Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Launch Day: Platforms, Price, Game Pass

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is out now. Infinity Ward's new entry in the rebooted Modern Warfare line went live worldwide on Friday, October 23, 2026, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Battle.net, Steam and the Xbox app) and, for the first time in the franchise's history, Nintendo Switch 2 — with no PS4 or Xbox One version. The full launch caps a staggered rollout that began with Campaign Early Access for digital pre-order customers on October 16 and DMZ's early access window on October 20, and it arrives alongside a new NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready driver. One piece of news that caught some players off guard: Modern Warfare 4 is not part of Xbox Game Pass at launch, breaking a run of day-one Game Pass availability for the series since Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

What's happening today

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is the fourth mainline entry in Infinity Ward's rebooted Modern Warfare sub-series, and today marks its full commercial release: campaign, multiplayer and the DMZ extraction mode are all unlocked for anyone who owns the game, not just pre-order customers. Activision's own Call of Duty blog confirms the game "will be available globally on XBOX Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC via Battle.net, XBOX on PC, Steam, and Switch 2 on Friday, October 23rd, 2026," with development led by Infinity Ward.

The launch follows months of staged reveals and access windows — an open beta in late August, Campaign Early Access for pre-order customers starting October 16, and DMZ's own early-access period that opened on October 20 — all building to today's simultaneous worldwide release across four platform families.

When Modern Warfare 4 actually unlocks, region by region

Activision has not published a single, universal unlock clock for the full release the way it did for the Campaign and DMZ early-access windows (both of which were pegged to specific times for pre-order customers). Multiple outlets tracking past Call of Duty launches — and this one specifically — report that Modern Warfare 4 is expected to go live on a rolling, midnight-local-time basis in each region, meaning players in New Zealand and Australia see it first and the U.S. West Coast sees it last, sometime in the evening of October 22 local time there. Reported sample windows for the earlier early-access periods were 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET for U.S. players, roughly 6 PM in the UK and 7 PM in Central Europe, so expect a similar spread for the full unlock if your region hasn't already rolled over. Because storefronts (PSN, Xbox, Battle.net, Steam, the Nintendo eShop) each enforce their own regional clocks, the safest approach is to check your own platform's store page for the exact countdown rather than relying on a single quoted time.

Platforms, and the first-ever Switch 2 Call of Duty

Modern Warfare 4 ships on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC at launch, continuing a pattern Activision started with Black Ops 6: no PS4 or Xbox One version at all. It's the first mainline Call of Duty release to skip the previous console generation entirely.

The bigger platform story is Nintendo Switch 2. According to Call of Duty's own Switch 2 page, "Infinity Ward, in partnership with Digital Legends, is developing Modern Warfare 4 natively for Nintendo Switch 2," covering the full campaign, multiplayer and DMZ. It's the series' first appearance on a current Nintendo platform in over a decade (the last mainline entry on a Nintendo console was Call of Duty: Ghosts on Wii U back in 2013), and reporting around the Switch 2 retail release notes that the physical boxed version ships as a download code rather than a cartridge, so even buyers who prefer a disc or cart will need a sizeable day-one download.

What's new: Infinity Ward's new setting and story

Where previous entries in the rebooted series leaned on recognizable 2019-era conflicts, Modern Warfare 4 moves the story to a new flashpoint. Per the official reveal trailer and Call of Duty's own blog, "war erupts on the Korean Peninsula as North Korea launches a full-scale invasion that threatens to destabilize the world." Infinity Ward has framed the campaign around that escalating Korean Peninsula conflict, with the DMZ extraction mode's Hajin Exclusion Zone built as a direct narrative consequence of the campaign's events — Activision describes DMZ as "a living combat world" combining "narrative-driven Story Missions, Dynamic Operations, player-driven encounters, and match-to-match progression" inside that same fictional aftermath.

On the multiplayer side, Infinity Ward has talked up a new dynamic map mechanic it calls Kill Block as one of the headline systems for this entry, alongside a fresh roster of 6v6 core maps at launch.

Is Modern Warfare 4 on Xbox Game Pass?

No — not at launch. Multiple outlets reported that Xbox sent Game Pass members an in-app notice stating the game "won't be available in Game Pass at launch" and that Game Pass availability is being pushed out to the following holiday season, with the Call of Duty account separately reiterating that this had already been announced. That's a meaningful change from the pattern Microsoft set after closing its Activision Blizzard acquisition, when Modern Warfare III and Black Ops 6 were both playable on Game Pass from day one. For now, anyone who wants to play Modern Warfare 4 today needs to buy the Standard or Vault Edition outright on their platform of choice; there's no subscription shortcut.

