the 4th entry in a subseries that has been rebooted from a franchise that has been running annually for more than 20 years. But here Infinity Ward sits with Modern Warfare 4. A game that blends the story of a nostalgic brotherhood coping with immeasurable losses with a fledgling brotherhood that is just forming under the burden of war and tragedy.

The nostalgia of the Call of Duty franchise oddly mirrors that of Task Force 141 in some ways. Similarly, the bright-eyed potential of Sierra-1 mirrors that of an Infinity Ward under new studio leadership and grappling with the loss of influential members of the team that are memorialized in the post-credits In Memorial screens.

And yet, from the heartbreak and nostalgia and changing of the guard, there's room for something new. Something exciting that reinvigorates a community that refused to give up on CoD. Modern Warfare 4 may be the final chapter for Task Force 141, but it's just the beginning of this new era of Infinity Ward.

So, do I think you should buy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4? I think you'd be crazy not to, truthfully. For anybody who has ever played Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 4 is the love letter that reminds us of what was special about the franchise in the first place and gives us hope for what it can be going forward.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 looks set to be the best Call of Duty this decade thus far, but I'd give this marketing stunt a 0/10.

Ads are annoying at the best of times. If you're reading Windows Central without an adblocker (thanks!), you're probably getting bombarded in all directions by ads right now (sorry. But also, no, us lowly writers have no control over that). But hey, they keep the lights on, and Windows Central is free without paywalls at least, right?

You know what isn't free? Your shiny Xbox Series X|S console. That wasn't free. You know what else isn't free? Xbox Game Pass, nor is Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Nor is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, in fact. And today, even if you already purchased the game, Xbox is making sure that your console has a very yellow theme this morning — whether you like it or not.

I get that Call of Duty is incredibly important to Xbox's bottom line these days, and funds from the franchise are effectively propping up a variety of other bets Xbox is making right now. I get that last year's "disappointing" Call of Duty pulled down Xbox's financials overall, heaping on additional pressure for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 to deliver.

Reviews suggest that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 absolutely has delivered, by the way, with what fans and critics have been calling the best campaign maybe in a decade. It even has the top spot in sales on both Xbox and PlayStation as of writing, beating out GTA 6 itself (for now).

Does it really really need to take over my entire Xbox dashboard, though?

Today, Xbox fans woke up and noticed that Call of Duty not only has the entire spread of those loathed advertising tiles across the bottom of the dash, but also usurps your custom background. I went over to the Personalization settings and no, changing the background doesn't fix it.

You can actually disable this, however, (thanks Donkeyz) using the following steps.

How to turn off full-screen background ads on the Xbox Series X|S dashboard

• Open Settings via the Xbox guide menu.
• Navigate to General.
• Open Personalization.
• Go to My backgrounds. You might have to enter your pin.
• Disable "Show event-themed backgrounds."

Xbox's ads have long been a source of irritation. Sometimes they can be useful, helping discover new games (rarely, I might add), or deals and in-game events you might've missed. This, though? It's too much, IMO.

At least when Xbox was doing those full-screen pop-ups on boot, you could peruse and then dismiss at your leisure. It's not a big deal ultimately, you're not really on the dashboard for any length of time if you're just passing through to get to a game ... but it initially struck me as another annoying hint we don't actually own the shit we buy.

Big tech is aggressively fighting ownership

There seems to be a wider theme at play here. Yes it's just a temporary picture that will probably be gone by the end of the day, and yes you can disable it (for now ...) but it continues a trend of companies like Microsoft reminding us that we don't actually own or control the stuff we buy from them. Windows 11 itself has been blasted for the abundance of "recommended content" it comes with out of the box, and most don't know how to turn some of it off, or that they even can.

PlayStation has triggered a huge backlash over the summer by ending support for physical discs, with figures testifying in court that purchasing games grants you a license only — something many of us already knew, but they're increasingly testing the definition of this in recent years.

RELATED: How to turn off Windows 11 tracking and ads

Digital rights and even physical rights have been increasingly called into question in recent years. Whether it's companies like John Deere fighting against farmers' rights to repair their tractors, companies like BMW or Tesla charging a subscription to turn on features that already exists in your cars. What about companies like Apple intentionally making their laptops impossible to fix without specialist tools (offered by them only)? Companies are really really fighting against your right to actually own the things you buy from them.

Which comes back to the Xbox dashboard. Yes it's just a background today, no big deal right? But what happens tomorrow? Will Microsoft starting putting dashboard customization in as a premium feature? Microsoft is already charging playtime by the hour in Xbox Cloud Gaming ... is that the future of "ownership"? OpenAI's Sam Altman has been fully mask off with hopes that compute in general will be a rented accommodation in the future.

The Xbox Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 dashboard take over is irritating and inconvenient, and an pretty shameless reminder that Xbox can hijack your console whenever it feels like it, even if you paid the full recent $799 price tag ...

Am I paranoid? Maybe ... but maybe you're not paranoid ENOUGH! ... maybe.

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So you've seen the title and think I've lost my mind, right? Of course the backpack matters when you're looting in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 DMZ. How else do you carry those sweet rewards?

But it's not just about having a backpack; it's about having the right backpack and using it in such a way that it can protect your rarest rewards. One of the biggest thrills and disappointments of an extraction shooter like DMZ is that at any point you could get rinsed by another player and lose everything you worked so hard for.

But you can also protect items in your backpack in case of emergencies such as this. Even if you don't make it out, your precious items can. Here's what you need to know about the backpacks in Modern Warfare 4 DMZ.

The first good backpack is unlocked at DMZ Level 2

When you reach DMZ Level 2 and unlock the 3D Printer, the first good packpack is one of the initial recipes you'll unlock.

While the Small Backpack is the easiest one to craft, you should only consider using it if you're going on an ingredients run. It doesn't hold much, and it lacks the key feature we need for rarer, higher-quality items.

That would be the Secure Slot, and the rare-tier Medium Backpack is the cheapest one to craft that has at least one of these. The Secure Slot is where you want to place the most valuable item you find, because if you go down, that item will still be sent back to your FOB.

As an example, just last night I found another recipe early on in one of my DMZ matches. I put it straight in the secure slot, which was a good thing because as I left the building that I found it in, I was run over by another player. I lost my weapons, I lost my backpack, and I lost my consumables, but the recipe made it out and was unlocked on my 3D Printer.

The only slight downside is that weapons don't have a secure slot. There are backpacks that have weapon slots so you can stash more than just the ones you're carrying in your loadout, but you can't add weapons to secure slots.

But you can put recipes and manuals in them along with all sorts of other rare items to protect them should you fail to exfil.

How to get better backpacks in Modern Warfare 4 DMZ

There are various ways to get backpacks in DMZ, and one of them is just finding them out in the wild while you're playing. Like all the other loot, such as parachutes, you can get lucky and find a better bag. Or take one from a player you downed!

In terms of crafting, there are two recipes you can guarantee you can add to your 3D Printer. The Medium Backpack is unlocked at DMZ Level 2, while the Large Backpack unlocks at DMZ Level 34. At DMZ Level 61 you also unlock the recipe to craft the Medium Weapon Backpack.

The rest require you finding their recipes while playing DMZ, so you'll need to put in some work to find them all.

Scavenger backpacks are good for looting runs, such as stocking up on 3D Printer ingredients. Secure backpacks are good for targeting higher-tier items. There's plenty to choose from, but if you always try and run with at least a Medium Backpack if you find a recipe, you can guarantee it gets out safely.

You can also get a new backpack in the FOB from the Vendor in exchange for DMZ Cash, and from Survival Kits. If an item pops up in the Vendor that you don't have a recipe for, it's always a good idea to add to your stash, assuming you have the funds. I've bought a Large Backpack already for 10,000 DMZ Cash.

Recipes and manuals are key items you want to get in DMZ and running a backpack with a Secure Slot is the easiest way to make sure you always get them out safely.

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The gameplay loop in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 DMZ is a little different from other modes in the game and even previous extraction modes such as the DMZ beta, Modern Warfare Zombies, and Black Ops 7 Endgame.

You start out with nothing. Well, almost nothing. But the idea is you have to go out and scavenge for better gear, be that through doing missions, defeating world bosses, or even other players.

But there is a way to get high-tier weapons without spending DMZ Cash and without having to run the gauntlet of Hajin's battlegrounds. There is a catch, though. Well, technically two. But essentially it involves weapon blueprints you acquire for Modern Warfare 4, because you can craft them at the Gunsmith.

• I went hands‑on with Modern Warfare 4’s new DMZ mode — and it was nothing like I expected

Once you reach DMZ Level 10 the Gunsmith Station unlocks, which allows you to craft weapons you've found manuals for and extracted successfully. But it also allows you to craft blueprints you own, regardless of whether you have the manual or not.

Better still, the first time you craft one of these blueprints, it's completely free. But the catch is that it's only the first time. So, as an example, if you got the "Beta Forged" Han 86 blueprint from the Modern Warfare 4 beta, you can craft it once for free in DMZ and get a legendary tier weapon to add to your loadout.

To do so, you choose the "Builds" option next to the weapon and select the blueprint you want to craft. After this first time you can still craft them, but there will be a substantial DMZ Cash cost depending on the blueprint.

If you're playing during the earliest days of Modern Warfare 4, another catch is that unless you bought the Vault Edition, you won't have as many blueprints to choose from, and as a result, fewer free weapons to craft. As the game rolls into its post-launch content, you'll be able to add plenty to your stash, including a bunch from just levelling up. But out of the gate, those who paid more have more to choose from.

A quick tip as well to try and protect your higher tier weapons and gear is to make sure you have a backpack with a secure slot on it. Assign the thing you don't want to lose to the secure slot, and if you go down and fail to exfil, this item will at least make it out.

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One of the first things you may notice dropping into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 DMZ is that you don't have a parachute automatically equipped. I definitely didn't forget and die to fall damage early on and learn the hard way.

In fact, a parachute is one of the items that players must acquire, and even when you do, you may not be able to use it for long, and of course, if you fail to exfil, you'll lose it along with any of your other gear (I've definitely done this already).

There are a couple of methods to get a parachute in Modern Warfare 4 DMZ, but neither is particularly easy, at least in the early days of the game. But here's how you can go about finding yourself one.

How to find a parachute in-game in Modern Warfare 4 DMZ

The good news is that like pretty much everything else in DMZ, you can loot parachutes during a game. The bad news is that they're pretty hard to find. I've only found one so far as I write this, and I've played about 7 hours.

But you can find one as ground loot, and you can find one without having to go to any of the higher difficulty locations. While the more difficult the location, the better the quality of loot you'll find, it is still possible to find them just by searching.

For example, I found one in the first building I looted at the Russian Border Crossing part of the map in the far top left corner. A disposable parachute was just there inside one of the lockers. The rare tier parachute only has three uses, though, so use it sparingly.

Given the military nature of the item, it stands to reason that your best chance of finding one will be from locations like these. I was in a military outpost looking inside a locker, so it's likely you'll have a better chance here. I wouldn't expect to find a parachute inside a bag in a random residential building, for example. So hit the military locations often. Also Fire Station POIs are a good shout for finding a parachute or two.

Loot in Modern Warfare 4 DMZ has a theme and locations that have a better chance of dropping it. You can see this if you track ingredients for 3D Printer recipes in the FOB. Not always specific locations, but a type of location.

You can possibly find the legendary tier parachute around the map, too, though I haven't seen one. Higher-tier loot is rarer and usually requires being in higher-threat zones, but if you see something you can check for loot; don't run past it. Loot everything.

Also make sure you check the supply drops at the end of a Dynamic Ops mission. These drop various types of gear, and there's always a chance a parachute is inside one of them.

How to craft a parachute in DMZ at the 3D Printer in the FOB

You can also craft parachutes to take into the DMZ with you at the 3D Printer Station in the FOB rather than relying on finding one.

That's the good news. The bad news is that you can't do it right away.

To craft a rare-tier disposable parachute, you first need to increase your DMZ Level up to 55. This unlocks the recipe at the 3D Printer. Once unlocked, you can craft one for 30 Chemicals and 3 Rigid Synthetics. To get your level up as fast as possible, make sure you're actually doing missions inside DMZ. The more you do, the more XP you'll get. And don't forget to stick on a 2XP token if you have one available.

To craft a legendary tier reusable parachute, get your DMZ Level up to 69, one below the current cap. Once you have the recipe unlocked, you can craft one for 2 Turned Components, 5 Nylon Cloth, and 10 Rigid Synthetics. Again, though, it's not permanently applied to your Operator. If you don't manage to exfil, it's gone and you'll have to craft another.

For crafting, finding the ingredients isn't too difficult. By the time you unlock either of these, you've probably found a good stash just through naturally playing. But all 3D Printer recipes will tell you where you can find the ingredients you need. So check it out before you deploy and make sure you target the right areas.

Don't forget to check the Vendor Station

The last thing to do is always keep checking the Vendor Station in the FOB. This offers a rotating cycle of weapons and gear, so you might well see a parachute pop up in there.

You'll need to keep a good stash of DMZ Cash, but I've already been able to buy a legendary backpack and a durable gas mask from there inside the first full day of early access. So don't ignore it.

The pace of DMZ feels like it was designed without using a parachute, and that's OK with me. You shouldn't just be able to glide across the map for free. DMZ makes you earn your gear.

It means you just have to be a little more careful, because you could lose it at any time. But there's no denying having one will make some areas easier to navigate.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's full launch is imminent, but it's suddenly hit a technical roadblock that may hurt its chances of success with console gamers.

The developers of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 have announced on X that its Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 versions must run on monitors with Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) enabled for Performance Mode support while players engage with its campaign and DMZ modes.

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This requirement for VRR monitors will also be in effect for Call of Duty: Warzone with Season 1. If you do not have a monitor with VRR enabled and with least 120Hz refresh rates, the game's framerates in Performance Mode will be locked at 60Hz.

Asking players to get a different monitor days before launching your AAA game is certainly a "choice", and a very wrong one at that

This last-minute change won't affect you as much if you don't mind playing the single-player campaign at 60fps in Performance Mode or Resolution Mode for 4K resolutions to achieve greater cinematic immersion.

However, hardcore competitive Call of Duty fans who need as many frames as possible to reduce input lag during intense multiplayer matches or just smoother gameplay in general are beyond angry in the replies to this announcement on X.

I can hardly blame them for getting angry. Asking console players to get a different and expensive monitor if their current one (even if it has a 240Hz refresh rate) doesn't have VRR to achieve optimal performance just days before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on October 23, 2026, is just ridiculous, and they should've warned people months in advance.

What makes this worse is that gaming monitors have become more costly and rarer to find for gamers on a tight budget these days thanks to the worsening RAM Crisis.

Nonetheless, we're not going to leave our fellow console players hanging. So we've scoured the internet for some of the best gaming monitors with VRR to help you circumvent this last-minute requirement and enjoy this AAA blockbuster at its best on Xbox.

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Now that the early access period has begun for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 DMZ, so too has the camo grind. This year's is very different from the last two Black Ops games, with one big benefit being that a lot of it is global across multiplayer, DMZ, and Warzone.

In fact, you can unlock everything up to the Divergence completionist camo in any of the three modes before switching to each's dedicated Mode Mastery camos.

The early stages can be sped up a little, too. If you're playing DMZ already, you'll be working on the military camos, but you can also work on the special camos at the same time, which you may not have realized.

In Black Ops 7, you couldn't start on the special camos until you'd completed the headshot requirements for all the military-tier ones. In Modern Warfare 4, each special camo has a challenge requirement, such as kills with a suppressor attached, but it also has a weapon unlock requirement just like the military ones.

As I noticed last night, you can work on both military and special camos simultaneously, and this won't just apply to DMZ. I picked up a WZ.55 Striga SMG during a DMZ run and started using it and leveling it up.

Once I'd earned "19 more weapon unlocks" (and I'm not sure how many it needed because it looks like half the weapons I've used in DMZ were silently leveled up during the campaign), I was able to start working on the first special camo and get kills using a silencer. All while still having four more military camos left to unlock.

This is a pretty great way to help accelerate that early part of the grind before you get to the first completionist camo. So long as you pay attention to when the specials unlock and what their challenge is, you can work on them side-by-side with any remaining military camos.

For DMZ, an essential part of this is to get to DMZ Level 10 and unlock the Gunsmith station at the FOB. Because some of these challenges require using specific attachments, the easiest way to make sure you have them is by using the Gunsmith.

You can add attachments to weapons you find during your DMZ runs at the Gunsmith, too. It doesn't only apply to weapons you buy here. So if you extract with a weapon you don't have a manual for, you can still put on the necessary attachments and work on the special camos. Applying attachments does require DMZ Cash, though, so keep your bank balance high.

