Modern Warfare 4 Launch: Release Time, Early Access, Editions and What's In

Checked against Activision's official Modern Warfare 4 pages on 17 October 2026, with Campaign Early Access already live.

When does Modern Warfare 4 launch?

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on Friday, October 23, 2026. Activision's PC trailer and specs post says "the full game releases on October 23 at midnight local time", so the game unlocks region by region as the clock passes midnight, rather than at one global instant.

Two things are already open before that. Campaign Early Access went live on Friday, October 16 for anyone who bought the game digitally, and DMZ Early Access follows on October 20. Multiplayer is the one pillar with no early access: everyone gets it on launch day, along with the 12 launch maps.

Here is the whole launch window in one place, with the official status of each date:

Console preload times and the hour Campaign or DMZ Early Access unlocks were never published by Activision. Some sites print exact times for both; treat those as estimates. Activision's own footnote also says play time is "subject to possible outages and applicable time zone differences", which is worth remembering if you plan a launch-night session with friends in other regions.

Which platforms is Modern Warfare 4 on?

Modern Warfare 4 is out on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Battle.net, Steam and Xbox on PC) and Nintendo Switch 2. It is not coming to PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, which Activision stated directly.

The Switch 2 version is a native build by Infinity Ward with Digital Legends, not a cloud port. The PC version is led by Infinity Ward with Beenox.

PC requirements

Every PC player needs TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot switched on. Activision says other security measures may be enforced too, and a mobile phone number may be required to play. If you have never turned on Secure Boot, do it before launch night rather than during it; it is a BIOS setting, and getting it wrong can stop Windows booting until you change it back.

The official PC specs ask for:

Activision adds that mandatory updates may need more space. It has not published official install sizes for PS5, Xbox or Switch 2, so any console file sizes you see are not from the publisher.

Is Modern Warfare 4 on Game Pass?

No. Activision's October 15 post says Modern Warfare 4 "launches October 23 as a standalone release and will not be available on Game Pass at launch", and that it "will not be included with Game Pass until Holiday 2027."

That is a change from the last two Call of Duty games, both of which were on Game Pass on day one. Game Pass Ultimate members keep access to Black Ops 7, Black Ops 6 and Modern Warfare III, but to play Modern Warfare 4 this year you have to buy it. If you are staying in Black Ops 7 until then, our Black Ops 7 Season 5 Reloaded guide covers what is live there now.

Modern Warfare 4 editions: Standard vs Vault

There are two editions, Standard and Vault. Activision's own store page does not list prices; storefronts and press have reported the Standard Edition at USD 69.99 and the Vault Edition at USD 99.99, with a separate upgrade from Standard to Vault.

The detail that catches people out: physical copies do not include Campaign Early Access. If you bought a disc, you start on October 23 with everyone else.

A few smaller points from the official pages:

• Pre-order items. Pre-orders get the Hunter Killer Operator skin, the Gilded Pearl camo pack and the Inner Circuit M4 weapon blueprint. On every platform except Switch 2, the Hunter Killer skin and Gilded Pearl pack also work in Black Ops 7 and Warzone. They must be redeemed by October 23, 2027.
• Loyalty discount. If you own and have played any Call of Duty released in 2019 or later on the same platform account, the Vault Edition is 10% off its list price until October 23, 2026.
• BlackCell waits for Season 1. The Vault's BlackCell, the Battle Pass, COD Points and Tier Skips only become usable in Modern Warfare 4 once the Season 1 Battle Pass goes live. Buying the Vault on launch day does not give you a Battle Pass on launch day.

Is the Vault worth it this year? It depends on whether you would buy BlackCell anyway. If you would, the Vault covers it for the first season and adds the operator packs. If you only want to play, the digital Standard Edition already gets you both early access windows.

What is in Modern Warfare 4 at launch?

Modern Warfare 4 launches with three pillars: Campaign, Multiplayer and DMZ. Zombies is not part of it. Activision has not announced Zombies for Modern Warfare 4 on any official page, so don't buy it expecting a round-based mode.

Campaign

The story opens with North Korea launching a full-scale invasion of South Korea, starting at Hajin City. You play as Private Park Hyun Jun, a young South Korean soldier, alongside Captain Price, now on the run as an "operator-turned-outlaw" after Shepherd's assassination. Ghost and Gaz are tasked with bringing Price in, and Kate Laswell, Valeria Garza, Commander Ri Ju-Young and a figure called the Archer all feature.

