Activision has finally revealed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, the next mainline entry in the first-person shooter franchise due out later in 2026.
Developed by Infinity Ward, the main studio behind the Modern Warfare sub-series, Modern Warfare 4 ditches the last generation of consoles to focus on the current-gen — and it’s also coming to Nintendo Switch 2 day one with crossplay.
Three main modes are included in the package: Campaign, Multiplayer, and DMZ, the latter of which is Modern Warfare’s extraction mode. The setting this time around is Korea amid a full-scale invasion of South Korea. Activision describes the campaign as returning to the series’ roots, with “dark, gritty storytelling, cinematic set pieces, and immersive gameplay moments.” Expect missions in Korea, New York, Paris, and an SAS night raid in Mumbai.
Here’s the official blurb:
Private Park, a young Korean grunt soldier, is thrust into combat for the first time, as he and his squad are forced to overcome impossible odds in a gripping zero to hero journey. Captain Price returns and forms a rogue alliance, operating outside the system and apart from the Task Force 141 team he once called his own.
As for Multiplayer, the headline change is that weapon bloom has been removed from hipfire, which means “every shot tells the truth.” Shots “feel more connected to where the weapon is pointed while delivering consistent, predictable, and fair gunplay.”
At launch, expect 12 all-new core 6v6 maps, dedicated Gunfight maps, multiple Big War maps built for vehicle and infantry combat, and Kill Block, a dynamic battleground with more than 500 configurations that reshape routes, sightlines, and cover to keep players adapting round after round.
“Taking place inside the Westbridge Training Facility, Kill Block introduces a dynamic new Multiplayer battleground where the combat space reconfigures between rounds, reshaping sightlines, routes, and cover to keep players adapting in real time,” Activision said. “Shaped from a set of purpose-built modular sections capable of creating more than 500 distinct configurations, each match creates its own combat rhythm and tactical challenges. Expect more sections and even more configurations during Modern Warfare 4’s live seasons.”
Kill Block supports expanded Gunfight formats, including 3v3 and 10v10 experiences, with future support planned for more core Multiplayer modes.
Meanwhile, movement is reworked, with expanded options for Mantling, Climbing, Hanging and Jumping. A redesigned Create-a-Class system unifies Operators, weapons, Equipment, and Killstreaks into a single loadout, giving players quicker access to specialized builds tailored to different tactics and playstyles.
There are two Prestige paths: Classic Prestige and Regular Prestige. Classic Prestige delivers the traditional reset experience, relocking Create-a-Class progression in exchange for increased XP earn rates and access to exclusive Prestige rewards. For players who prefer to maintain their unlocked Loadouts, Regular Prestige allows progression to restart from Level 1 without resetting Create-a-Class content, offering a more flexible path forward while still rewarding continued progression, with its own set of Prestige rewards and progression milestones. Check out IGN’s impressions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Multiplayer right here.
Activision isn’t saying much about the DMZ mode at the moment, although it has signalled that more will be revealed during the Xbox Games Showcase in June. But we do have a short blurb on the mode, and some screenshots, below:
DMZ is the definitive Call of Duty extraction experience, a living combat arena where every deployment is a new story. Deploy solo or with a squad into a volatile conflict zone as an off-the-books asset tasked with recovering advanced military technology left in the wake of war. The conditions in the exclusion zone are always shifting, with changing weather, dynamic military objectives, and hostile forces moving throughout the zone.
Loot, fight, negotiate, betray, and extract with whatever you can carry. The harder you push, the harder the world pushes back. Every run is a risk, every encounter is a choice, and no two deployments play out the same way.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 development is led by Infinity Ward, and will be available globally on Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Battle.net, Xbox on PC, Steam, and Nintendo Switch 2 on Friday, October 23, 2026. Crucially for Activision and Microsoft, that’s four weeks before the attention-sucking GTA 6 comes out.
The PC version is built with the help of Beenox, which has worked on PC versions of Call of Duty for some time now. The Nintendo Switch 2 version is developed in partnership with Digital Legends, the Barcelona-based Activision-owned studio which worked on the now shuttered Call of Duty Warzone Mobile.
It’s worth noting that this year’s Call of Duty will not launch day one on Game Pass, Microsoft’s subscription service. New Xbox boss Asha Sharma had decided to pull new Call of Duty launches out of Game Pass, instead adding them in a year later, while cutting the price of a sub as part of a wider effort to rebuild the brand in the eyes of hardcore fans.
Microsoft has decided to stick with $70 as the standard edition price point for Call of Duty this year, resisting the temptation to go to $80 or beyond. The Vault Edition costs $100.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
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