Of course the downside to DMZ is that if you die during a run, you could lose that weapon. But any progress is global, and while we don't know what the conversion rate is for progress in DMZ to progress in multiplayer or Warzone on these camo challenges, you can at least get a head start right now.

The final mode for Modern Warfare 4 to go live is multiplayer, and this begins on the global launch date, October 23.

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Before the DMZ Beta went live in 2022 as a bonus mode for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, it was widely considered one of gaming's worst-kept secrets. Pretty much everything about it had leaked in the months leading up to its launch.

When players did get their hands on it, the fledgling extraction mode was notably undercooked. The smarter AI for the time was impressive, but there was just not enough substance to keep a large player base active and excited.

Don't get me wrong, there were definitely DMZ die-hards in the Call of Duty community, but I was not among them. I liked the premise, and it certainly wanted to fill a void that had been left empty since I completed The Division's "Survival" DLC. But ultimately, I was convinced that I just wasn't meant to be an extraction shooter girly, and I made my way back to multiplayer and Warzone, where I belonged.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to visit Infinity Ward's studio and be among the first to see the reveal for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. This included the upcoming third mode — DMZ.

I'm not going to act like I wasn't surprised. Signs were pointing to DMZ's potential return, especially with the rise in the success of extraction shooters like Arc Raiders, for example, but I just wasn't sold on the idea that the previous DMZ Beta had warranted enough fanfare to justify spending 4 years of resources on this extraction mode over some other third mode like classic Spec Ops.

I grew even more nervous about the state of DMZ after the reveal, as launch inched closer and closer with absolutely zero marketing or reveals for the returning mode. No mention of DMZ during the MW4 Open Beta.

Finally, we had "DMZ Week", with a rush of information about the new mode flooding Call of Duty's marketing. When I returned to the studio to go hands-on with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 this month, it was DMZ that I was most looking forward to playing, surprisingly. I was starting to warm to the idea of the mode in general, at least.

For me, these hybrid PvEvP modes can be a hard sell. In the original DMZ Beta of yesteryear, I often felt like the AI combatants were more of an annoyance than an actual threat — just an obstacle in the way of finding the next squad to take down because I was thoroughly Warzone-brained. While there were tasks to complete on the inside, they felt menial and didn't really add much to the overall experience. Looting was an option, but it just didn't mean much at the end of the day.

We started our hands-on time in the Forward Operating Base, the opening hub world for all things DMZ. It's nicely designed, but I do find that overall the HUB itself is a bit disjointed. There's a laptop for every feature. Walk over to this side of the HUB to check your dog tag collection; go back to that side to buy intel on Lieutenants you can hunt. Certain features are locked until you reach the minimum level requirement. Once we were familiar with the layout, we were placed into teams and turned loose to explore Hajin.

Welcome to Hajin

Before I get too deep into overall gameplay, I want to talk about the design of Hajin. The map for DMZ is absolutely massive, especially when compared to the previous map used for the DMZ Beta, Al Mazrah. Al Mazrah felt spacious, but barren. Hajin, however, is a massive map that feels dense and alive. The large buildings tower against the DMZ's skybox, teeming with enemy AI that pose legitimate threats to your safety in the zone. Lush open outdoor areas offer plenty of trees with beautiful foliage and tall grass as cover, making it possible to take a stealthy approach when hunting targets.

The world of Hajin feels real. If you're looking for bandages, check a hospital. Need ammo? Head to a police station. This isn't a new concept, not even for Call of Duty. The original DMZ and the first attempt at Warzone 2.0 both relied on this mechanic of lootable items being found in areas that made sense instead of just stuffed in a box against the wall. For DMZ, it serves an added benefit of forcing players to explore areas outside of popular hot zones.

It's easy for communities to lock into certain areas of maps, especially ones this big, and only want to fight for control of a certain building or lootable box. But the most basic mechanics of Hajin are designed around that. If you're going to level up your operator, you're going to have to eventually go into dangerous areas to collect valuable gear and crafting materials.

Gameplay with meaning and depth

My biggest complaint with the original DMZ Beta was that completing tasks felt like they had little to no purpose. I'm happy to report that Modern Warfare 4's DMZ is overflowing with opportunity. From the story missions that continue the events of the campaign, to the dynamic ops that piece together new challenges with every deployment, to lieutenant hunts, and PvP encounters, this year's DMZ has plenty to offer players of all skill levels.

In my first attempt at DMZ during the hands-on period, I was paired up with a Sherpa from the development team and another player. We were pretty amenable to just exploring Hajin, taking in whatever came our way. Our Sherpa set us up with some dynamic ops that would let us get a little extra XP, and we dove in with the intent to free roam. We didn't start empty-handed; we had beginner-level vests and basic free loadouts to get us started.

Before long, we were collecting the necessary gear to take on bigger challenges, exploring areas with increased threat levels. Collecting gear and returning to the FOB gave us the opportunity to upgrade our operators' skill trees, making our progress feel even more meaningful than just "go in, grab things, get out." We became attached to our operators and their kits.

That is, until another team saw us heading for an exfil and opted to run us over with their trucks.

With my operator now MIA in the exclusion zone, I was left with a choice: Pay the ransom to get her back, or take the loss and go in as a fresh little newbie again.

I paid the ransom.

But then I decided to return to the DMZ for another run, this time solo. I'm too agreeable for my own good, and playing with a squad had left me following along with what they wanted to do. I wanted to see what happened if I went in and followed my own whims. I headed to a laptop in the base and ponied up $10,000 for intel on the location of a Lieutenant, a sniper with a ghillie suit and deer skull mask.

I didn't head straight for the marked lieutenant; I gave myself some time to look for important gear in case I ran into trouble. A med kit, some bandages, extra ammo. When I felt confident I could handle the fight, I headed that way. The lieutenant I had picked wasn't a particularly challenging one, but for a solo player with lower-tier weapons and armor, it certainly proved to be a challenge. I grabbed the dog tags when all was said and done and made my way to exfil, where I threw up a truce flag from the menu wheel and hoped for the best.

My next deployment into DMZ was once again with two additional players. This time our group took a more adventurous approach, diving into some of the more extreme areas of Hajin. We were grossly underleveled, but that didn't stop us from tackling the enemies that were coming at us. By playing it smart and working together, we were able to slowly fight our way through the mission and take down its in-world boss. We hadn't yet finished the mission in its entirety, and there was one other problem: the gas was coming.

We had a choice to hit the only exfil left, which was 900+m away, or we could attempt to finish the mission and hope that an in-place exfil would drop as a reward. Right as our helicopter took the air, the gas overtook the zone. We made it out, but only barely.

DMZ is an exhilarating addition to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4

Call of Duty's third modes have always been a bit of an enigma. Treyarch's Zombies mode is an actual gold mine, building up a completely separate world that still ties in with the mainline title it's attached to and creating an intense alternative to multiplayer and Warzone that you can easily get lost in for hours, both solo and as a squad. It's genuinely impressive, but Infinity Ward's third mode, namely Spec Ops, never quite hit the community the same way that Zombies did.

The DMZ Beta was a dice roll for Modern Warfare 2, and whether it genuinely paid off at the time is dependent entirely on who you ask. But if we scope out and look at how the DMZ Beta has evolved into the DMZ that is part of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, I think it is safe to say that Infinity Ward has finally struck third-mode gold.

And I've finally found something to fill the void left behind by The Division.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 doesn't even launch fully until October 23, but one of the hardest challenges in this year's game has already been beaten.

Exhibiting truly heroic levels of degeneracy, the first players have cleared the hardest difficulty setting in the campaign and unlocked their reward. Not realism, of course; this year we've got YOLO.

The reward is a Calling Card that you're definitely not going to see all that many players showing off because of how difficult it is to acquire. And also you can't show it off until at least DMZ early access begins on October 20. If you don't know why this is so hard, let me set out the path you have to take.

• Beat the campaign
• Beat the campaign again on Realism to unlock YOLO.
• Beat the campaign with one life to unlock the Calling Card.

So you have to beat the campaign twice before you can even begin, because Realism difficulty isn't available until you've done one completion. At least it doesn't seem to matter which difficulty you do first to get the Realism unlock.

I've done my traditional first run on Regular to get it done quickly and get cracking with the achievements, and I've got Realism waiting to destroy me.

YOLO is a permadeath mode on Realism difficulty. You get one life. If you go down, your run is over, and you go back to the very beginning of the campaign. It is brutal. And yet we're already seeing the first players having completed it. Presumably they haven't slept much since Friday.

There is an apparent 'cheese' some folks have suggested works, which involves quickly restarting the current mission from the menu if it looks like you're about to go down. But I've also seen people say that you can't save and quit and do it over multiple sessions, because it warns you that you'll lose your progress.

Others have said they've been able to quit just fine and come back. If you know for sure, do please put it in the comments below, because who knows what's real on the internet these days.

The apparent Calling Card reward can be seen here, though since the Calling Card collection doesn't go live until DMZ early access, it could also be a troll. We'll soon know.

If you see this Calling Card pop up in one of your lobbies, though, know what you're dealing with. A player who doesn't sleep. Or a hacker. Either way, probably run the opposite direction.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is almost ready to leave early access as its October 23, 2026 full release rapidly approaches.

However, as with most AAA Xbox titles these days, it's going to take up a huge chunk of your console's storage space, as its campaign mode alone requires 137GB to install.

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While this isn't as extreme as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)'s 219GB requirement (without Warzone), it's still a massive number that will only get larger once Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 adds its multiplayer modes after leaving early access.

So, we've scoured the web for the best Xbox Series X|S storage expansion devices to help you fit Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 onto your Xbox Series X|S while leaving more for upcoming Xbox blockbusters like Grand Theft Auto 6.

Also note that when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches, you will be able to uninstall what you want to reclaim space. For example, you can uninstall the single-player campaign once you're done with it and still be able to play the game's multiplayer modes.

External hard drives

External hard drives allow you to store Xbox games and other forms of media like music and movies (depending on how you format) and transfer them to other platforms with ease via USB connections.

They can come in a variety of storage sizes (ranging from 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB), and they're more readily available compared to Xbox storage expansion cards.

Plus, they're cheaper than Xbox storage expansion cards. However, considering the constantly rising prices of tech thanks to the ongoing RAM crisis, there's no telling how long those external hard drives will be affordable.

Do note that you can’t play Xbox games directly from an external hard drive. You need to manually transfer games from the external hard drive onto an Xbox’s internal hard drive to play them.

Plug & Play expansion cards

Plug & Play expansion cards fit into an Xbox’s dedicated expansion card slot, so they can not only store games and play them directly from the card without the need for shuffling files onto the console's internal SSD.

They're also extremely compact, so they don't take up too much desk space compared to regular external hard drives.

However, Plug & Play expansion cards are rarer and more expensive than external hard drives. Plus, you can't reformat them to store and run other forms of media, as these Plug & Play expansion cards were designed only for Xbox consoles.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4

Our die-hard Call of Duty expert, Cole Martin, reviewed the campaign mode of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, and judging by her reaction, it's shaping up to be a massive return to form for the series.

She calls the campaign a cinematic masterpiece for its stunning, cinematic presentation, captivating story, and thrilling gameplay filled with intense action set pieces and dramatic moments.

As for the quality of its multiplayer game modes like the much-anticipated DMZ, you will have to wait until the game launches later this week to find out, as it was unavailable during Cole Martin's review.

Needless to say, though, Call of Duty fans are about to eat good this holiday season just from the campaign alone.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is scheduled to launch on Xbox Series X|S (with Xbox Play Anywhere support), Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Windows and Steam on October 23, 2026.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's campaign mode is currently available to play in early access for players who pre-order the game's Standard or Vault Editions.

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It has been 23 years since Infinity Ward dropped the first Call of Duty title; more than 25 games later, CoD fans are all seated with bated breath and waiting for the conclusion of one of gaming's most popular franchises.

For those who pre-ordered Modern Warfare 4, early campaign access is available now.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is both a swan song and a rebirth for Infinity Ward, as the title is the first to release under new studio leadership, Jack O'Hara and Mark Grigsby, while also serving as the finale for the subseries' rebooted plotline that kicked off with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2020).

I had an opportunity to play the campaign for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 in advance, and while I plan to hold off on an official review score until the full game is available, I do have some early thoughts — spoiler-free, of course.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Campaign Impressions — Story, setting, and art

It only takes 5 days — and a few extra years, but we're not counting — to change the world. While the events leading up to the story for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 have culminated over a few years of time, the latest campaign takes place over the course of just 5 chaotic days.

Before diving too deep into Modern Warfare 4, it would be a good idea to refresh yourself on the lore of the MW trilogy up until this point.

The reboot of the subseries kicked off in 2019, centering Task Force 141 — Captain John Price, Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley, Sergeant Kyle "Gaz" Garrick, and Sergeant Johnny "Soap" MacTavish — and their hush-hush global counter-terrorism efforts. Their efforts introduce us to a variety of interesting characters, including cartel leader "El Sin Nombre", Valeria Garza, and founder of the Urzikstan Liberation Force, Farah Karim.

I'm going to be a little reductive for brevity here, but ultimately the squad finds themselves chasing down the series antagonist, Vladimir Makarov, but their hunt turns personal after Makarov kills Soap in the finale of Sledgehammer Games' Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023).

In my review for Modern Warfare 3 (2023), I remarked that the final act of the campaign, which included MacTavish's abrupt demise, felt rushed. It was a seemingly unnecessary death at the end of the story that did nothing to push things forward.

3 years later, I realize that I wasn't entirely correct. The ending was rushed, yes, but Soap's death kicked off an avalanche of global events. The beginning of Modern Warfare 4 shows us a squad of more green soldiers than we've become accustomed to seeing in Modern Warfare.

We begin with a group of military conscripts, South Korean soldiers serving their mandatory enlistment alongside American Marines, Corporal Joseph Dunn and First Lieutenant Reggie West, in Seoul.

West has introduced the squad to Wu-Tang Clan's classic, "C.R.E.A.M.," and we start the game with some playful banter between music beats that sets up who our would-be heroes actually are.

The scene is decidedly cinematic, feeling more like the cold open to a movie than the opening sequence of the fourth installment to a subseries of a two-decade-old franchise. We spend some time with the younger squad as they plan a hazing of one of their newbies before they are faced with an explosive and unexpected attack.

We ultimately help the squad make their way through the rapidly deteriorating city, fighting through a night-shrouded urban battleground against threats from a mysteriously enhanced North Korean invasion.

From this opener, we're then transported back in time to just 5 days before North Korea's attacks on South Korea and reunited with Captain Price, who we learn has continued his hunt for Makarov to avenge Soap's death.

Price chases Makarov through a nightclub and eventually into a snowy alleyway where the two engage in hand-to-hand combat. Shortly after this, Price is captured and taken to Makarov's accomplice — El Sin Nombre, herself. She makes Price an offer he can't refuse: a means to go straight to the top of the food chain and take down the Archer, the "head of the snake" for the terrorist organization.

Price's trust in Valeria comes at a cost, however, and he is then considered AWOL by CIA Watcher, Kate Laswell, who has no choice but to send what remains of Task Force 141 to capture or kill their own Captain, friend, and mentor. This story beat sets up a recurring theme of loyalty and betrayal that threads together all of the various subplots over the 5-day timeline.

Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare reboot has long faced challenges of satisfying the needs of its nostalgic player base while also innovating on the subseries in such a way that it draws in a new crowd to create nostalgia for.

Modern Warfare 4's campaign captures that struggle in its own way, with the actions of Price and the rest of Task Force 141 rippling throughout the narrative to have unexpected effects on Park and his squadron.

It's easy to reduce Call of Duty down to just an arcade shooter full of cinematic set pieces and Michael Bay-worthy explosions, but Modern Warfare 4 has somehow managed to increase the heightened sense of emotion in its story. Soap's death, which once felt meaningless and egregious, has created a weighted cloud over the events of Modern Warfare 4, one that leads to big emotional moments that legitimately took my breath away.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Campaign Impressions — Gameplay

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's campaign consists of a mostly linear mission structure where the 16 story missions can take roughly 6 to 8 hours to complete, depending on skill level and willingness to look for secrets — of which there are plenty.

Most missions feature fairly on-rails gameplay that the Modern Warfare subseries is known for, big cinematic set pieces with the single player-controlled character assisted by AI squadmates working their way through a mission setting.

However, a couple of missions do deviate from the standard formula. In Mission 2, "Out in the Cold", we're faced with a chase sequence similar to what we have seen in past Call of Duty titles. Price, in his hunt for Makarov, tails the terrorist through a nightclub with some light parkour over rooftops and through crowded streets into an alleyway for a hand-to-hand brawl.