The campaign moves from the Korean trenches to New York, Paris and Mumbai. Two missions Activision has named are "Losing Ground" and "Entrenched".

Multiplayer

Multiplayer has 12 core 6v6 maps on day one. Activision's August reveal listed them as Cachette, Coal, Lithium, Lotus, Mumbai, Munition, Nautical, Reactor U92, Rooftops, Sentry, Silkworm and Transit 213, while calling the list "currently in development", so check the final list in game. Six of them (Cachette, Lithium, Lotus, Rooftops, Silkworm and Transit 213) were in the beta.

Beyond the core maps:

• Kill Block, set in the Westbridge Training Facility, reconfigures between rounds and has more than 500 layouts. It hosts 3v3 Gunfight and 10v10 Gunfight.
• Combat Outpost is the large-scale mode, played in the beta on Imjin Farmland and Wolves Stadium.
• New modes include Inflation, Hijack and Counter Attack, alongside Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Free for All, Search and Destroy, Gun Game and Drop Zone. Collateral (5v5) and Frontline (6v6) were also named.

The launch arsenal is 33 weapons: 24 primaries, 8 secondaries and 1 melee weapon, with 18 perks, 17 killstreaks, 11 field upgrades, 11 lethals and 9 tacticals.

DMZ

DMZ returns as a full extraction mode on Hajin, a large exclusion zone with more than 60 named locations, including Chang-san Air Base, Haneul Nuclear Reactor, Mirae General Hospital, Songdo Wharf, NuriGO Mall and Wolves Stadium. Progression runs on a DMZ Player Level from 1 to 70 and a Dog Tag rank from Steel to Onyx III across 18 levels, each of which unlocks an Operator Trait. Every deployment is graded from F to S++, whether you exfil or not.

Activision has not published DMZ squad size or exactly what you lose when you fail to extract. Expect those answers from early-access players this week.

What changed from the beta and from Black Ops 7?

If you played the beta or have been in Black Ops 7 all year, these are the changes that will change how you play:

• No hipfire bloom. Activision removed bloom from hipfire, which makes close-range hipfire with SMGs and shotguns more predictable.
• More movement options, not omnimovement. The additions are mantle slides and mantle steering, a supine slide (double-tap crouch while sprinting), pipe climbing and pipe slides, hang shimmy and hang lean, and a climbing jump. "Mantling is now a choice, not a commitment," in Infinity Ward's words. Black Ops-style omnimovement is not part of the reveal. A movement training course is available at launch, and ten minutes there is the quickest way to learn the new mantles.
• Pick 3 perks. Perks return to a simpler Pick 3 system, with Ninja and Quick Fix back at launch.
• Operators and killstreaks live in each loadout. You set them per class in Create-a-Class instead of globally.
• Shared attachment unlocks. An attachment unlocked once can be used across weapons, which cuts the repeated unlock grind from recent games.
• Apex Attachments. Maxing a weapon's level unlocks its Apex Attachment, which is equipped on its own and does not take one of the attachment slots. There are 28 Apex Attachments at launch, covering most of the arsenal.

Prestige: two routes

Modern Warfare 4 gives you a choice each time you prestige:

• Regular Prestige sends you back to Level 1 but keeps your Create-a-Class unlocks.
• Classic Prestige is the old-school full reset of level unlocks and class progression, in exchange for increased XP rates and extra rewards on the way to Prestige Mastery.

For most players, Regular Prestige is the sensible default in the first weeks: you keep the loadouts you rely on while the meta settles. Classic Prestige is for players who already know they are going for Prestige Mastery and want the faster XP.

Camos

The camo track is shared across Multiplayer, DMZ and Warzone, so time in any mode moves your weapons forward. Each of the three modes has three Mastery Camos, nine in total. Activision has not published the challenge requirements yet, so plan your grind around the modes you already enjoy rather than one guide's guesses. Our MW4 camos guide tracks what Activision has confirmed so far and how to plan the grind across the three modes.

How does Warzone work with Modern Warfare 4?

Warzone integrates Modern Warfare 4 content and seasonal progression from Season 1, not at launch. Until then, Warzone stays on its current content.

