Modern Warfare 4 Release Date, Early Access, Price and Editions

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on Friday 23 October 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Battle.net, Xbox on PC and Steam) and Nintendo Switch 2. If you pre-order the Standard Digital or Vault Edition, you can start the campaign a week early, on Friday 16 October. On Steam in the US the Standard Edition is $69.99 and the Vault Edition $99.99. The game won’t be in Game Pass at launch and isn’t coming to PS4 or Xbox One.

When is Modern Warfare 4 coming out?

Activision has set the worldwide release for Friday 23 October 2026. It repeats the date in every recent Call of Duty blog post, including the Tokyo Game Show campaign trailer post. One detail matters if you play on PC in the Americas: the game’s Steam store listing currently shows a release date of 22 October. Activision had not published exact unlock times by region in its September posts, so it isn’t yet clear whether the game unlocks on the evening of the 22nd in American time zones.

The dates so far and the ones still to come:

How does Campaign Early Access work?

Activision says anyone who digitally pre-orders or pre-purchases the Standard Digital Edition or the Vault Edition can play the campaign from Friday 16 October, seven days before launch. That covers Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, PlayStation 5, Battle.net, Steam and Nintendo Switch 2.

Physical pre-orders don’t get campaign early access. The physical Standard Edition only came with early access to the beta, through a code from the retailer, and that beta ended on 1 September. Activision’s standard disclaimer applies: “actual play time subject to possible outages and applicable time zone differences.” Activision describes the early window as access to “the game’s Campaign”. Everything else arrives with the full launch on 23 October.

How much does Modern Warfare 4 cost?

There are three ways to buy it, according to Activision’s editions and pre-order benefits guide: a digital Standard Edition, a digital Vault Edition, and a physical Standard Edition for consoles only. The Vault Edition is digital-only. Steam’s US listing gives these prices:

Console store prices are set by each platform. Activision gives the upgrade cost as “$30 U.S. SRP (or regional equivalent)”.

The 10% Vault Edition loyalty discount

Activision is offering 10% off the Vault Edition to returning players. You qualify if you have digitally or physically owned and played a premium Call of Duty released since Modern Warfare (2019). You also qualify if you played one of those games through Game Pass and have an active Game Pass Ultimate, Premium or PC subscription. The discount is based on MSRP and doesn’t apply if you upgrade from Standard later. If you’re not sure which Game Pass tier you have, our breakdown of Game Pass tiers and prices lists what each one includes.

What do you get for pre-ordering?

• Hunter Killer Operator (digital pre-orders): unlocked immediately in Black Ops 7 and Warzone, and in Modern Warfare 4 at launch. You have to redeem it by 23 October 2027.
• “Inner Circuit” M4 Weapon Blueprint (any digital pre-order): a five-attachment M4 build tuned for mid- and close-range fights. Pre-orders on Xbox Series X|S get a translucent “OG Green” finish marking 25 years of Xbox. Every other platform gets a mil-spec finish. Activision says both versions “perform identically”, and the finish is tied to the platform, not something you choose.

What the Vault Edition adds

• Hostile Alliance Operator Pack: Price, Valeria, Ghost and Blix. Price and Valeria have masked and unmasked skins.
• Special Forces Operator Pack: four Operators, each representing their home country with a voice pack in the local language, including a South Korean Special Forces Operator.
• Signature Weapon Collection: the Kastov 762 assault rifle, ISO Nightshade SMG, Rezi 12 shotgun, Oris 8.6 marksman rifle and a Combat Knife. Each ranged weapon comes with an “Apex” attachment, such as the Kastov Arc barrel, which fires a disruptive RF pulse.
• One season of BlackCell: Season 1 if you play before or during it, otherwise whichever season is current.

What is Modern Warfare 4 about?

Modern Warfare 4 carries on the rebooted Modern Warfare story. In Activision’s “Story So Far” recap, John Price killed General Shepherd at the end of Modern Warfare III and went underground to hunt Vladimir Makarov. Task Force 141 has been disbanded. Ghost and Gaz are ordered to capture or kill their former captain, and CIA Station Chief Kate Laswell is the only one still in touch with him.