This is followed by Mission 3, "Following Orders", which certainly feels reminiscent of Modern Warfare 2 (2009)'s "No Russian" campaign mission. In this particular sequence, players are an unnamed North Korean operative assisting in the hunt for a defector.

The brutality of the North Korean regime is on full display, but the player does have the option to make choices in whether they participate in the cruelty or merely stand by as it happens. While the player can choose whether or not to confiscate contraband or intimidate civilians, there are some decisions that can have a lasting impact on the player, though the choice fails to have a lasting impact on the overall narrative of Modern Warfare 4.

The most notable departure from the linear campaign is Mission 10, "Stranded." The members of Sierra-1 are behind enemy lines and must keep a low profile while exploring a semi-open world environment.

Players can engage or avoid North Korean operators as they read notes, search for an eye-watering 58 collectibles, unlike a plethora of special equipment chests, and take down 3 specific mission objectives. It's a chance to see Sierra-1's Park Hyun-Jun really stretch his legs as a lead character and to develop a deeper bond with the grunt squad as they fight to survive in dangerous territory.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Campaign Impressions — Final thoughts

If you've been playing the Modern Warfare reboot's campaigns up until this point, you might agree with me that it has long felt like there was only one way for the story to come to an end. And yet, even as I reached the final missions of the campaign, I repeatedly found myself gasping at every turn, surprised by the hows and whys that led up to the events of this blockbuster finale.

Every aspect of Modern Warfare 4 is crafted with attention to detail that is unmatched in the AAA space. Infinity Ward leads the charge in high-detail graphics, creating sets where every ray of light adds to the ambience and emotion of the scene.

From the bright lights of a Seoul convenience store to the bloody snow of a New York alleyway to the cracked glass of a city high-rise bearing the weight of a contested brotherhood. Modern Warfare 4's campaign is nothing short of a cinematic masterpiece, beautifully shot and choreographed to enhance the story with purposeful action.

Even the narrative writing is carefully crafted, and every member of the cast brought their A-game to the voice acting and motion capture. Barry Sloane slips into Captain Price like he himself has seen the captain's battles firsthand, encapsulating Price's grief and moral quandaries with seriousness, while Valeria's voice actress, Maria Elisa Camargo, playfully ribs at him with niceties and nicknames.

Samuel Roukin's haunting stare as Ghost is every bit as damning as his insistence on holding the line. I want to care about these characters and have the story being told over a 4-installment subseries pay off.

When all was said and done, I sat back from my desk, controller in hand and mouth agape with tears welling up in my eyes. That sounds dramatic, I'm sure, but Infinity Ward has come up with a group of characters that I have invested in and cared about. Their efforts, their stories, and their camaraderie and brotherhood mattered.

Task Force 141's chapter may have come to a fitting — albeit gut-wrenching — end, but the cycle continues on. Somebody has to get their hands dirty so the world stays clean.

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We've pretty well known all along that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 did not live up to expectations. While I personally enjoyed (mostly) Black Ops 7 and there was no shortage of content, it didn't do well.

Battlefield 6 launching before Black Ops 7 didn't help, neither did the fact it was a back-to-back Black Ops release cycle, coming after back-to-back Modern Warfare titles.

In an interview with The Game Business, Activision's Chief Marketing Officer, Tyler Bahl, admitted that it didn't perform well and that it wasn't what players were looking for. A couple of key quotes:

“I don’t think we were happy with every aspect of last year’s game, and we heard the feedback loud and clear. With Modern Warfare 4, we’ve tried to adjust based on that feedback. It’s getting back to a grounded military shooter. Making it cinematic, making it authentic, and bringing that edge back that Call of Duty is known for.”

"It was not something that our community was looking for. They wanted something fresh, and even though there were different time settings, and ways to play the game with new features, that tonal shift is something that they were looking for."

I've spoken before of Call of Duty fatigue, and to me it's personified by the sheer quantity of Black Ops and Modern Warfare games in recent memory. Aside from Vanguard, eight of the last nine Call of Duty games have been either Black Ops or Modern Warfare.

As we're already expecting, Call of Duty 2027 is set to be a new sub-franchise spearheaded by Sledgehammer Games. It certainly feels refreshing to have something completely new to look forward to.

Early signs for Modern Warfare 4 are positive, though. At least, speaking personally. DMZ is looking really interesting; the campaign will absolutely be better than last year's game, and the movement and mechanics we experienced in the beta I thought were pretty good.

The uphill battle Activision faces is the slide in player sentiment and, as a result, player retention. Bahl talks in the interview about nostalgia, lest we forget how successful the Black Ops and Black Ops 2 ports were on PS5.

But he also acknowledges that the teams working on Call of Duty have to be part of the community. They need to listen to players, they need to engage with players and they need to be more transparent. He points to the widespread appearance of the game at public events, putting the game in as many people's hands as possible before it comes out and letting them form their own opinion. Rather than parroting that of the internet echo chamber.

The other interesting point I pulled from the interview was Bahl's remarks on how Modern Warfare 4 will be judged a success or not:

"We’re not really holding ourselves to a specific number. It’s more about living up to those expectations that we set out at the beginning of the year... Because even if it delivers on sales, if people don’t like the game, we’ve missed the mark.”

I really want to believe that player satisfaction is a priority metric. But we need to see it play out that way. We've had two years of Call of Duty on Xbox Game Pass, which instigated a price increase and then a price decrease and the removal of the franchise from being added during its first year.

Revenue from sales was a driving factor. Game Pass players don't pay full price; even if they subscribe for a year, not all that money is attributable to Call of Duty. Revenue dropped, but then we also have Black Ops 6 experiencing a record launch.

Let's just say I'm skeptical. But I'm prepared to give Activision a chance to live up to it. Whether you enjoy the game or not, it's easy to look at it as an $80 storefront for skins, with a video game attached to it.

I want Modern Warfare 4 to be good. I want it to do well, and I want Call of Duty to get back to being the biggest and best there is. Only time will tell.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 was always going to be a tough launch. After back-to-back releases on Xbox Game Pass, this year's Call of Duty isn't, and of course, it comes out less than a month before GTA 6.

In the latest race to secure your pre-order for Modern Warfare 4, Activision has announced today that two-thirds of the game will now be playable early. But only if you've pre-ordered it in time. And only if you've digitally pre-ordered it. Physical copies will still have to wait until the main launch date.

Campaign early access begins on October 16, and four days later we'll now be able to drop into DMZ on October 20. The game actually releases on October 23, but at this point, that only now means multiplayer.

We're at the end of a weeklong drop of intel on the DMZ mode, which it's fair to say is the one that people who are planning to play Modern Warfare 4 are most interested in.

During the beta we got a chance to try out the multiplayer and play through a campaign mission, but nobody has yet touched the extraction shooter mode, DMZ.

It's not the first time Call of Duty has dabbled with an extraction shooter. The first DMZ (which you can still play) was a free-to-play expansion of Modern Warfare 2. Then a year later came Modern Warfare 3 Zombies, which utilized the Ursikstan Warzone map for an entirely PvE extraction experience.

Black Ops 7 also had Endgame, another purely PvE extraction mode, but with the return of DMZ, it'll be back to PvPvE action.

It looks extremely promising, though. There will be missions to complete and narratives to unravel, rewards to be earned, and what looks like a fairly deep and substantial progression system.

DMZ will also have its own Mastery Camo grind, which will certainly require some forward planning based on the gameplay loop. If you lose a weapon in the DMZ, you'll need to get another, or acquire it through the FOB, which also requires extra steps.

Nevertheless, if you're looking forward to DMZ, get your digital pre-order in now at the Xbox Store (with Xbox Play Anywhere), Steam, PS5, or Battle.net.

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While a lot of the Microsoft Surface/NVIDIA co-event is talk of AI, and indeed RTX Spark isn't being marketed as a gaming platform so much, gaming still got a pretty big mention.

One of Microsoft's biggest franchises, Call of Duty, will be available on RTX Spark devices at some point in 2027. At first that might not sound like a big deal; after all, it's a Microsoft game on a Microsoft-powered platform.

But as with the Steam Deck and the Qualcomm Snapdragon X platform, the big sticking point has been anticheat support. Lots of games can be played on Windows on Arm already, and surprisingly well. But anticheat support is still in its infancy, and this news means that Activision's Ricochet is being developed to run on ARM64.

What can we take from this? Well, the view I'm taking as a Call of Duty player is that this is a pretty significant development for the future of the franchise. Sure, folks buying RTX Spark laptops and desktops in the foreseeable future are likely developers or AI enthusiasts first, but people still like to game.

Folks can talk about whether Ricochet is any good or not until they're blue in the face, but it's required to play modern Call of Duty titles on PC. Today, that means AMD and Intel-powered systems only because of the kernel-level anticheat.

Coming to RTX Spark means Ricochet is being developed to support ARM64, and in the longer term, that surely means not only systems using NVIDIA's chip. I still long to see a world where Snapdragon and RTX Spark chips are powering future handhelds, and I want those devices to be able to play my favorite game my hopeless addiction.

Failing that, at some point I know I'll be moving to Windows on Arm fully. Even if it's not for some years, given the price of everything, it's going to happen, and I want all my games on there.

Ricochet joins the likes of Epic's Easy Anti Cheat, Denuvo, and Battleye, all of which have plans to support Windows on Arm.

The other thing we can take is that it was very deliberately announced as "Call of Duty." Not Modern Warfare 4, which is the next game to launch on October 23 this year. 2027 is a big window of time, so it is possible it could take until next year's game to get everything up and running.

Then there are the legacy titles that also use Ricochet. Will these be included, or just the most current release at the time?

In any case, I'm glad to hear this news. Even if Windows on Arm isn't going to be a true gamer's platform for a while yet, we have to start somewhere. And this is a big step in the right direction.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is just over a couple of weeks away (less if you get the early access to the campaign), but there's still time to get your pre-order in before that.

If you're ordering on Xbox Series X or PS5, then there's a strong case to order a physical copy, because you can get some free stuff with your purchase.

If you grab Modern Warfare 4 at Amazon, you'll get five hours of 2XP tokens to use in the game. If you're a collector, head over to Best Buy where you can get an exclusive steelbook. Modern Warfare 4 costs the same at either, with the standard edition running for $69.99.

After a bit of a slow start, there's actually a lot to look forward to in Modern Warfare 4. DMZ has finally had a full reveal, and there's still more to come. But it looks extremely promising, turning Call of Duty into a serious extraction shooter.

The campaign is a return to normality after the unusual one we had in Black Ops 7, with the Korean setting looking absolutely glorious from what we've seen so far.

As ever, we'll be jumping into a new Mastery Camo grind, and there will be all manner of calling cards, blueprints, and other items to unlock, and no shortage of things to do.

It's also worth remembering that Modern Warfare 4 will not be available on Xbox Game Pass at launch. After back-to-back releases, the title has since been removed, and we don't expect to see it added to the library until October 2028 at the earliest.

So if you want to play, you need to buy like the old days. So you may as well get some added bonuses for yourself while you're at it.

If, like me, you've been playing Black Ops 7 all year, you probably have a good stash of 2XP tokens already, so I'd definitely go for the steelbook. That and I'm a sucker for a steelbook. But if you've had time away, those 2XP tokens will certainly help you burn through the early levelling process a bit quicker.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 doesn't have the range of game modes to play when compared to Black Ops 7, but we are getting a return of DMZ.

Previously tried in the Modern Warfare II era, DMZ is back without a beta tag, and we've had our first detail drop on what's going down.

Infinity Ward is using this entire week to drop intel on DMZ, and the first has arrived with an overview of the mechanics and the Hajin location. A second drop is planned later this week with a full tour of the Forward Operating Base (FOB). But here's a brief summary of what we know so far.

What is DMZ in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4?

DMZ returns as Call of Duty turns its hand to an extraction shooter once more. The original DMZ first touched on this, and then subsequent attempts were made with Modern Warfare 3 Zombies (MWZ) and later Endgame in Black Ops 7.

Unlike MWZ and Endgame, DMZ returns to the PvPvE gameplay loop of the original DMZ, much like other popular extraction shooters such as Marathon and Arc Raiders. Unlike those two, however, there is currently no planned PvE-only mode.

DMZ gets its own map, Hajin, where operators will drop into the Exclusion Zone. The basic loop is drop in, complete objectives, earn loot, and extract with your spoils. As it's PvEvP, though, you'll encounter both AI enemies and real-world players.

DMZ will also have its own progression track (though you'll still be able to earn overall player and weapon XP), leveling up to 70. Progression through the levels will unlock new FOB stations and crafting recipes among its rewards, so the higher you get, the better equipped you'll be. Pretty standard.

The Forward Operating Base (FOB) is your DMZ command center

More is to come later in the week regarding the full tour of the FOB, but we do at least already have a basic overview of what it is and how it'll work.

Essentially this is your base of operations for all DMZ runs. The FOB "evolves with you" as you progress, turning from nothing into your own personal stronghold.

From the off you'll have five stations available, which will help you manage your operators, your stash, your mission directives, a firing range, and survival kits, which are "themed packs of loot items" used for crafting or gearing up. I'm hoping that these kits are acquirable via means that don't revolve around paying money, but we'll have to wait for the full intel drop to know more.

There's also the Deploy station that is permanently available, as you'll use it for the pretty obvious task of deploying into Hajin.

As you progress through DMZ, there are a further seven stations to unlock, some of which will track progression and offer a little vanity, others for crafting and acquiring better gear using resources or the mode's dedicated currency, DMZ cash.

• Every FOB Station in Modern Warfare 4 DMZ and what you need them for.

DMZ deployment objectives and progression

Each run in DMZ will follow a fairly regular pattern, albeit always with the threat of other players derailing you.

Progression relies on exploration, combat, and completing objectives across the various POIs. And looting, of course. Part of this can be influenced by the 3D Printer at your FOB, which will give you a heads-up on which parts of the map will drop items that you're specifically looking for.

Side Ops are the lower-stress objectives that will allow you to explore Hajin a little more, gather materials, and get intel on some boss locations. Dynamic Operations will reward DMZ Cash, XP, and Supply Drops that scale up in quality based on how many you've completed.

Looting will remain key, though, as besides stocking up on essential consumables such as armor plates and bandages, you'll also be on the lookout for special items, like keys to unlock better loot rooms. There are also apparently a bunch of underground entrances to locate from the more rural areas of Hajin.

You're also guided by DMZ Orders, which will help you both get to grips with DMZ and guide you on the right path to progression, as well as further the narrative.

After every DMZ deployment, you'll be presented with an After Action Report, whether you managed to exfil or not. Ratings go from F (I'm definitely getting plenty of those) all the way up to S++. It'll show you how you did on your run, as well as the XP progress you've made on your DMZ rank as well as your Dog Tag level. The latter will help you upgrade your operator's traits, so it's one to pay close attention to as you start to attempt the more difficult content.

The Hajin map for DMZ is a sizeable location packed with POIs of varying difficulty. If you've played MWZ or Endgame before, you'll have a basic idea of how it goes. The low-threat zone is where you'll start out, find your feet, and do some looting, and gradually you'll begin making your way into the higher-threat zones where the more difficult objectives (and better rewards) lie.

There is a lot more to digest as we head towards the launch of Modern Warfare 4 on October 23. I have plenty of my own questions that can't be answered until it's actually here, like how it's going to play out for solo players, how 'sweaty' the PvP will get, and such. But the initial impressions are pretty good.

In the "From the Ward" video (which you can see above) there's also a brief tease of what's to come via seasonal content, including new bosses, and, apparently, new maps, or at least, new parts of Hajin.

I want DMZ to be good, and I want it to be stacked with content throughout the lifespan of Modern Warfare 4. With only multiplayer or Warzone to play otherwise, I'm banking a lot on this mode. I'm probably not alone there, either. I can't do a full year on multiplayer alone.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is finally launching on October 23, and the mode that's probably most hyped is DMZ. It's been teased for some time, but as we get closer to launch we're finally getting more information on what it is, how it's going to play, and the mechanics we're going to be experiencing.

One of the key parts of DMZ will be the Forward Operating Base (FOB). This is essentially your command center before and after your runs, and crucially, it will evolve as you play the game and progress further.

The FOB will be made up of a number of different Stations, some more crucial to how well you're going to do than others. You'll start out with some, and as you level up, you'll unlock more, as well as be able to upgrade them.

At a glance

• The FOB is your pre- and post-match hub where you'll manage every aspect of your DMZ deployments.
• It's divided into FOB Stations, some of which are available immediately; others will unlock as you progress.
• The Stations will help you manage loadouts and your stash, craft better gear, track your objectives, and even show off a little.

Modern Warfare 4 DMZ FOB Stations and how to unlock them

When you begin, your FOB will be far from complete. Some Stations will be available straight away; others you'll need to unlock by leveling up through your DMZ progression.

