Windows Central Insider
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.
Infinity Ward officially confirmed they are looking to end “update requires restart” starting with Modern Warfare 4 pic.twitter.com/6SA8ZscFHNMay 28, 2026
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.
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