With his old allies against him, Price works with an unlikely partner: Valeria Garza, “El Sin Nombre”, leader of the Las Almas Cartel. At the same time North Korea launches a full-scale invasion of South Korea. Part of the story follows Private Park Hyun Jun as joint US and South Korean marines fight back, including an amphibious assault. Behind it all is a new weapon being delivered to a villain known only as “The Archer.”

Activision says the campaign opens with the invasion of the South Korean city of Hajin. It then moves from trench warfare in Korea to close-quarters fighting in New York, chases through Paris, SAS night raids in Mumbai and a citywide assault to retake occupied territory.

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

Is Modern Warfare 4 on Switch 2, PS4 or Game Pass?

Switch 2: yes. Activision says Infinity Ward and Digital Legends are building Modern Warfare 4 natively for Nintendo Switch 2. It launches on 23 October with campaign early access like the other platforms. Switch 2 players first tried it in the open beta from 28 August.

PS4 and Xbox One: no. Activision says Modern Warfare 4 “will not be available on previous-generation consoles.”

Game Pass: not at launch. Activision’s pre-order guide says plainly that “Modern Warfare 4 will not be available on Game Pass at launch.” Xbox players who buy it get Xbox Play Anywhere, so one purchase covers Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC.

Modern Warfare 4 PC requirements

Activision published PC specifications for the beta in its Call of Duty: NEXT and beta intel post. It warned they “may differ from the PC specifications for the full game”. The Steam listing still says “TBD” for the full game.

You can’t get around the last row. Activision says TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot are required to play Modern Warfare 4 on PC, and in the beta, players without them couldn’t play online at all. If your PC fails the check, our step-by-step guide to enabling TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot covers every setting, and you have until 16 October to sort it out.

PC players also get Shader Preloading, built with Beenox. It compiles shaders in the background before you launch the game, to cut waiting time and stutter. Battle.net used it from the start of the beta. On Steam, the first boot still compiles shaders once, and Activision says the full benefit arrives after launch. Activision also says Modern Warfare 4 will stay inside the combined Call of Duty launcher alongside Warzone, to share content and keep file sizes down. It plans a refreshed launcher interface before Campaign Early Access begins.

What changes in Warzone when Modern Warfare 4 arrives?

Warzone’s next chapter begins with Modern Warfare 4’s Season 1, and Activision has detailed some notable changes in a September post on Warzone’s new Operator Skin toggle:

• A new Operator Skin toggle, off by default, makes every other player appear as a Modern Warfare 4 Operator on your screen. It only changes what you see, and your own Operator stays as you picked it.
• Operators, skins and weapon blueprints from Modern Warfare II, Modern Warfare III, Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7 carry forward. Activision corrected an earlier version of the post: weapon camos from those games are not carried forward.
• Legacy weapons move to a Legacy tab without Gunsmith support or old custom loadouts. Each one comes as a fixed five-attachment version unlocked through the Armory.
• Raven Software will keep adjusting weapon balance every two weeks.

Should you pre-order Modern Warfare 4?

A digital pre-order gets you three concrete things: the campaign a week early, the Hunter Killer Operator right away in Black Ops 7 and Warzone, and the Inner Circuit M4. If you only want the campaign early, the $69.99 Standard Digital Edition is enough. The Vault Edition makes more sense if you’ll buy the Season 1 BlackCell anyway, or if you qualify for the 10% loyalty discount, which you lose if you upgrade later instead of buying Vault up front.

If you play on Xbox and were waiting for Game Pass, Activision has ruled that out for launch. And if you’re on PC, check TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot now, not on 16 October.

What happens next

Activision says it will share “more about our plans during the Modern Warfare 4 year” in the coming weeks, including Season 1 details. Before that, it has promised the launcher update ahead of Campaign Early Access on 16 October. The full game follows on 23 October.

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.

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