Some will be essential to success in future runs. Others seem purely for your own vanity. Here is a list of the FOB Stations for Modern Warfare 4 DMZ and how you unlock each of them

Immediately available FOB Stations

• Operators (Active Duty): Manage available operators, their status, upgrade traits, and choose one for deployment.
• Stash/Loadout: The stash allows you to store gear you've looted from previous runs in DMZ, including weapons, gear, crafting materials, and more.
• DMZ Orders: The place to see your Mission Directives that will help guide you through DMZ, tell the story, and help you master the Exclusion Zone.
• Firing Range: A Call of Duty staple for testing your weapons before dropping in for a run.
• Survival Kits: Themed packs of loot that can be used to craft items or as part of your next loadout.
• Bounty Leaderboard: Tracking the most successful PvP players in the Exclusion Zone.

Unlockable FOB Stations and how to unlock them

• 3D Printer (Unlock at DMZ Player Level 2): This is used for crafting items and upgrading other FOB Stations once you have the right items. Printer Resources and Ingredients can be found during deployments in DMZ.
• Boss Board (Unlock after completing your second DMZ Order): Buy intel on Lieutenants, and additional information on Commanders.
• Vendor (Unlock at DMZ Player Level 5): A daily rotation of items you can buy with DMZ Cash.
• Gunsmith (Unlock at DMZ Player Level 10): Spend DMZ Cash to buy attachments for weapons you've looted or craft new ones from scratch. Extracting Weapon Manuals increases the selection of weapons you can craft.
• Dog Tag Case (Unlock at DMZ Player Level 20): Show off the dog tags you've collected from defeating other players during your deployments.

Always available FOB Station

• Deploy: Does what it says on the tin. You'll go here to drop into Hajin for a new DMZ run.
• DMZ Progression: Monitor your DMZ progression track and the rewards unlocked at their corresponding levels.

Modern Warfare 4 DMZ FOB Station overview

The latest DMZ intel drop has given us a better understanding of how each FOB Station will work and what you can do with them.

Operators Station

Operators are largely cosmetic choices, as in multiplayer. You'll earn DMZ Player Level XP across all of them, but each will grow individually as you deploy with them. Whether that's by extracting with better gear or upgrading their abilities with Traits.

Each Operator has a set of Dog Tags that will improve in quality as that Operator progresses from Steel up to Onyx tier, with three levels at each stage. As the Dog Tags improve, you'll be awarded Trait Points, which can be invested into that Operator to develop a unique set of abilities for a specific playstyle. You'll spend the Trait Points across three different skill trees – Warfighter, Scout, and Survivalist – and each Operator can earn up to 18 Trait Points. Eventually you can hit Prestige with an Operator, and they'll be rewarded with permanent Prestige Traits.

DMZ Operator Prestige is not linked to the main Modern Warfare 4 player Prestige system or the DMZ Player Level system. It's a completely separate process and is individually linked to the Operator. So if you have multiple Operators, you'll have multiple Prestige opportunities. To hit Prestige for the first time you'll need 18 Trait Points, Rare or higher-quality weapons, backpack, plate carrier, 3D Printer Ingredients (at least four), and sufficient DMZ Cash. As with traditional Prestige, gear is removed, Traits are reset, and a permanent Prestige Trait is applied. It's randomly assigned, though, so there will be some pot luck involved.

Once you've completed three Prestige tiers, you can keep going indefinitely. This is how you can roll the dice and replace one of your permanent Prestige Traits with a new one. So, if you're not keen on what you get, you can keep Prestiging until you do. Hitting Prestige on multiple Operators will reward special calling cards and "Classified" rewards.

Each Operator is locked to the slot you assign it to unless you dismiss them. You can only assign an Operator to one active slot at a time, and when you start out in DMZ you'll have two active slots. As you level up your DMZ Player Level XP, you'll unlock more. That is unless you buy the Vault Edition of Modern Warfare 4, where you'll start with three active slots.

If you're eliminated during a deployment in DMZ that Operator becomes MIA and you can't deploy them again until they're recovered. You can do this by spending DMZ Cash, but the cost goes up depending on how advanced they are with Trait Points. When recovered, the Operator will be without their gear, so you'll need to equip a fresh loadout. Alternatively, you can dismiss the MIA Operator and start again.

DMZ Orders Station

This is where you'll manage your current missions, which help deliver the narrative but also have their own rewards that you'll want to claim by completing them. They're also important to help you get to grips with DMZ, rather than just dropping in and running around in the blind.

DMZ Orders reward loot and DMZ Cash, so they're going to be important parts of the game to complete.

Stash/Loadout Station

The Stash is your storage of gear extracted, crafted, or earned that you don't want to take into the DMZ with you. Your loadout goes into your backpack, and it sounds like there are increasing tiers of backpack quality to presumably hold more stuff. Just as in the original DMZ and Modern Warfare 3 Zombies.

Essentially the loop is to build a loadout, deploy, do things in the DMZ, exfil, and then offload valuable resources and gear you'd rather keep for another day.

Importantly, resources such as DMZ Cash, 3D Printer Ingredients, and other "content" you manage to extract from the DMZ will be shared across your active Operators. Activision gives an example of using one Operator skilled in finding valuable items to do loot runs, then using other Operators to make use of them.

Firing Range Station

Exactly what it says on the tin. Just like the other modes in Call of Duty games that have a firing range, it's a place to test your weapons before you deploy. That's about it.

Survival Kits Station

Survival Kits are filled with supplies to take into DMZ runs with you. Think armor, tacticals, medical supplies, ammo, all the sundries you're going to need alongside your chosen weapons.

This station in the FOB allows you to unpack Survival Kits and add all the contents to your stash. All unopened Survival Kits will stay at the Station until used, and you can stack them up indefinitely.

Acquiring Survival Kits can be achieved through increasing your DMZ Player Level, completing DMZ Orders and missions, and being given out as event rewards when they begin, presumably from Season 1.

Bounty Leaderboard Station

This Station is all about PvP and will give you a heads-up on who the top 50 most wanted players are at any given time, as well as the top 50 bounty hunters.

If you kill real-world players, you'll eventually earn yourself a bounty and be branded as a "Killer". Keep eliminating, and your bounty goes up, and after four Operator kills you'll become Wanted. If you come close to a Wanted Operator during your deployment, you'll be alerted.

Alternatively, you can become a Hunter, use DMZ Cash to help locate the Wanted, and eliminate them for a fat sack of DMZ Cash. But to collect the reward, you have to exfil with their Dog Tag.

3D Printer Station

This is your crafting station in the FOB, and thankfully you unlock it pretty early on. You'll use resources extracted from the DMZ, and as you progress through the mode you'll be rewarded with new items to craft here.

To craft items, you'll need a combination of recipes, resources, and 3D Printer ingredients. To unlock new recipes, you'll need to increase your DMZ Player Level, extract them from the DMZ, or complete relevant DMZ Orders. If you ever played Modern Warfare 3 Zombies, getting recipes sounds a lot like getting schematics. If you extract with a recipe you found, it will automatically be added to your 3D Printer Station.

You can store all your necessary parts in your stash until you need them, so it'll be a good idea to always try and exfil with as much as you can carry.

Items will have differing rarities and requirements to craft, but you'll also use the 3D Printer Station to upgrade your FOB. These include upgrades to the bank, stash capacity, MIA recovery discounts, and increasingly rare ingredient printing, whatever that means.

Boss Board Station

This Station will give you the necessary intel on High Value Targets in the DMZ. You'll complete the necessary challenges first, then you'll be able to buy the intel with DMZ Cash. Additionally, you can locate Lieutenants in-game by activating an Upload Station.

Lieutenants will all carry a unique loadout with a signature weapon that has a chance to drop after you eliminate them. They can also drop keys to locked locations, which can be a place to find their signature weapon if they didn't drop it. Each intel is only good for a single deployment, so if you miss the chance, you'll have to buy it again. To progress the Boss Board, you'll also want to grab their Dog Tag Case, but if you do, your location will be broadcast to all other players on the map, so you'll want to get out of town as quickly as possible.

Continued elimination of Lieutenants also comes with additional "Classified" rewards, though it doesn't say whether you have to extract with the Dog Tag Case each time to earn these.

Commanders can include tanks, massive drones, and a huge, heavily armored soldier that fires depleted uranium rounds from a minigun. Which sounds terrifying.

Vendor Station

The Vendor Station is your DMZ gear shop where you'll be able to buy a rotating selection of items using DMZ Cash. The higher your DMZ Player Level, the better the gear you can buy, and if you upgrade it with the 3D Printer, you'll have even more, even better choices.

The Vendor is going to be a quick way to get your hands on items you haven't yet been able to craft or extract with, so you'll want to keep some DMZ Cash handy.

Gunsmith Station

Gunsmith works similarly to multiplayer in that it's where you'll build out your weapons and customize them with camos. The difference here is that you unlock attachments by leveling up weapons, but to equip them you'll have to buy them with DMZ Cash. This doesn't apply to cosmetic changes, though.

However, weapon leveling progression is shared between DMZ and multiplayer, so you only have to do it once. Any attachments you unlock in one mode you'll have access to in the other.

Gunsmith weapons have five attachment slots, but weapons you extract can have up to eight attachments. These can also be brought into the Gunsmith as a single-instance weapon, but if you're eliminated in the DMZ, you'll still lose it and any upgrades you made.

You'll also be able to purchase weapons from the Gunsmith Station, but only if you find the relevant Weapon Manual first. Once you've extracted a Weapon Manual you can buy it as often as you like.

An additional nice touch is that any dedicated weapon blueprints you get your hands on, such as the one from the Modern Warfare 4 beta, you get one chance to use it in DMZ for free. If you lose it, it's gone. You can buy it back with DMZ Cash at a reduced rate, but you only get a one-time freebie. This also applies to blueprints from the Vault Edition.

You can also share weapons you've built in your Gunsmith with your squadmates. If you can take it into a deployment using an extra slot in your backpack, you'll be able to drop it for a squadmate to pick up.

Dog Tag Case Station

Show off your PvP wins by displaying the Dog Tags from Operators you eliminated. You need to exfil successfully with their Dog Tag to be able to showcase it, and as you progress, you can upgrade this FOB Station like all the others.

This is just a brief summary of what each FOB Station does and how you unlock each of them. There's a lot more to digest both in the run-up to the launch of Modern Warfare 4 on October 23 and beyond.

It's clear this is a pretty sizeable mode, though, and there are a lot of mechanics that will feel familiar and plenty that won't. But it's shaping up to be something quite promising.

A reminder that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will not launch on Xbox Game Pass this year. It can be pre-ordered now on the Xbox Store, and it supports Xbox Play Anywhere.

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As Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 approaches on October 23, the PR machine is really getting into full swing. Whether it's reactive or not is irrelevant, so long as players are being given worthwhile features.

It looks like Modern Warfare 4 is going to fix one of the biggest points of irritation I have with Call of Duty in general: burning through 2XP tokens while you're sat in the lobby, or tweaking your loadout, or hell, even checking on your Camo challenges.

Announced today is the news that this will not be the case in Modern Warfare 4. 2XP tokens will now only count down in-game time, not from the very second you apply them, as happens right now.

I don't know if there's panic setting in, if these ideas were always planned, or if players are actually being listened to. But this is twice in recent days that we're getting some positive news about features for Modern Warfare 4.

The 2XP token update comes after the news that from Season 1, when Warzone is integrated with Modern Warfare 4, players will have a toggle to turn off all the goofy legacy skins and see default MW4 operators instead.

I'm not sure this is enough to make me want to play Warzone outside of doing the Mastery Camo, but still, it's another big W from Call of Duty for its players. Even though I only tolerate Warzone for the barest minimum time, there are some truly heinous cosmetics going back as far as Modern Warfare 2.

In isolation each of these may seem small, but both are actually significant quality of life increases. I can now work on the Warzone Mastery Camo without seeing Beavis and Butthead or American Dad, and I can do so knowing I'm not losing my 2XP tokens while waiting on matchmaking.

There are still plenty of improvements that could be made, though. I don't really have a dog in the SBMM fight, but plenty of players do, even if it doesn't look like it's going away. The anticheat will also be a big focus, again, and Activision talks a big game, but players are only going to be happy when they see it working.

But I'm happy to take the wins wherever they come. I've got about 50 hours of 2XP and 52 hours of 2XP weapon tokens to burn through when Modern Warfare 4 comes out. I'm glad that will at least translate to in-game hours and not losing half of it outside of matches.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on October 23 (though the campaign has an early access period for a week prior to this), and if you're jumping in at launch, then you're going to want to burn through leveling up as fast as possible, right?

Whether you're going down the Classic Prestige route (aka, the proper way) or the other Prestige that doesn't reset your progress and gives fewer rewards, there are a lot of levels to climb through. Then there are the weapons, which, based on the Modern Warfare 4 beta period, will take some time.

What you need to speed this process up is a big stash of 2XP tokens. You've likely already got some if you've been playing Black Ops 7, and they will carry forward to Modern Warfare 4. But you should be at least opening Black Ops 7 every day right now to maximize your gains going into the new game by getting all the free 2XP tokens you can.

Open Black Ops 7 daily, grab the free 2XP tokens and profit

Even if you've stopped actively playing Black Ops 7 now (I know I've been putting some time into Modern Warfare 3 Zombies instead), don't uninstall it.

Instead, open it up every day, and go straight to the Store tab. I don't know if it's actually every day, but it sure feels like it right now, but when you open the game after each daily reset, you'll likely see the message "free" at the top of the screen just under where it says Store.

There could be free Gobblegums, but those won't be any use to you in Modern Warfare 4. But what you do need to do is scroll down a little further and look for the "Free Gift" box.

Whatever this is, claim it. It could be a 2XP token, a 2XP Weapon token, or a 2XP Battle Pass token. All three will carry forward into Modern Warfare 4, but it's the first two in particular that you want to be stocking up on.

Just claim it, but be sure not to press the equip button when you do. This way it'll go into your pile, and you can close the game until the next day. Just rinse and repeat and stock up all the way through to October 22.

Finish the Black Ops 7 Season 06 Battle Pass if you can

None of the weapons or cosmetic items you can get in the Season 06 Battle Pass in Black Ops 7 will be usable in Modern Warfare 4 (though you will be able to use some of these in Warzone).

But the Battle Pass also gives you 2XP and 2XP Weapon tokens, alongside COD Points which also carry forward into Modern Warfare 4.

So, if you can finish the current Battle Pass, you'll get a few more tokens to add into your stash. But obviously for this, you'll have to play the game. I recommend not having auto-redeem turned on so you choose the rewards you claim as you progress.

It'll at least make the process shorter if you're mostly interested in the tokens and the currency since new pages can unlock before you've claimed everything on the current one.

This may all sound a little "duhhhh" to regular players, but it's worth highlighting. Especially as we're in that period where traditionally even those regular players have moved away from the current Call of Duty.

Better still, at least if you have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, is that you can claim these tokens even if you haven't played a lick of Black Ops 7. Maybe you skipped this year, but you're coming back for Modern Warfare 4. In that case, why not give yourself a little leg up?

It only takes a couple of minutes to fire up the game, grab any free tokens, and close it again. But it'll certainly help your leveling in Modern Warfare 4.

As will doing it the proper way and going Classic Prestige. Using this track will grant improved XP gains, so you'll be getting higher, faster. Make things easy on yourself; it's the smart thing to do.

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The echo chamber on the internet would have you believe that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was a horrible game. After many hundreds of hours playing, I don't agree with that, at least not entirely. Like most games, it has its good points and its bad points.

But as we're approaching yet another yearly cycle with Modern Warfare 4 arriving next month, once again it's time for opinions to be voiced around how the franchise should become "good" again.

For many, it's a return to the glory days of multiplayer. There are those who believe that Warzone should be completely split off as its own thing, too, and not tied to the yearly release. And plenty more besides.

But on the Warzone front, I agree, and a video I watched by dkdynamite on YouTube takes this idea and applies it to Zombies. There are so many different experiences under Call of Duty these days, but I'm not so sure this approach of making one game to suit everyone is working.

I think it's time that parties from Microsoft/Xbox and Activision get their respective heads together and think long and hard about what the road ahead looks like. I think that road should be a break up of Call of Duty.

Break up Call of Duty? What do you mean?

The traditional core of Call of Duty is the campaign and the multiplayer. As the years have passed, though, Zombies has grown to be a huge part of the game's audience, and of course, there's Warzone. The free-to-play battle royale mode that I personally think has infected too much of the main game.