Pricing and editions

Activision's PlayStation Store listing confirms two editions at launch: the Standard Edition at $69.99 and the Vault Edition at $99.99. Both editions include Campaign Early Access (now expired, since the game is fully out) and Instant Grat items for Black Ops 7 and Warzone. The Vault Edition adds the Hostile Alliance Operator Pack and Special Forces Operator Pack (four operator skins each), a Signature Weapon Collection, one season of the BlackCell premium battle pass track, and a DMZ Deployment Bonus. Anyone who pre-ordered either edition also received Open Beta Early Access and a Hunter Killer Operator Skin usable in Black Ops 7 and Warzone, and Activision is running a 10% loyalty discount on the Vault Edition for eligible returning Call of Duty purchasers. Online play on every platform requires an active online subscription where applicable (PS Plus on PS5, Xbox Live Gold/Game Pass Core equivalent on Xbox, Nintendo Switch Online on Switch 2) plus a linked Activision account.

File size and pre-load

The only install-size figure Activision has put its name to is the PC one: its official PC system requirements page lists "SSD with 115 GB available space at launch" for both the minimum and recommended tiers, with a note that additional space will be needed for mandatory day-one and post-launch updates. Console and Switch 2 figures circulating in press coverage and storefront listings — roughly 117 GB on PS5 and higher estimates on Xbox Series X|S, with Switch 2 landing lower in the 77–85 GB range — have not been confirmed directly by Activision, Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo, and all of them are likely to shift once Warzone integration packs and day-one patches are factored in. If storage is tight, check your own platform's store listing immediately before queuing the download, since Call of Duty games have a track record of growing substantially after their first major update.

The road to today: Campaign and DMZ early access

Today's release is the last step in a deliberately staggered rollout. Call of Duty's own update log says players could "experience the gripping story of Modern Warfare 4 first with our Campaign Early Access, starting October 16" — available to anyone who pre-ordered the game digitally, on any platform. DMZ followed with its own early-access window starting October 20, giving pre-order customers four days with the Hajin Exclusion Zone before multiplayer and the rest of the game opened up to everyone today. That two-stage early-access structure, confirmed first at the Xbox Games Showcase where DMZ was first revealed, is now standard practice for a Call of Duty launch window, and it means most of the game's pre-order base has already spent close to a week with the campaign and DMZ by the time the full release goes live for everyone else.

NVIDIA's launch-day driver and GeForce NOW

NVIDIA used its own GeForce news page to confirm a new Game Ready driver timed to the launch window: GeForce Game Ready Driver 617.42 WHQL, released October 6, adds optimizations for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 alongside STAR WARS: Galactic Racer, Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024's Sim Update 7. According to NVIDIA, Modern Warfare 4 supports the full DLSS 4.5 suite from day one: DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution for any GeForce RTX GPU, DLSS 4.5 Frame Generation on RTX 40 Series cards, and Dynamic Multi Frame Generation — which NVIDIA says can multiply frame rates by up to 6x — on RTX 50 Series systems, plus NVIDIA Reflex latency reduction across the board. The driver is available now through the NVIDIA app or directly from nvidia.com.

On GeForce NOW: NVIDIA's cloud-streaming service hosted the Modern Warfare 4 open beta back in late August, letting members on Battle.net, Steam and Xbox PC storefront accounts stream the beta without a local install. Whether the finished game joins the regular GeForce NOW library on day one, however, is a detail NVIDIA's own October driver announcement does not address directly, so treat any claim of full-game cloud streaming today as unconfirmed until NVIDIA's GeForce NOW team posts its own update.

What to check before you play

If you're jumping in today: confirm your platform's exact unlock time on its own store page rather than a quoted global time, make sure you have the storage headroom (115 GB minimum on PC, more on console once day-one patches land), and check whether your Call of Duty account region affects early access to multiplayer content you may have missed during last week's campaign and DMZ windows. Xbox players specifically should budget for a standalone purchase, since Game Pass isn't a day-one option this time. PC players on GeForce RTX hardware should grab the October 6 Game Ready driver before their first session to get DLSS 4.5 and Reflex support out of the box, and Switch 2 owners buying physical should expect a full digital download even from a boxed copy. Pandromeda will update this piece if Activision, Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo publish firmer numbers on regional unlock times or console file sizes.

Video: Call of Duty · Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 | Reveal Trailer

Written byJonah Reyes

Jonah Reyes leads Pandromeda's gaming coverage: console and handheld hardware, release dates, pricing changes, patch notes and the business moves behind the biggest franchises. He sources every date and price from the platform holders and publishers themselves, and says plainly when something is still only a rumour.

More from Jonah ReyesAll Gaming coverage