What Activision has confirmed for that integration:

• New maps. Zodiac, a Resurgence map built by Beenox and played in the beta, and Hajin arrive in Season 1.
• Carry-forward. Operators, operator skins and weapon blueprints from Modern Warfare II, Modern Warfare III, Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7 stay usable in Warzone. Legacy weapon camos do not carry over; Activision corrected its own earlier post on this.
• Legacy weapons move to a Legacy tab. They can't be edited in Gunsmith; base versions with five attachments are available through the Armory.
• Operator skin toggle. A Warzone-only setting can hide other players' legacy operator skins. It is off by default.
• Last-gen ends. Warzone on PS4 and Xbox One becomes unplayable from Season 1. Downloads there ended on June 4, 2026.

Reports from an Infinity Ward stream put Season 1 on November 6, and say Hajin comes to battle royale next to Verdansk with Tactical Sprint back in Warzone. Activision's own pages say only that Season 1 comes "shortly after" launch, so treat November 6 as likely but unconfirmed.

When does Ranked Play start in Modern Warfare 4?

Activision has not announced a date for Modern Warfare 4 Ranked Play. None of the official launch pages mentions it. Recent Call of Duty games have added Ranked Play after launch rather than on day one, so don't expect it on October 23 unless Activision says otherwise.

When it does arrive, the launch window is the best time to learn the maps: the 12 core maps and Search and Destroy are what ranked lobbies will be built on. If you would rather start a new season higher up the ladder, our Call of Duty rank boost covers Multiplayer Ranked Play.

Launch week checklist

A short list of what is worth doing before and during launch week:

1. PC: turn on TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot now, and free 115 GB on an SSD. These are the two launch-night blockers Activision has confirmed.
2. Check how you bought it. Digital pre-orders already have Campaign access; physical copies wait until October 23.
3. Play the campaign during early access. Multiplayer isn't open yet, so the week before launch costs you nothing in progression.
4. Try DMZ on October 20. Learning Hajin's routes during early access is a head start for Warzone too, since Hajin is coming there in Season 1.
5. Pick your prestige route before you hit it. Regular if you want to keep your classes, Classic if you are chasing Prestige Mastery.
6. Save BlackCell expectations for Season 1. The Battle Pass and Tier Skips don't unlock until then.

Short on time for the campaign, or chasing the Realism achievement? Our MW4 campaign boost plays all 16 missions on the difficulty you choose. If you want the mastery camo grind done without losing your evenings, BoostingXP's Call of Duty camo boosting covers it, and weapon leveling and prestige have their own pages on the Call of Duty hub.

What is still unconfirmed?

As of October 17, 2026, Activision has not officially confirmed:

• The exact Season 1 date (November 6 is reported, not official)
• When Ranked Play arrives
• Exact unlock times for Campaign and DMZ Early Access, and console preload times
• Official install sizes on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2
• DMZ squad size and loss rules
• Mastery camo requirements
• Whether Zombies ever comes to Modern Warfare 4

We will update this page when Activision publishes them. For what happened in testing, our Modern Warfare 4 beta recap covers the maps, rewards and the early weapon meta, and the Open Beta Weekend Two guide has the Resurgence notes from Zodiac.

FAQ

What time does Modern Warfare 4 release?

Midnight local time on October 23, 2026, according to Activision's PC post. It is a rolling launch, so players in New Zealand and Australia get in first and players in the Americas last. Activision has not published separate console times.

Can I play Modern Warfare 4 early?

Yes, if you bought it digitally. Campaign Early Access started on October 16 and DMZ Early Access starts on October 20 for digital Standard and Vault pre-orders. Multiplayer has no early access.

Does the physical edition get early access?

No. Campaign Early Access is only for digital pre-orders and pre-purchases. Physical copies unlock on October 23.

Is Modern Warfare 4 on Game Pass?

Not at launch. Activision says it will not join Game Pass until Holiday 2027.

Is Modern Warfare 4 on PS4 or Xbox One?

No. It is on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo Switch 2 only, and Warzone on PS4 and Xbox One stops working from Season 1.

Does Modern Warfare 4 have Zombies?

Activision has not announced Zombies for Modern Warfare 4. The launch modes are Campaign, Multiplayer and DMZ.

When does Modern Warfare 4 Season 1 start?

Activision says Season 1 comes shortly after launch but has not given a date. November 6 has been reported from an Infinity Ward stream. Warzone integration, Zodiac, Hajin and the Battle Pass all wait for Season 1.

Do my Black Ops 7 skins carry over?

In Warzone, yes: operators, skins and blueprints from Modern Warfare II, Modern Warfare III, Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7 stay usable there. Legacy weapon camos do not. Activision has not announced any carry-forward into Modern Warfare 4's own modes beyond the pre-order items.