Using Black Ops 7 as an example, there has been a ridiculous amount of content to play. Beyond the core campaign and multiplayer, there's an extensive Zombies mode, there's Endgame, and there have been limited-time modes and special events across all three, and Warzone is there on the side with its own batch of content.

There are players who will dive into each mode, but it's impossible to do so fully in a year. For many of us, the camo grind and calling card challenges draw us in long enough to complete them, and then we'll go back to our preferred mode.

Zombies players are the best example right now, because after five consecutive Call of Duty releases with Zombies (of some form), Modern Warfare 4 is arriving without. So what's attracting those players to Modern Warfare 4 for the next year? Aside from the campaign, there's a grand total of zero content (at least confirmed for now) of a PvE nature in Modern Warfare 4. DMZ has PvP, with no sign so far of a dedicated PvE mode.

This is why I think it's time to stop the cycle and start breaking apart the various aspects of Call of Duty. Does that mean a standalone Zombies game that runs alongside but is separated from a yearly release or multiple yearly releases? Does that mean Warzone is just Warzone and does its own thing? DMZ getting more than a year of live support and continuing into 2028 or beyond?

Yes to all. I sure wish Black Ops 7 Endgame was getting a second year.

Trying to please everyone pleases no one

Sure, it would require a significant shift and some reorganization, but Call of Duty is owned by Microsoft, one of the biggest companies on the planet.

But the current yearly cycle isn't pleasing anyone. Warzone players are peeved that every year their game gets changed based on whatever that year's main release is. Zombies players now have nothing new until at least next year, or 2028, when Treyarch returns. Multiplayer fans are constantly aggravated by something.

There are so many plates spinning.

There's no way that the yearly release cycle will end, no matter how many of us think it should. The money has to keep rolling in. But I argue that happy players are players who spend money on a game, whatever form that takes.

Call of Duty is big enough that it could be a collection of games, not just one. Give us a new multiplayer every year and a new campaign. But how about a standalone PvE game based on Zombies that lives for multiple years alongside it?

The problem is I feel, and I'm sure I'm not alone, that the cycle and every game is built with the top priority being monetization, not getting people to play and enjoy playing. We saw it with the price increase to Game Pass post-Black Ops 6 and when that didn't work out, the subsequent removal of Call of Duty from being a day-one Game Pass release.

The revenue took a dive because people were jumping in on Game Pass, not paying $80 whether they played it for a week or a year, on top of any additional microtransactions. So it's off Game Pass.

Would it not be better to have more dedicated experiences for players to enjoy for longer? Give teams a focus, time to breathe, and time to work their magic and focus on making and supporting games that players want to play, rather than keep tolerating.

Older Call of Duty games prove this could work

People will stick around. They will keep playing older Call of Duty games. I recently tried Modern Warfare 3 Zombies for the first time in my life, and it's still stacked with players.

Black Ops Cold War is now on Game Pass, which has brought a lot of us back in, but there are plenty who never stopped.

Lest we forget the recent Black Ops and Black Ops 2 ports on PS5. How popular they have been despite their issues.

The point is that a good experience lasts, and players will stick around playing it. So instead of getting to a point where everyone's tired of the current game and goes back to the older ones, how about we just build longer-lasting experiences to begin with? I think part of why the older games still hold up is because we don't really appreciate them until they're in the rearview mirror and we have more time to take it all in.

Don't expect Warzone players to play multiplayer or Zombies. Don't expect either of those two types of players to want to play Warzone. Hell, if casual mode didn't exist, I wouldn't have done the mastery camo. Even then it was 65 hours of misery because I just don't like Warzone. But give each type of player their own bespoke experience.

Give each mode the space, and importantly, the time, to breathe. From the creation to post-launch support.

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Alongside the new, and honestly quite epic-looking, campaign trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 that was released during the Xbox Tokyo Game Show presentation, we have some comments on the future of one of Microsoft's crown jewels.

Underneath the X post publishing the trailer on the official Call of Duty account, Modern Warfare 4 players are invited to "witness the epic conclusion".

The latest game does indeed follow Modern Warfare 3 and the storyline first introduced when the franchise was rebooted back in 2019, and all signs point to this being the final entry in a now quadrilogy.

You could read into this however you wish. It's obviously bringing the current series to a close, but does Modern Warfare still have a future as a franchise?

What we do at least know is that Call of Duty 2027 is being made by Sledgehammer Games, and we're anticipating a new sub-series, the first in six years by that point from Sledgehammer last introducing the newness that was Vanguard.

I think now is the time to draw the curtain on both Modern Warfare and Black Ops, in all honesty. Since 2019 we've had four Modern Warfare games, three Black Ops games, and Vanguard.

The complaints will never go away, though, whatever Call of Duty does. But I genuinely think that Modern Warfare and Black Ops fatigue, even if subconscious, is partly at fault. By October 23, these two series will have resulted in 14 of the 23 total Call of Duty games we've had.

Business-wise, it's easy to see why. The likes of Ghosts, Advanced Warfare, and Infinite Warfare weren't as well received, nor were WW2 or Vanguard. But I'm convinced now that we've played more than enough Modern Warfare and Black Ops for a while. Unless the original Black Ops games are to get remakes, I don't think we need to see it again for some time after back-to-back years.

And that's the other thing. The last five years have seen back-to-back Modern Warfare titles, then back-to-back Black Ops titles, before going back to Modern Warfare again. They're clearly the most successful by a number of metrics, but it isn't going to last forever.

I do think there's an element of rose-tinted glasses, too. Modern Warfare (2019) is looked upon very highly, but we also need to remember that it, and Warzone that came in the same year, was around at a time we were all locked indoors with nothing to do. Personally, I didn't take to the all-new Modern Warfare coming after Black Ops 4 and ended up having some time away from playing Call of Duty entirely.

Treyarch has already teased that the studio is ready to make "something new and something that nobody's ever experienced before" when it comes back around to its turn for Call of Duty in a couple of years.

I will close, though, by saying that I have (mostly) enjoyed Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, and the latter I don't think is deserving of a lot of the negativity thrown its way. But it is time for something new, something that isn't Black Ops or Modern Warfare, and frankly, something that doesn't feel like it's built entirely to provide a platform for Warzone.

What that looks like only time will tell, but if Microsoft wants to keep its golden goose going strong, it needs to take some risks. I'm already of the mind that not putting Modern Warfare 4 on Game Pass is going to affect its player count, especially given GTA 6 launches less than a month later. I guess we'll see what happens.

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Additionally, we know that Warzone will be shutting down on Xbox One and PS4 when the final Black Ops 7 season ends, as those platforms won't be getting Modern Warfare 4 or its Warzone integration.

So it stands to reason that the Warzone Modern Warfare 4 update will come as that season ends. Season 06 began on September 17, and based on the timer on the Battle Pass it looks to expire on November 4.

Note, this is all speculation right now. But we can see when the final Black Ops 7 season is going to end, but we won't know for sure until Activision confirms a date for the start of Season 1 in Modern Warfare 4.

We did get an early look at the Modern Warfare 4 update to Warzone in the recent open beta, which showcased the new Zodiac Resurgence map.

We've also been recently updated that Warzone will get a toggle in Modern Warfare 4 to turn off legacy operator skins. Players can use what they like, but if you enable the toggle, when you come up against them, you'll see standard Modern Warfare 4 operators instead.

This will apply to all other players, be they enemies, party members, or match-made squadmates. But rest assured, you can finally block Nicki Minaj from your eyeballs.

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Given that everyone will be starting Modern Warfare 4 from zero, now is a good time to stop using up any 2XP tokens you currently have on your account. They'll be far more beneficial, giving you a boost in the new game if you're going to play it. It's also worth claiming any free 2XP tokens given out most days in Black Ops 7 before the new game launches.

There will be two Prestige systems in Modern Warfare 4. A Classic Prestige where your unlocks will be reset every time you go up a tier, and another where you will still go through Prestige tiers, but without losing your unlocks. The rewards are better on Classic Prestige, and it gives out XP at an increased rate.

But whichever path you take, there will be a ton of levels so definitely take as many 2XP tokens as you can.

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Do I get to keep my old weapons, operators, and blueprints in Warzone when Modern Warfare 4 launches?

The exception to carry forward is Warzone, where traditionally older weapons, their attached blueprints, and unlocked camos are still usable in the battle royale modes. Likewise, previously unlocked operators and their skins can also be used.

This is still true with the launch of Modern Warfare 4, with the exception of legacy camos. Blueprints, operators, and operator skins will carry forward from as far back as Modern Warfare II, but not camos.

Be aware, though, that while you can use legacy operator skins, Warzone will have a toggle in Modern Warfare 4 that other players can use to ensure they can't see them.

There's no confirmed date for this yet, but the current best guess is early November, when the final Black Ops 7 season comes to an end.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on all platforms on Friday, October 23, 2026. Players who pre-order the game digitally on any platform will have early access to play the campaign a week prior on Friday, October 16.

Modern Warfare 4 will not be on Xbox Game Pass at launch. Based on Microsoft's previous statements, it's not expected to join Game Pass until October 2027 at the earliest.

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We've already had the Modern Warfare 4 beta weekends at the time of writing this post, so the next chance for anyone to play will be the early access period.

During this window, only the campaign will be playable. Anyone hoping to get a head start on the multiplayer camo grind will have to wait until the general release date.

The early access period does at least give players a chance to clear the campaign before full release. though, leaving the floor clear to jump right into multiplayer and DMZ.

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• Xbox Series X|S / Xbox on PC (supports Xbox Play Anywhere)
• PS5
• Steam
• Battle.net
• Nintendo

It's also worth a reminder that unlike Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, Modern Warfare 4 will not be on Xbox Game Pass at launch. The only way to play early is to pre-order. Modern Warfare 4 isn't currently expected in Game Pass until October 2027 at the earliest.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is fast approaching now that the traditional yearly beta test is out of the way. Included for the first time this year was a look at the next iteration of Call of Duty: Warzone, the free-to-play battle royale that ties in with a current year's game.

It's bittersweet for folks still on an Xbox One or a PS4, though, because they weren't able to try out the new Zodiac map, and they're never going to, either.

Modern Warfare 4 will be the first Call of Duty title to drop support for Xbox One and PS4, and, along with it, Warzone. The announcement was made back in June, but for now, the game is still playable.

That's going to change fairly soon, though. Here's what's already happened, what's going to happen, and, crucially, when the final shutdown will happen.

Why is Call of Duty: Warzone on Xbox One and PS4 being shut down?

The simple answer is that Warzone is shutting down on Xbox One and PS4 because Modern Warfare 4 will not be on those platforms.

Despite Warzone being free-to-play without any requirement to own the latest Call of Duty game, crucially, it integrates with each year's new game.

As Modern Warfare 4 will be taking over from Black Ops 7, and it won't be supported on the last-gen consoles, Warzone will no longer be playable.

When is Call of Duty: Warzone shutting down on Xbox One and PS4?

The official documentation states:

"Call of Duty: Warzone on PlayStation 4 and XBOX One will be available to play through the end of Season 06 for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7."

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will generally release on Friday, October 23, 2026. The assumption may be that this is when the Warzone shutdown will happen, but it's not that straightforward.

Traditionally, the Warzone integration doesn't go live when the new game launches. It follows on when Season 1 of said new game begins, and the same is happening this year.

Activision has confirmed Modern Warfare 4 Season 1 will start on Friday, November 6, 2026.

The final Season Pass of Black Ops 7 ends the day before, so it'd be a safe assumption that November 5 will be the last day of Warzone on Xbox One and PS4.

Can I still get Call of Duty: Warzone on Xbox One and PS4?

For now, you can only play Warzone on Xbox One or PS4 if you have previously added it to your library.

No new downloads are being offered on either console, but if you're a past player, you can still reinstall it and play until the shutdown date.

The store is also disabled now, despite showing up in the launcher. You're unable to spend anymore money or redeem COD Points.

What happens to all the stuff I've bought in Call of Duty: Warzone on Xbox One and PS4?

The in-game store has been closed for a while now, preventing players from spending real money via the Xbox One and PS4 versions.

But your purchases aren't disappearing. Because you have an Activision ID in order to play, all those purchases are tied to your account.

As such, if you log in on another platform at any time, you'll have everything there waiting for you.

I don't have an Xbox Series X|S, PS5, or gaming PC, so how can I keep playing Call of Duty: Warzone?

If you don't have more current hardware to move to or don't want to upgrade, you're all but out of options.

You do, however, have the ability to play Warzone via the cloud, either through Xbox Cloud Gaming or NVIDIA GeForce Now. The former, you can use on your Xbox One.

Is it the same experience? Not totally. The visuals and frame rate will certainly be an upgrade (especially on GeForce Now) but you do have to consider that you will have some additional latency concerns.

The game will be playing on a piece of hardware that's in someone else's building. While server latency in the game won't be too bad, you then have to stream the game to your own device. Cloud gaming has come a long way, though, and unless you're the absolute most competitive player, it might well be good enough.

The downside is that you're going to have to pay, even though NVIDIA does have a free tier. This one is limited to an hour's play, and you have no priority access, so if the servers are full, you'll be in a longer queue. And who wants to be chucked out in the final circle?

Likewise, you can't play Warzone via the cloud for free with Xbox Cloud Gaming, either. And from November, the changes to how cloud gaming works on Xbox Game Pass will limit even Ultimate subscribers to 15 hours per month without buying additional time.

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The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Open Beta weekend was expected to come to a close this afternoon, but just as the shutdown clock ticked toward its final moments, the team from Infinity Ward took to social media to share that players would have a few more hours to unlock exclusive Beta rewards.

The Open Beta for Modern Warfare 4 will now end on September 1 at 10 PM PT. For those on the East Coast, that makes the final end time September 2 at 1 AM ET.

The Open Beta weekend served as a second chance for players to provide feedback to Infinity Ward and the dozen other studios (including Raven Software and Beenox) that support the annually released first-person shooter. The Beta offered players their first hands-on experience with a select few maps and modes — including the new dynamic map Kill Block, new modes Hijack and Inflation, and a hands-on first look at new Ground War gameplay — that will be a part of the Multiplayer package for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.

The Beta also introduced players to the new Resurgence map — Zodiac — that will come to Call of Duty: Warzone with Season 1 of Modern Warfare 4's post-launch content.

In exchange for providing gameplay data, players could unlock special rewards to show their participation in the Beta. Beta rewards included unlocks for limited player emblems and weapon charms, though the most coveted rewards included the Beta Operator Skin unlocked at Level 20, a weapon blueprint unlocked at Level 30, and a secret hidden weapon camo that could only be unlocked by racking up 1500 player kills (not eliminations) during the Beta window.

Two opposing matchmaking systems have also been deployed with a variety of maps and modes. Modes with a modified Skill-Based Matchmaking (SBMM) algorithm have been pitted against the Open playlist popularized by Black Ops 7. The return of SBMM has led to some spirited debates as Infinity Ward maintains that player feedback indicates matches assembled with SBMM in place have better player retention and satisfaction.

Popular Call of Duty content creators and others from the community continue to argue that SBMM punishes players for doing well by putting them in more difficult lobbies.

Infinity Ward has made several adjustments to the multiplayer experience throughout the two live weekends of the Modern Warfare 4 Beta, making changes to weapon balancing and Time to Kill (TTK) in frequent patches. How Infinity Ward responds to feedback on SBMM ahead of the game's launch remains to be seen.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is scheduled to launch on October 23 on Xbox Series X|S consoles, PlayStation 5, PC via Steam, Battle.net, and Xbox on PC, and the Nintendo Switch 2. Players who preorder Modern Warfare 4 can jump into the game's campaign up to one week early, starting on October 16.

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Just before the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 beta early access weekend started, I wrote an article based on my brief initial play test prior to it going live. It was simply titled "I might have been wrong about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4."

I'm not going to go over too much old ground, but the tl;dr was that I expected not to enjoy this year's game at all based on past experience from the Modern Warfare reboot series.

But I am going to follow up after putting some hours in during said early access weekend on whether or not I was actually wrong. And yes, I was. Mostly. It's not perfect by any stretch, but from what I've seen so far, I am actually looking forward to playing this year's Call of Duty after all. But there's still some stuff I don't like.

The good about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4

Everything I said previously I liked about Modern Warfare 4 still stands. Possibly more so having shifted from playing on console initially over to PC.

It's easily the best-looking Call of Duty game in recent memory, for starters. The Silkworm map, especially, looks absolutely glorious if you turn up the graphics settings a bit.

But it's the campaign I think that'll really benefit here. We've only had a single mission, Entrenched, to play so far, but the visual appeal is clear, and it's absolutely filled with atmosphere.

The most competitive players will always turn the graphics right down, but for the rest of us, it's nice to be playing a Call of Duty that actually looks like a modern game.

The movement is also, I think, spot on. It doesn't feel as crazy fast as Black Ops 7; you can't jump up walls here, but it's fast enough. And it's only taken players a couple of days to figure out how to exploit it as best they can, be that positive or negative.

But combine the movement with the excellent gunplay, an aim assist that doesn't feel like it's doing all the work for you (at least in my opinion), and some solid weapons, and the core experience is very enjoyable.

I'm also a fan of the way Modern Warfare 4 handles its attachment unlocks. Once you get an attachment, it's automatically unlocked for all of the weapons you can use it on.

The Apex attachments you unlock when you reach max level are also an interesting addition. It's similar, I guess, to the prestige unlocks in Black Ops 7, except you don't lose an attachment slot to use them. They go on top of everything else.

The menu design is also excellent, and overall it's just a really solid player experience. Of particular note is more clarity on the server you're connected to, and I've been seeing low ping across the board.

The bad about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4

As good as the gameplay is, I'm not so much of a fan of the maps. There will be more at launch and in subsequent seasons, of course, but I don't think what they've given us in the first beta is the best way to show off this game.

If I have to play Transit 213 again, I'm going to lose my mind. It's another of those Call of Duty maps that are really small, where you're constantly on top of each other, and it falls into what I call the brainrot category.

Think Stakeout from Black Ops 6, Shipment from previous Modern Warfare games. It's not as bad as Shipment, but its only purpose in existing is for people to pad their stats and probably for camo unlocks. Otherwise it's horrible.

Silkworm, while looking amazing, isn't overly fun either. The middle lane is essentially a long open street, so you force yourself down the outer lanes, which both have lengthy open runs, too.

Rooftops feels like it should be a good map, with a mix of external and internal sections paired with elevation changes. But there's something about the way it plays right now that feels a little off.

Of the debuting maps, Cachette is a decent challenge, I feel, and I enjoyed Lotus the most by far. Both feel like they play more into a properly competitive, tactical way of playing rather than just running full speed at the opponents.

The meta also has not and will not change (outside of Ranked Play at least) from UAV spam. They're so easy to get; you'll be spammed constantly with multiple UAVs, and since they give away your positions, you become easy pickings. It also forces you to buy into that meta or be on the backfoot, and I'd rather use my streaks a different way.

I'd love to see Infinity Ward change the UAV so it's harder to get, but I don't see that happening. Add in the Personal Radar Field Upgrade and you may as well just walk around with a glowing beacon on your head inviting your opponents to take you down.

There's also a healthy round of weapon balancing that needs to happen, and I'm sure it will, as it always does. Snipers are obviously strong, but they're way too strong right now and too easy to use. Spawns are also pretty bad right now, but Infinity Ward is already working on that ahead of the second weekend of the beta.

Overall, though, I'm a lot happier with Modern Warfare 4 than I expected to be. Lots would say the last two Black Ops games were bad, and that's their opinion they're entitled to, but I've really enjoyed Black Ops 7 in particular. I usually do when it's a Black Ops game.

But I've gone from trepidation and expecting not to play this year's game (in part thanks to GTA 6 looming) to back on board the Call of Duty train. It's a shame we're not getting to see DMZ in the beta, as that's the mode I'm most excited for, but I am curious to see how Warzone will be. At least we can try that out in the open beta, which begins on Friday, August 28.

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From the get go, as soon as I heard that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 would be this year's entry in Microsoft's biggest franchise, my head dropped.

Since Modern Warfare was rebooted, it's been my least favorite. Modern Warfare (2019) was OK, and I played it for a little while but lost interest quicker than in any previous Call of Duty. I barely touched the two that came after it.

I've always preferred Black Ops, and while the last two in that series haven't been perfect by any means, I've really enjoyed playing them. But I've now finally played Modern Warfare 4 for the first time as part of Call of Duty: NEXT, and I'm man enough to admit my initial trepidation may well have been way off base.

I'll preface this by saying I haven't seen much of the game so far. I'll be enjoying the full multiplayer experience, that campaign mission, and the new Warzone map for the first time during the beta like everyone else.

But what I have already experienced has given me hope, because two aspects in particular I was expecting not to enjoy have turned out to be far better than I anticipated: Movement and gunplay.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's movement feels good

I'm no "movement demon" on Black Ops 7, but I do enjoy the fast fluidity to it. I enjoy the pace of Call of Duty when it's flying along, and I appreciate that not everyone does. I don't enjoy slower-paced, more tactical shooters nearly as much.

I just want to run, gun, and then run and gun again. Have some fun.

Modern Warfare 4 is more grounded in that there's no wall jumping, but it still feels fluid. The pace isn't quite at Black Ops 7 level, but it's not slow. Sliding is smooth but doesn't feel ridiculous, and I think the best way I can describe the movement overall is that everything feels deliberate.

You don't feel like a superhero. You feel like you have some weight behind you, like you can't just use movement to get you out of a hole. You actually need to know what you're doing.

I like Modern Warfare 4's gunplay

Again, this is based on only a very brief playtest before the beta opens, but so far I like the gunplay a lot. The way the weapons move as you're running, the way they move when you're firing, and even the way the whole experience looks.

It's pretty satisfying.

Of course, I haven't yet experienced levelling up weapons, strapping on attachments, and such, but I do hope that we don't end up in a position, as we do every year, where there's a single meta that makes every weapon shoot like a laser beam with no recoil.

As it stands out of the gate, I like the recoil, and I like that you actually need to be able to aim a little to hit your shots. I'm not very good, but I like it.

It feels good hitting your shots, especially with a pistol. Call of Duty isn't realistic by any stretch, but Modern Warfare 4 so far seems to be headed in a better direction in this aspect than the last two Black Ops games.

Visually Modern Warfare 4 is the best Call of Duty in a while

Nobody plays Call of Duty because it's a particularly good-looking game, and those who indulge primarily in PvP action on PC always turn the graphics down anyway to get the extra frames. Console players can't do that, so there needs to be a balance.

I've played so far on the Xbox Series X, and I think Modern Warfare 4 looks pretty good. Certainly more like you'd expect a modern shooter to look.

Part of this, I do wonder, is it down to the decision to ditch last-gen consoles? I played Black Ops 7's beta last year on an Xbox One X, and it wasn't great. Visually it looked fine, close enough to the Xbox Series X, but the frame rate was awful. But I also felt like the last-gen consoles were holding back the visuals on the more modern systems.

Everything about the visuals on Modern Warfare 4 so far feels like an upgrade over Black Ops 7. The lighting is nice, textures are decent, and I think the weapons look fantastic. It's just generally all-around nice to look at.

Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7 were OK, and I get that Modern Warfare has a whole different aesthetic, but it feels less 'fake' and altogether a more pleasing environment.

That's not to say that there isn't plenty more that needs to be experienced to decide whether Modern Warfare 4 is a "good game" or not. There's still the matchmaking experience, for example, that could make or break things, and plenty of other decisions that could affect the player experience.

But on the face of it, I'm prepared to admit my preconceptions were wrong that I'd immediately dislike this game. The fundamentals of it are a lot better than I expected.

Like everyone else, I'll be really getting to grips with Modern Warfare 4 during this weekend's early access beta. Things kick off today, Friday, August 21, at 9am Pacific for Call of Duty: NEXT, with access for everyone else with a code beginning at 11am Pacific.

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Update August 14, 3.45 pm ET: Activision has since put out a further update reminding PC players that they will need to have TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot enabled on their PCs to play the Modern Warfare 4 beta. This is the current requirement for Black Ops 7, so it isn't new, but it's a reminder if you haven't been playing this year that without it you can't take part.

Mark your calendars, Call of Duty fans, because Infinity Ward and Activision have revealed the content of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's upcoming beta tests, set to commence over the following weekends.

These beta tests will feature sneak peeks at the game's multiplayer modes, the Battle Royal-like Warzone mode, and an exclusive single-player campaign mission.

Here are the full details on these beta tests and when you can expect to play them.

The first early access beta test will run from August 21, 2026, to August 25, 2026, for those who pre-ordered the game on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Xbox on PC, Steam, and Battle.net.

Its content will include an exclusive campaign mission called "Entrenched", several multiplayer maps, and several multiplayer game modes like Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Inflation, Search & Destroy, 10v10 & 3v3, and Mobility Course.

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On a side note, the first beta test begins on the same day as Activision's Call of Duty Next event on August 21, 2026, which will showcase various gameplay aspects of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, such as 6v6 PVP, the first look at Zodiac, Kill Block gameplay, and much more while giving away free beta codes to players who tune in to the event.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's second beta test will run from August 28, 2026, to September 1, 2026, and it will be open to the general public to play on the Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Xbox on PC, Steam, Battle.net, and Nintendo Switch 2 versions of the game.

It will include all the content of the first beta test, with the addition of the Warzone game mode, a new Warzone map, and several new Ground War maps.

So, if you need to get some practice with your aim and are hungry to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 before the full version launches on October 23, 2026, for all the aforementioned platforms, these beta tests will be the perfect time to do it.

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The next premium Call of Duty release, Infinity Ward's upcoming Modern Warfare 4, is just a few months away from hitting consoles and PCs, and it's finally time for players to get a good look at the upcoming first-person shooter's multiplayer gameplay.

As it has with previous Call of Duty launches, Activision will show off Modern Warfare 4's multiplayer in detail during this year's Call of Duty NEXT showcase. COD NEXT is a fan-favorite event where many of the top Call of Duty players — from popular streamers to esports pros — go live to broadcast gameplay, dev commentary, and more across YouTube and Twitch.

Here's everything you need to know so you don't miss out on COD NEXT 2026.

When and where to watch Call of Duty NEXT 2026

Call of Duty NEXT 2026 is set to go live on August 21 at 9 AM PT/12 PM ET. Players can tune in to the official Call of Duty channels to catch the live stream. Those who have preordered or have otherwise received an early access beta code can hop into the Modern Warfare 4 beta via the Call of Duty HQ immediately following the broadcast.

The Early Access Beta for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is only for players on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Xbox on PC, Steam, and Battle.net. Modern Warfare 4 will not release on last-gen consoles, but it will be available on the Nintendo Switch 2 for the first time. Switch fans will have to wait until the open beta on August 28 to try out multiplayer.

What to expect from Call of Duty NEXT 2026

Official Call of Duty NEXT details remain scarce, even as the event draws nearer. Activision and Infinity Ward have been oddly tight-lipped on what players can expect to see during the showcase, but there have been some vague clues that the experience may be a bit different this year.

In previous years, Activision would pool together popular streamers, sports professionals, and more to show off gameplay. However, Xbox and Activision previously partnered with Fanatics Fest in July to spotlight the upcoming Kill Block map. Many of the popular streamers who typically participate in Call of Duty NEXT were present at the Fanatics Fest event for hands-on gameplay.

In an official blog post, the Call of Duty team calls COD NEXT 2026 a "global event featuring live gameplay, an in-depth briefing on the lineup of content coming to Modern Warfare 4's Multiplayer, developer insights, and new reveals ahead of the Beta."

The description is a bit vague, but the phrase "global event" has led many to speculate that this year's COD NEXT event will not feature the in-person gameplay event that has been a staple for the showcase. For the first time ever, the beta for this year's Call of Duty title will go live immediately following the COD NEXT broadcast — a welcome move that just might help the hype generated by the NEXT showcase carry over into the beta experience.

That move, however, may ultimately make it unfeasible to bring big-name gamers who might not want to miss streaming the beta during its early access period to an in-person event.

Infinity Ward has confirmed that it will showcase multiplayer during COD NEXT 2026, but the team has been surprisingly mum on Modern Warfare 4's third mode since the initial DMZ reveal. DMZ is not expected to be playable during the two beta weekends for Modern Warfare 4.

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We're inching ever closer to the official release date for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, and that means it's almost time for fans of the first-person shooter franchise to get their hands on the multiplayer beta for themselves. If you're wondering when and how you can play multiplayer from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, we've got you covered.

Modern Warfare 4's multiplayer beta will span across two separate weekends. Early Access for players who have preordered drops on August 21, immediately following the live broadcast of this year's Call of Duty: NEXT. Early access ends August 25. The Open Beta, which is free and available to all players across all platforms, kicks off the following weekend, on August 28, and lasts until September 1.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Early Access Beta

The Early Access beta period for Modern Warfare 4, lasting from August 21 to August 25, is only available to users who preorder any edition of the game. However, some early access beta codes have been awarded to players for tuning in to Call of Duty live stream events like the recent Fanatics Fest showcase.

A strict start time for the beta has not yet been revealed, though the official Call of Duty blog does confirm it will be immediately following this year's Call of Duty: NEXT broadcast for the first time ever.

The early access weekend event is only for preorders on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC editions of the game on Steam, Battle.Net, and Xbox on PC.

Open betas for previous Call of Duty titles, including Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, were included in the official Call of Duty HQ launcher as updates. The beta for Modern Warfare 4 will most likely be accessed in a similar fashion.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Open Beta

If you're hesitant to preorder Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and you aren't able to get your hands on an early access beta code, the open beta is for you. Everybody on all platforms — including the Nintendo Switch 2 for the very first time — will be able to squad up and experience Modern Warfare 4's multiplayer beta starting August 28 until September 1.

No preorders or special codes are required; simply install Call of Duty HQ for access during the open beta window.

Multiplayer Beta access expectations

Call of Duty beta access windows typically provide us with the first public hands-on for multiplayer maps, modes, and weapons. It's a chance for players to experience the game's gunplay and movement mechanics before the full launch while also providing valuable feedback to the dev team for pre-launch fine-tuning. Treyarch famously reconsidered door placement for Black Ops 6 following feedback from the beta.

However, we shouldn't expect every Modern Warfare 4 multiplayer map and mode that will be available at launch to be playable during the early access or open beta periods. It is normal for these access periods to offer pared-down playlists, limited only to core modes. Those of us who like the hardcore playlists will have to wait until launch for some sweet one-shot action, but it is still worth checking out the beta to get a handle on gunplay and a feel for Modern Warfare 4's changes to movement.

I previously went hands-on with Modern Warfare 4 in its alpha state, and I found the gameplay to be a bit slower than what we've seen during Black Ops 6 and 7's tandem eras while still keeping encounters exciting. Significant changes to weapon sights have alleviated many of the past Modern Warfare titles' gunplay frustrations, and the new Kill Block map is an exciting innovation on small map mayhem.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision, launches on October 23 on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Steam, Battle.Net, and Xbox on PC.

Preorders for the standard edition or the Vault edition unlock early access to the beta from August 21-25 on all platforms except the Nintendo Switch 2. Preordering also unlocks early access to the Modern Warfare 4 campaign starting October 16. The open beta goes live August 28-September 1 for all platforms.

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Xbox and Activision have broken with tradition and partnered with Fanatics Fest to show off one of the most innovative new maps heading to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 when it launches this October.

Multiplayer map reveals are typically reserved for the annual Call of Duty NEXT event, but a date for the celebration of all things Call of Duty has yet to be confirmed for 2026. Rather than waiting until closer to launch, Infinity Ward will give the public their first look at the new map, "Kill Block", during Fanatics Fest in New York City from July 16-19.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will be playable for those who have purchased tickets to Fanatics Fest at the Javits Center in NYC, and a panel featuring Kevin Durant, Inde Navarrette, Infinity Ward Studio Co-Head Mark Grigsby, and Tyler Bahl will take the stage for an exclusive panel on Call of Duty in Culture on Saturday, July 18.

The original concept behind Kill Block was dreamed up by Multiplayer Creative Director Geoff Smith, who was inspired by the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid. The stadium is designed to have multiple arena floorings set on a rotating slab, allowing it to shift from a football stadium to a concert venue and back again while maintaining the various fields.

From concept to production, Kill Block eventually evolved into an adaptive training facility with a modular battleground that pieces together different slabs to create hundreds of unique map combinations. Designed to resemble a live-fire training environment, Kill Block is assembled from two end slabs with a central slab that pieces together map sections, both new and from iconic locations seen throughout Modern Warfare's rich history.

Infinity Ward shared an overview of how the engineering behind Kill Block works in a new blog post.

Engineering a dynamic map for Modern Warfare 4

While Call of Duty is a video game, the team at Infinity Ward takes great pride in the real-world inspiration beyond the pixels. It would be easy enough for the development team to shrug off the hows and whys of the mechanics powering Kill Block as "It's just a game" and hope that the players could suspend disbelief enough to enjoy themselves. But Infinity Ward doesn't work that way, and the team has taken the engineering behind Kill Block very seriously.

Kill Block, which is set within the West Bridge Advanced Military Training Facility, is flanked along the perimeter by eight concrete towers that house the electronics, motors, and pulley systems that make the dynamic arena function. The map is functionally the size of the popular Shoot House map from Modern Warfare past, though its continuously evolving layout keeps things fresh with each new round.

The map's three slabs sit upon a network of rail-mounted wheel assemblies, known as 'bogies', that travel along tracks embedded above and below the training area. The map changes at the end of each round of Gunfight. When the active slab decouples from the others, it is lowered to a storage chamber beneath the arena for safekeeping. The motor then selects the new Slab and winches it into position before raising it to the surface. How's that for combat evolved, Halo?

Each slab effectively takes up one third of Kill Block's play space, and each one is completely self-contained while maintaining all the necessary openings to flow seamlessly into each other. While each team spawns on their respective endpoint, movement across all three slabs in the combo is unrestrained (and encouraged.)

Some slabs add more than just new buildings, trees, or other obstacles. Some are also fitted with military-grade weather simulation systems — introducing snow flurries, fog, and other conditions that affect not just the look of the map but also weapons.

Kill Block's slabs are a new way to experience old favorites

Call of Duty as a franchise struggles to walk a tight line between feeding into the nostalgia of its long-time player base while allowing the developers the creative freedom to create fresh and new experiences that might lure new players in. One way the development teams have sought to bridge that gap is with remastered variants of once-popular multiplayer maps.

But leaning into an influx of remasters leaves players looking for something new out in the cold. After 5 different variants of Shipment and Shoothouse, both the fans and the players can find themselves struggling with the threat of Call of Duty fatigue. Kill Block is an interesting solution to that problem, introducing both the chaotic gunplay of a small map without leaning exclusively into the tried-and-true favorites.

Infinity Ward's multiplayer team has claimed that there are enough assets readily available for Kill Block to support up to 900 combos total, though at launch, players can expect roughly 500 to be live. The following slabs can be expected in the Kill Block rotation at launch, though some names may be changed:

• Ambush (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare): A central slab featuring a convoy-clogged main road with blown-out pre-fab buildings on either side, with plenty of sniping opportunities.
• Blacksite (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and III): An end slab featuring three prefabricated structures with open access between each of them. Players will find a mud and grass thoroughfare, a rusted van, an open cargo container, and stacked military gabions.
• Killhouse (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare): Gabions corner prefab walls with some small gaps for mantling, while a central kill box dots the middle of the map, and small scenic cover opportunities cover the edge of the end slab.
• ME-Town: A central slab featuring a kill box dirt courtyard surrounded by prefabricated structures in each corner. Lots of interior and roof space for sniper nests. The main building is turquoise and features plenty of opportunities for close-quarter combat in its tight rooms and scramble points.
• Snow Block: The fortifications of open cargo containers and concrete blocks offer unique overwatch opportunities to would-be snipers, but there's a limit to how much cover you can find on this end slab.
• Trench: This central slab is a literal no-man's land of sunken mud walls and pill boxes with sandbags, tires, and wooden trusses that feel like they're going to collapse in on your squad without a moment's notice. This is a fraught middle ground with minimal cover, but good sight lines.

In addition to the confirmed Kill Block slabs, Infinity Ward also teased imagery showing off combos for the dynamic map featuring parts of Station, Shoot House, Woods, and Killhouse. Additional maps and supported modes for Kill Block are expected to be added to the game during Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's seasonal content drops post-launch.

Hands-on impressions of Kill Block

Members of the press and content creators alike were invited to Infinity Ward's studio for an early hands-on preview of Kill Block in action. During the preview, we were able to play matches of 10v10 Gunfight on Kill Block. The match would begin with the player teams each infilling on their respective end slabs with a loadout that had been randomly assembled by the game.

Gunfight is a round-based, one-life per player core mode, and the first interactions with Kill Block were surprisingly intimidating. There's an urge to explore the undeniably creative design of Kill Block and to understand all the machinations behind it. But doing so certainly puts you at risk of other players who aren't so interested in the aesthetics willing to pick you off as an easy target.

When you do get over the desire to ooh-and-aww over what Infinity Ward has managed to create out of Kill Block and decide to focus on the game, you'll find yourself quickly flung into intense combat against enemy players. As a long-time fan of small map playlists that throw you immediately into the line of danger, I was excited to feel that rush of instant action from Kill Block.

Infinity Ward's willingness to give fans of small maps something to sink their teeth into had interesting effects on the player base in Modern Warfare 2 (2022). There were considerable complaints on social media by players who felt the time between matches was too long in standard map playlists as players flocked to small map rotations in order to complete grindy camo challenges.

And yet, at the same time, there was a subset of players who love small maps so much they were even requesting Treyarch to introduce IW's beloved tiny map, Shipment, to the Black Ops series. (They didn't, but they did take a risk and go even smaller with the chaotic GRWM limited map during April Fools.)

Kill Block feels fresh and exciting and new, but it's serving multiple purposes for the split fan base that pines for nostalgic gameplay and laments continuous remasters simultaneously. Personally, Kill Block is one of my most anticipated new additions for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare launches on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Battle.net, Steam, PlayStation 5, and the Nintendo Switch 2 on October 23, 2026. Players who preorder the game will unlock early access to the Open Beta and up to one week of early access to the Modern Warfare 4 campaign starting on October 16. Modern Warfare 4 is the first Call of Duty title to skip last-gen consoles, and the game will also not be included in Xbox Game Pass subscriptions until Holiday 2027.

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It was no secret that this year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 wasn't heading to Game Pass. It's a large part of the reason Microsoft was able to cut the price of Game Pass earlier this year, scoring Xbox a major win during Asha Sharma's first moves as Xbox CEO.

Now, while Sharma has scored some wins, we're all too aware of the concerns surrounding the next couple of months at Xbox, but I digress. What really caught my eye, however, is that Activision is now reportedly advertising Modern Warfare 4 online with a very specific message.

It states, and I quote, "NOT ON XBOX GAME PASS THIS YEAR," while urging people to pre-order the game, which also provides early access to the game's campaign.

I, myself, am actually fine with Call of Duty not being on Game Pass. As someone who didn't enjoy last year's Black Ops 7, even if I had, the money saved from the Game Pass price cut is enough to buy the game each year anyway, which is what I've typically done for my dad. This year, though, he's insisted on Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, despite my pleas to get 007: First Light instead, since we share games.

That said, Modern Warfare 4 does look pretty okay. It's still hard to say, as it does just look like another Call of Duty, but with promises to stay clear of goofy skins and the like, it's at least more promising than Black Ops 7 to me.

Despite it not necessarily being for me, I do still wish Activision the best. As someone who comes from a time when Call of Duty 4 dominated back in the Xbox 360 days, I hope a more grounded Call of Duty can help the franchise return to its roots, and a more grounded Call of Duty is definitely something I can get behind.

Maybe that's just me, though. Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll!

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The Call of Duty Endowment is gearing up to celebrate the seventh annual C.O.D.E. Bowl, and it's your chance to tune in and possibly win an early access beta code for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, as well as unlock rewards for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Call of Duty: Warzone.

The Call of Duty Endowment (C.O.D.E.) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 by Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard — now under the Xbox umbrella — that focuses on helping U.S. and U.K. military veterans find high-quality civilian careers after their service ends. Since its inception, the Call of Duty Endowment has helped more than 169,000 veterans find meaningful employment.

The Call of Duty Endowment's annual C.O.D.E. Bowl is a livestreamed event where U.S., U.K., and Canadian military esports teams come together with top Call of Duty creators to duke it out in Call of Duty: Warzone.

How to watch C.O.D.E. Bowl VII

This year's C.O.D.E. Bowl is set to broadcast live on the official Call of Duty Twitch and YouTube channels on June 20 at 9AM PT/12PM ET from San Diego Race Weekend.

How to earn rewards during C.O.D.E. Bowl VII

In addition to the chance at winning a beta code for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, those who tune in to CODE Bowl VII on June 20 can unlock cosmetic rewards for use in Call of Duty: Warzone and Black Ops 7. Those rewards include:

• "Paint Trader" weapon blueprint
• "Brain Bucket" weapon charm
• "Burn Rubber" animated emblem
• "Finish Line" spray

In order for the rewards to be available, you must first link your Activision ID to your YouTube or Twitch account.

To link your Activision account to Twitch and YouTube:

1. Log in to your Activision account.
2. Select the LINKED ACCOUNTS tab.
3. Select the LINK ACCOUNT button next the platform you wish to link, in this case, YouTube or Twitch.
4. You may need to verify your account to make changes.
5. After verifying your account, you will be taken to either Twitch or YouTube, respectively, to complete the linking process.

Once you've linked your Activision and Twitch or YouTube account, simply tune in on June 20 at 9AM PM/12PM ET to watch C.O.D.E. Bowl VII. The longer you watch the Call of Duty Endowment Bowl, the more rewards you unlock.

Early access beta codes for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will be broadcast throughout the event. Dates for the open beta for Modern Warfare 4 have not yet been confirmed.

If you're unable to secure an early access code to the open beta during the C.O.D.E. Bowl, don't fret — you can still unlock early access by preordering Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 ahead of its October 23 release date. Preordering also gives you access to the campaign one week early, starting October 16.

Modern Warfare 4 will launch on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation® 5, PC Battle.net, Xbox on PC, Steam, and Nintendo Switch 2. Despite being a first-party Xbox title, it will not be included on Xbox Game Pass or PC Game Pass until 1 year after launch.

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Infinity Ward and Activision have officially confirmed another preorder bonus for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. Players who preorder the game digitally will receive early access to the upcoming first-person shooter's campaign starting on October 16.

Infinity Ward officially revealed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 ahead of the June 7 Xbox Games Showcase at the end of May and has been surprisingly forthcoming in what players can expect when it launches in full on October 23. The reveal trailer for Modern Warfare 4 has racked up an astounding 58 million views on YouTube in just two weeks, already surpassing the 49 million views of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 reveal trailer from nine months ago.

Since the initial reveal, Infinity Ward has released several devlogs detailing the studio's philosophy behind the new game, and a proper reveal of the upcoming third mode, DMZ, was part of the Xbox Games Showcase. There are still a lot of details left unknown about Modern Warfare 4's campaign, however. Players last left the characters of the Modern Warfare franchise grappling with the death of Soap MacTavish at the hands of series antagonist, Makarov, while a post-credits scene showed beloved character Captain Price take out General Shepherd in his office at the end of Sledgehammer Games' Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Infinity Ward has shifted the focus of the campaign for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 to Private Park, a young soldier enlisted in the South Korean military who is faced with live combat when North Korea launches a full-scale invasion of the South.

While the war between North and South Korea serves as the front lines of the campaign, players will see Captain Price return in a new light as he is fueled by the need for revenge of Soap's death. In the reveal trailer, players see a scene between fan-favorite Simon "Ghost" Riley and Captain Price where the two appear to be adversaries. Ghost claims Price has "broken a lot of rules", to which Price replies, "No more rules."

We also know from the reveal trailer that Captain Price has teamed up with former TF141 adversary Valeria "El Sin Nombre" Garza as he seeks a powerful weapon that could ultimately shift the balance of power.

Spoilers for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 have become a hot topic as the developers at Infinity Ward have openly discussed the game's storyline in great detail as part of the reveal of the DMZ mode. With the campaign now serving as a preorder bonus, players who wait until launch or just after are at an even greater risk of spoilers from those who unlock access early by preordering.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is available to preorder now at participating retailers, in-game, on platform stores, or at CallofDuty.com. The game launches on October 23, with campaign early access for preorders kicking off on October 16, and will be available on XBOX Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via XBOX on PC, Steam, and Battle.net. It is the first Call of Duty title to not be available on last-gen consoles.

Despite being a first-party XBOX title, Modern Warfare 4 will not be available on XBOX Game Pass or PC Game Pass until October 23, 2027 as part of a recent move by XBOX to cut the price of the subscription service.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 developers Infinity Ward revealed new information about the upcoming first-person shooter's dedicated third mode, DMZ, ahead of the 2026 Xbox Game Showcase, part of this year's Summer Game Fest activities.

The new mode will embrace the extraction shooter genre, adding a new set of gameplay options to the franchise's standard Campaign and Multiplayer offerings.

Four years ago, Infinity Ward released its first attempt at an extraction-genre mode with the initial DMZ Beta. The DMZ Beta launched for free as part of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) and Warzone 2.0 package. The Infinity Ward team described the original DMZ beta as "a crazy experiment" that "quickly became a proving ground and a test bed... through seasonal updates and live experiments."

Studio Multiplayer Creative Director for Infinity Ward, Geoff Smith, said that watching the extraction shooter genre grow, as well as data from the initial DMZ beta, helped the team to learn what resonated with players and what the mode was lacking in its earliest state.

"All that knowledge and those action items became this foundation for us as we were shaping up this new vision of DMZ from the ground up," said Smith.

Infinity Ward's new take on DMZ has been crafted with a rich story — crafted by the studio's single-player narrative team — that picks up after the events of the Campaign and ties directly into the existing Modern Warfare universe and lore.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 DMZ — Hajin

The new extraction sandbox is set in the Korean city of Hajin, an area that has been affected by a nuclear reactor meltdown, creating a demilitarized zone polluted by radiation. Players will find Hajin marked with increasingly dangerous AI threats, environmental puzzles, and narrative story missions that make the world feel more like a game within a game than just a simple third mode.

Before infil to Hajin, players begin at the DMZ's forward operating base, a hub for player progression where you can manage gear, squad up, and prepare for combat. Each player is an off-book asset working for the CIA, scouring the DMZ for military tech to capture and neutralize. But there are other rogue agents to watch out for.

DMZ's Hajin map will launch with nine distinct points of interest:

• Hajin City
• Casino
• Fallout
• Hospital
• Military Base
• Farmlands
• Prison
• Broadcast
• Town

Three different countries converge to create the DMZ map, Hajin — a South Korean exclusion that has been hit the hardest by the radiation, makes up the majority of the map, while parts of North Korea and Russia also lend themselves to the mode's stage.

Hajin creates a living world for DMZ, where players can look in the sky to see air carriers moving cargo overhead or intercept convoys moving throughout the world, but it's also a living world that is affected by dynamic weather conditions.

Some infils will drop you into a Hajin that is bright and sunny, while others can have you standing in the rain or obscure your vision with dense fog. The weather itself is not always severe; it can intensify or lighten up as your time in Hajin progresses.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 DMZ — Progression and gameplay

Before you can infiltrate Hajin, you must first choose what activities you want to experience while you're in the DMZ. Players can choose from Story Missions, Dynamic Missions, or Free Roam when loading into the zone.

Infinity Ward has shared that the story missions for the DMZ were crafted by the Modern Warfare 4 single player team and built upon the world experienced by players in the campaign. Dynamic Missions provide squads with a randomized checklist of activities to explore while in the DMZ, while Free Roam turns players loose to find their own activities.

Those who are queuing up without a full squad, but have squad fill on, will be matched with players who are queuing for the same tasks. For example, if you have a group of three and are looking to play a Story Mission while in the DMZ, the random player who is added to fill out your squad will also be someone who was searching to join for a Story Mission, minimizing the risk that your random squad mates might leave you hanging high and dry if you they don't want to play the same tasks as your group.

However, not all players in the DMZ will be performing the same mission as your squad. You may have signed up to free roam, but you may encounter other players who are attempting to complete story missions. The DMZ operates on a "Same world, same time" premise, where squads are grouped together by tasks, but the world itself is populated with players who all have a variety of goals.

Team members from Infinity Ward described the studio's philosophy for DMZ as "You push, and the world pushes back." Players will encounter various convoys and air traffic that can pose challenges for their squads, but only if they are willing to engage with them. Infinity Ward has baked in stealth mechanics that can serve as 'kill switches' for activated events, giving the player a chance to duck out from roaming encounters.

Run-ins with other players, however, are more difficult to escape. As players work their way up the food chain, earning player kills and making a name for themselves amongst the DMZ leaderboards, they may become subject to bounties. Players with bounties drop a dog tag that can be exfilled from the DMZ for a reward. Would-be bounty hunters can pay for intel on marked operators within their match, similar to how bounties of the past have played out in Call of Duty: Warzone.

Standard Call of Duty multiplayer fans might be wondering what the big deal is with having a bounty placed on you in the DMZ, and the answer to that leads us to player progression in the zone. Unlike multiplayer or resurgence modes, where spawning is free and virtually unlimited, players' progress in the DMZ is tied to operators similar to Black Ops 7's Endgame progression system.

Each operator has a set skill tree that players can unlock according to their own preferences, and players can have multiple operators in order to experience a variety of gameplay styles. Operator death in the DMZ is semi-permanent: downed operators lose their current gear within the DMZ, and after the match, the lost operator becomes MIA. Based on those operators' unlocked traits and the player's stats, a cash value is assigned to that operator that the player must pay if they want to bring them back from being MIA.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's DMZ progression is dedicated to the DMZ mode and is not impacted by gameplay in other Call of Duty modes.

When and how to play DMZ

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is set to launch on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Battle.Net, Steam, PlayStation 5, and the Nintendo Switch 2 on Friday, October 23, 2026. DMZ is a dedicated third-mode, and — unlike its predecessor, which released as a beta — it is not expected to be free as part of the Call of Duty: Warzone package.

Those who want to infiltrate Hajin will need to pick up Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 to do so, as the game will not be included in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass subscriptions until at least one-year post-launch.

Infinity Ward has shared a considerable amount of information about Modern Warfare 4's development since its initial reveal on May 28, with a recent dev talk going into detail about the game's audio development. We've taken the time to break down every multiplayer map and mode confirmed for Modern Warfare 4, new create-a-class and movement details, as well as give impressions on our time hands-on with the game.

For even more info about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, check out our interview with Infinity Ward ahead of the game's reveal.

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When Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard in 2022, there was rampant speculation of how Xbox's control of the popular first-person shooter franchise, Call of Duty, would affect the game's development.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 developer Infinity Ward's latest episode of the behind-the-scenes series, From the Ward, gives us one clue.

Studio audio director Stephen Miller shared details on Infinity Ward's use of Microsoft Triton — an immersive sound propagation project previously used for first-party Xbox titles Gears of War and Sea of Thieves — to produce a more realistic soundscape for Modern Warfare 4.

Microsoft's Triton audio tech takes the geometry of game maps to pre-bake in audio reverb, causing players to hear reliable audio reflections that are relative to their placement on the map.

With complex models consisting of the actual wave physics of sound propagation through complex 3D spaces, replacing expensive wave simulation tech with a more streamlined baking that precomputes on static visual 3D geometry to more accurately represent the way sound waves move in space. Where obstructions like a concrete wall would dampen and muffle speech in real life, so too will it affect hearing speech through a wall in Modern Warfare 4.

This technology affects all of the game's audio, from weapon fire to the sound of an exhausted magazine dropping to the floor on reload. But it doesn't just stop there; it also impacts proximity chat, giving players a new way to utilize audio for situational awareness during multiplayer matches.

Playing with your TV on too loud, with a chirping smoke detector in the background, or chatting it up on a hot mic just might be what gives you away in the heat of battle.

"Prox chat is now really in the world," says Miller, "In previous games, it was still this 2D sound that played in stereo like it was through a radio. Now the people are going to actually be in the environment. So that means affected by reverb, affected by occlusion, which is a building or wall that is in your way."

Project Triton isn't the only engine powering Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's audio, however. Infinity Ward has paired Triton with its own Convolution tech, which Miller states has been used to record over 200 impulse responses for Modern Warfare 4 alone — effectively creating a more immersive soundscape.

Infinity Ward's sound team has traveled to several locations to capture audio for every weapon in the game — both loud and suppressed — as well as audio for helicopters, tanks, bullet impacts, and even explosions. To capture as much sound as possible, stereo and mono microphones were strategically placed both on the weapons being recorded and up to 200 yards away.

"We are trying to create our own realism for the game," says Miller, "It is defining what is Modern Warfare by its sound signatures."

Following Treyarch's hyperfuturistic Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, the team behind Modern Warfare has pushed the game's more realistic boots-on-the-ground gameplay and style. From promising to forgo "clowny skins" to changes in movement and innovative multiplayer maps, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's dev team has been very vocal about the studio's desire to create a grittier experience.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is available to preorder now on Xbox, PC, PlayStation, and the Nintendo Switch 2, which grants access to the game's open beta ahead of the October 23 release date.

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The Call of Duty franchise has had to tread a thin line in recent years, with a player base constantly pulling the development teams in conflicting directions. Among the divisive topics is the annual map rotation.

The question of whether or not Call of Duty should launch with remastered maps from yesteryear or the number of maps that are available regularly dominates the conversation around a new launch.

While last year’s Black Ops 7 launched with a robust map rotation that featured some remasters of nostalgic offerings from the past, this year’s Call of Duty title from Infinity Ward has forgone the remastered maps at launch strategy and is instead swinging out of the gate with all-new, never-before-seen maps.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 — Confirmed multiplayer maps

Here are the maps confirmed to be coming to Modern Warfare 4’s multiplayer mode at launch:

• Silkworm
• Reactor J92
• Rooftop
• Mumbai
• Lithium
• Munition
• Caschette
• Nautical
• Lotus
• Sentry
• Coal
• Transit 23
• Korean Nuclear Reactor (KNR)
• Kill Block

In an interview prior to the reveal of Modern Warfare 4, Infinity Ward’s multiplayer team confirmed that many of the maps coming at launch were based on locations and events from the campaign. Specifically, the maps were approached as if they were “2 blocks down” from the campaign events, with a separate fire team engaging in combat parallel to the events of the campaign.

The first to come to life under that concept was Silkworm, which — in combination with the upcoming map of a coastal Korean town, Lotus — afforded the team the opportunity to generate rural and urban assets of South Korean towns that could be used logistically throughout both the campaign, multiplayer, and DMZ.

During a prebriefing with press, studio and multiplayer leads spoke candidly about the map design process and the importance of making sure that each map feels distinct, with its own personality and flair.

The team emphasized the importance of clearer sight lines, reduced visual clutter, and more intentional engagements to ensure that players were taking on human opponents rather than fighting the environment.

However, one map does throw a wrench into the game. Kill Block is specifically designed to be a dynamic map that changes with each round of a match. Studio Multiplayer Creative Director Geoff Smith was inspired to design Kill Block based on the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid. This unique stadium has a retractable pitch, which allows its playing field to be rotated out to meet various event needs via a complicated underground system.

To create Kill Block, the team reimagined the battlefield as three separate slabs. The center slab is called the hero slab and serves as the anchor, but the layout of Kill Block updates live throughout round-based matches. This randomized rotation ensures that no two matches ever feel the same.

Smith has confirmed in a devlog that the team has enough assets to potentially generate over 900 slab combinations for Kill Block. However, at launch, the team is aiming for 500 live combinations — with more coming post-launch, including possible throwbacks to recognizable locations from past Modern Warfare titles.

Kill Block’s footprint is the same as that of the former fan-favorite, Shoot House. From experience playing it during an early preview, the map scratched the itch for those of us looking for quick, risky engagements and some good, old small map mayhem. Kill Block will support all core multiplayer modes at launch.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 — Confirmed multiplayer modes

Some game modes are just destined to be in a Call of Duty title, but there’s always the potential for a new mode to become a beloved addition to the rotation, as well. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is confirmed to launch with the following modes:

• Team Deathmatch
• Domination
• Hardpoint
• Kill Confirmed
• Counter Attack
• Inflation
• Hijack
• Gunfight 10v10
• Party modes
  • Gun Game
  • Drop Zone
• Big War
  • Combat Outposts
  • Frontal Assault

Team Deathmatch, forever a staple of Call of Duty’s multiplayer playlist roster, is expected to return, but the team at Infinity Ward has taken a little creative liberty with the TDM spinoff mode Inflation. Inflation will challenge teams of six players to take each other out, but with the added risk and reward of a bounty.

Taking out a player drops cash on the ground, which can be picked up to add to the team’s tally. Players carrying high amounts of cash on their person become high-value targets for an extra challenge. The team holding the most cash at the end of the match runs away with the victory.

The popular Gunfight mode has also gotten some tweaks for Modern Warfare 4. Each match will be be roundbased, with each player assigned a randomized loadout. But the randomization doesn’t stop there. Gunfight 10v10 will pit two teams of ten players each against each other on the new Kill Block map, which also randomizes each round. It’s every bit as hectic as it sounds, but a word of warning for the run-and-gunners: tread lightly or spend the entire match spectating your teammates!

Following the first reveal of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, Infinity Ward has been surprisingly forthcoming with additional details about what players can look forward to during the game’s launch window.

However, there is still plenty left to learn as we wait for the game’s release on October 23. If you’re already sold on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 with the info that is already out there, though, you can go ahead and preorder both the standard edition and the Vault Edition now.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is here. Set during a North Korean invasion of South Korea, the team behind the game, Infinity Ward, is promising a more grounded Call of Duty. Perhaps those promises are working, as the game's reveal trailer has now surpassed 46 million views in just two days.

Thanks to several posts on X (formerly Twitter), we now have a fresh look at the game's movement system. Since X embeds never seem to work, thanks Elon, I'll attach a YouTube video below instead.

As you can see from the gameplay above, movement appears much faster than in Modern Warfare 2 and noticeably smoother too. Players can jump, mantle, tac-sprint, and then slide almost immediately, while mantling doesn't seem to break momentum in any meaningful way.

While it doesn't look quite as extreme as omni-movement, it still appears to offer a fair amount of freedom, even when players are prone. One addition that particularly stood out to me was the ability to climb pipes, which adds a new layer to gameplay that we haven't really seen before and opens up new opportunities for flanking.

It does also appear that slide canceling has returned, but it does seem more restrictive than the previous game, which I’m sure is all part of Infinity Ward's efforts to make the game feel as responsive as possible without just making you move faster.

What I do also like is the new Create-a-Class. It's refreshing to get a redesign of a system we've been using for years, and I think it looks much better to me. It features a new vertical layout, as you can see, and interestingly, it appears you can now assign specific operators to individual classes. It also shows there are now three weapon slots: a primary, a secondary, and a dedicated melee weapon slot.

I also like how much cleaner the overall layout looks. Everything seems easier to read at a glance, and having killstreaks displayed alongside your loadout should make it quicker to see exactly how a class is set up before jumping into a match.

It's still early days, and my mind isn't quite made up on Modern Warfare 4 yet. The developers are promising a more grounded experience with "No Lady Gaga," as they put it, and after not really enjoying Black Ops 7, this could be the game that pulls me back in. Thankfully, I've got until October to make up my mind.

But what about you? Has Infinity Ward managed to pull you in, and what do you think of the movement changes and updates to Create-a-Class?

Let me know in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll below:

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is Infinity Ward's latest entry in the Call of Duty franchise, and it's already making quite a splash. The reveal trailer alone has surpassed 40 million views, and the developers are planning to fix one of the franchise's most frustrating issues while also leaving last-generation consoles behind.

I mean, I'm kind of intrigued. If not for myself, then at least for my dad.

Now, we've got another reason to pay attention. The developers have taken to X (formerly Twitter) to push back against the idea of wacky multiplayer skins, instead promising a more grounded Call of Duty experience. As someone who has grown tired of some of the more outlandish collaborations in recent years, that certainly caught my attention, so let's take a look at the details.

In a post on X, Infinity Ward stated:

“Every aspect of Modern Warfare 4 is anchored in the game's narrative. Every feature, every decision needs to feel authentic to what Modern Warfare is, and that includes cosmetics and collabs. We're committed to keeping it grounded and transparent, and we want to hear from you on what you'd like to see in our game.”

Many fans were quick to take a "believe it when I see it" stance, as this isn't the first time Call of Duty has pushed back against wacky skins, only for them to appear later down the line.

One fan, however, took things a step further, quote-reposting the post and saying:

“Screenshot this tweet to throw at their faces whenever they decide to toss in Lady Gaga, Omni-Man, or some other goofy collaboration into the game.”

To that, the official Call of Duty X account replied:

“No Lady Gaga. No Omni-Man. No Teletubbies. No SpongeBob. Keep the receipts.”

It's nice to see, but I'm also in the camp of "believe it when I see it." I used to love Call of Duty back in the day, but I must admit I've grown a bit tired of the franchise's yearly releases.

That's not to say they can't win me back, though. Modern Warfare 4 has certainly made an impression so far, and if Infinity Ward sticks to its word, that only makes the game more interesting to me.

But what about you? How do you feel about the comments made by the team? Is it enough to sway you, or are you not interested at all?

Let me know in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll!

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Those who've played new Call of Duty games in the past several years are no doubt familiar with the "Update requires restart" notices you'll frequently get whenever the franchise's client goes through a patch. As the popup says, you have to completely close and restart the game every time this happens.

It's a major annoyance that players have had to contend with for ages now, regardless of whether they're playing on Xbox, PC, or PS5. It's particularly irksome when Call of Duty gets several updates in a short amount of time, and players have reported getting stuck in loops where they're continuously forced to restart the game over and over before as well.

Fans have hoped for a change to how the client handles updates for years now, but sadly, one has never come. At long last, though the developer of the next entry in the franchise has reportedly confirmed that it's taking a swing at the issue.

Indeed, Infinity Ward — the studio behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, the newly unveiled title that's scheduled to launch across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, PS5, and Switch 2 on October 23 later this year — has confirmed it intends to get rid of post-update restart requirements with the new game, according to a report from the credible Call of Duty news outlet CharlieIntel.

Separately, we can also confirm that the developer plans to move updates to shaders into updates that are performed while Call of Duty is closed. This means that you'll no longer have to compile shaders in-game on PC, and can get right into the action once you boot the client up.

In the grand scheme of things, these hardly seem like big issues — and ultimately, they're not. Nevertheless, they're still frustrating and tedious hiccups in the experience, and over time, dealing with them has become quite grating for many. Thus, it's great news that Infinity Ward plans to address them, and I'm glad to finally see something being done.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 itself is all-but-guaranteed to be one of Microsoft's biggest Xbox games this year, and surprised fans of the series with its overall premise and setting. Though it's a direct continuation of where 2023's Modern Warfare 3 left off, the story will take players to South Korea and puts them in the boots of a young South Korean soldier amidst an abrupt and overwhelming North Korean invasion.

The game sports a focus on more grounded action compared to Black Ops 7, and what we've seen of it thus far looks fantastic in terms of graphical fidelity — a benefit of the game not launching on last-gen consoles, no doubt. For more details on the multiplayer experience, maps, weapons, and overall development, I recommend reading our recent interview with Infinity Ward. There's lots of juicy and interesting info in it, such as a deep dive into how the new "Gunny" system for attachment combinations.

It's also worth noting that unlike the last two Call of Duty games, Modern Warfare 4 won't be available on Xbox Game Pass at launch. It will likely come to the service a year after launch; Microsoft has taken day-one availability away to significantly cut the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

Excited for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4? Share how you're feeling about it below.

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I figured that we wouldn't see Microsoft and Xbox announce the next Call of Duty game until the big upcoming Xbox Games Showcase on June 7, but it and developer Infinity Ward decided to go ahead and reveal it a week and a half before the presentation. Indeed, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 has officially been unveiled, and is headed to Xbox, Windows PC, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch 2 on October 23 later this year.

Ahead of its announcement, we knew the game wasn't going to be released on PS4 from an official confirmation of that on social media, and most guessed that Modern Warfare 4 wouldn't be on Xbox One either since it's a last-gen system too — a prediction that turned out to be true.

Something a bit more surprising, though, is the news that Call of Duty: Warzone — the standalone free-to-play battle royale experience that's been a mainstay of the shooter franchise since 2020 — is being sunset from Xbox One and PS4 consoles with the arrival of Modern Warfare 4.

The Call of Duty team announced this near the end of its Modern Warfare 4 reveal blog, noting that Warzone will be gradually phased out on last-gen platforms until the new game's release and the start of Season 1, at which point Modern Warfare 4's content and progression will be integrated into Warzone and the battle royale will be fully taken off Xbox One and PS4.

Something important to note is that while existing Warzone players will have access to the experience until Modern Warfare 4 comes out on October 23, the ability to download and install Warzone on Xbox One and PS4 is going away next week on June 4.

That means you only have a few days to pick Warzone up before it's delisted from storefronts if you're using one of these systems and want to be able to enjoy it for the last few months it's playable on last-gen consoles. If that's you, I recommend doing this right away so you don't forget.

Once Warzone is no longer playable on Xbox One and PS4, you won't be able to purchase the Call of Duty Points microtransaction currency on those platforms. Additionally, from June 25 onwards, Warzone's in-game store will be removed from last-gen versions of the game. You'll still be able to progress through free Battle Pass tiers, though.

Ultimately, this is disappointing news if you're still playing on one of these consoles, but they're now 13 years old now, and I have no doubt that their limited capabilities were holding back the scope of Call of Duty content. Therefore, I'm glad to see that the series is finally moving past them, though I do sympathize with folks that haven't been able to afford or find Xbox Series X|S or PS5 systems.

Frankly, it's never been easy to do, and has only gotten more difficult with the ongoing RAM crisis. Here's hoping that mess ends as soon as it can, even if current projections suggest we'll be dealing with it for another year or two.

Are you still using a last-gen console to play Call of Duty: Warzone? I'm curious to hear from you, so let me know in the comments and vote in our poll.

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