Warfare Without Limits
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Wiki
Field guide for Campaign, Multiplayer, and DMZ — written from official intel and the August 2026 open beta, updated after the test closed on September 1.
- Launch
- 23 Oct 2026
- Studio
- Infinity Ward
- Modes
- Campaign · MP · DMZ
- Platforms
- PS5 · Series · PC · Switch 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is Infinity Ward’s next chapter in the rebooted Modern Warfare line, launching worldwide on October 23, 2026. The game ships three modes on day one: a cinematic Campaign, grounded 6v6 Multiplayer, and a rebuilt DMZ extraction sandbox. Warzone integration follows in Season 01, with Hajin arriving as the next battle royale map.
This wiki exists because the month before a Call of Duty launch is noisy. Players hunt beta codes, compare Standard and Vault editions, argue about the beta meta, and try to learn the new movement before ranked play opens. We keep those answers in one place, with practical how-to guides instead of rumor threads.
The story puts a South Korean recruit, Private Park Hyun Jun, on collapsing front lines while Captain Price operates as an outlaw after the events of Modern Warfare III. If you only have time for one briefing, start with how to play Modern Warfare 4, then jump to the mode you actually queue.
01 / Access
Codes, beta windows, and pre-order extras
Most “MW4 codes” searches are not Roblox-style daily drops. They are beta tokens, retailer redemptions, and loyalty discounts.
Digital pre-orders on PlayStation, Xbox, Battle.net, Steam, and the in-game store auto-register you for Early Access. Physical copies and some third-party keys still need a 13-character code redeemed at callofduty.com. The Early Access window ran August 21–25, 2026; the free Open Beta ran August 28–September 1. Campaign Early Access for digital pre-orders starts October 16.
If you still have an unused retailer token, the beta codes brief walks through redemption, platform binding, and what happens when a code is already used. The pre-order bonuses page lists Hunter Killer, Gilded Pearl, and which extras actually carry into launch.
02 / Single-player
Campaign: Park, Price, and Entrenched
The campaign is the first Modern Warfare story built around a Korean Peninsula invasion, with missions in New York, Paris, and Mumbai.
- Campaign early access
- 16 Oct 2026
- Beta mission
- Entrenched
You split time between Private Park’s squad and Captain Price’s off-book war. First Lieutenant West fights alongside Park. Valeria Garza returns as an uneasy ally. Ghost is not on Price’s side this time. The beta included Entrenched, the first campaign mission ever shipped in a Call of Duty beta — a trench assault that ends inside a nuclear power station.
Use the story dossier for characters and tone, then the Entrenched walkthrough if you still have the mission installed. Digital pre-orders play the full campaign a week early; the how to complete Entrenched guide is the spoiler-light route through the reactor.
03 / 6v6 and beyond
Maps: twelve core arenas plus Kill Block
Launch 6v6 is all-new. Kill Block rebuilds itself between matches. Combat Outpost uses Hajin slices.
Infinity Ward confirmed twelve core maps: Cachette, Coal, Lithium, Lotus, Mumbai, Munition, Nautical, Reactor U92, Rooftops, Sentry, Silkworm, and Transit 213. The beta put Cachette, Lithium, Lotus, Rooftops, Silkworm, Transit 213, and Kill Block in rotation, then added Imjin Farmland and Wolves Stadium for Combat Outpost.
Kill Block is the map people search by name. It is a modular training facility with more than 500 slab combinations. Read the core map atlas for lanes, the modes page for Inflation and Hijack, and Warzone for Zodiac and Hajin BR. The Kill Block guide is the practical Gunfight version.
04 / Gunsmith
Weapons, tier list, and loadouts
Twenty-four primaries, eight secondaries, and a melee at launch — 28 Apex parts in the official grind list. Bloom is gone. Apex sits outside your five Gunsmith slots.
The August beta meta clustered around the M4, ISO Nightshade, Kastov 762, Oris 8.6, and KG-7 Vulcan. Weapon platforms that forced you to level a family tree are gone; attachments now share by class. Gunny, the gunnery-sergeant assistant, builds a class from unlocked parts if you do not want to live in Gunsmith.
Start with the weapons index, then the beta tier list for what actually killed in 6v6. The loadout board has full classes, and the loadout planner lets you assemble one without opening the game.
05 / Feel
Controls, movement, and settings
Omnimovement does not return. Mantle-to-slide, ledge hang, and Mantle Momentum do. Hipfire goes where the barrel points.
Ballistic Authority is the marketing name for a simple change: no hipfire bloom. If the reticle is on the chest, the shot is on the chest. Movement is faster than Modern Warfare II without the omnidirectional slide spam of recent Black Ops titles. The Mobility Course in the beta is still the best place to learn mantle cancel timing.
Console players should start on the controls hub, then the movement manual and the settings brief for deadzones, ADS multipliers, and the PC-only TPM 2.0 gate.
06 / Extraction
DMZ returns in Hajin
Twenty squads of three. Story Missions, Dynamic Operations, or Free Roam. Gear is persistent until you go MIA.
Hajin is a tri-border exclusion zone left after the campaign’s reactor disaster. You deploy as an off-books CIA asset, loot abandoned tech, and leave by helicopter or skyhook. Killing other players raises notoriety. Weather shifts during a raid. The Forward Operating Base is your hub between drops: stash, vendors, 3D printer, Gunsmith, bounty board.
The DMZ hub explains the loop. Hajin covers POIs from Fallout to the casino vault. Extract and the extraction guide are for the last ninety seconds, when most kits are lost.
07 / How-to
Guides for the questions people actually type
Pre-order, beta, Entrenched, Kill Block, DMZ extract — each guide is a procedure, not a recap.
Search traffic before a Call of Duty launch is procedural. People want to know how to get in, how to spend thirty extra dollars, and how to finish the one mission they already downloaded. After launch the same pages shift toward how to beat a map and how to extract with a backpack still full.
Every guide below is written from official steps and from videos we actually embedded. If two creators covered the same mission, we kept one tutorial.
08 / Buy / spec / verdict
Editions, platforms, and a beta-backed review
Standard is $69.99. Vault is $99.99, $90 with loyalty. No Game Pass at launch. Last-gen consoles are out.
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S (Play Anywhere), PC on Battle.net, Steam, and Xbox on PC, plus a native Nintendo Switch 2 build from Digital Legends. Split-screen is on PS5 and Xbox. Texture streaming means Multiplayer and DMZ need a live connection. TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot are required for PC online.
Use editions and the edition compare tool before you spend. Vault lists operator packs and Signature Weapons. Platforms and PC specs cover the hardware floor. The review is a beta-informed preview, not a day-one score.
Field questions
Frequently asked questions
When does Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 release?+
Friday, October 23, 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. Digital campaign early access begins October 16 for qualifying pre-orders.
Is Modern Warfare 4 on Game Pass at launch?+
No. Unlike Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, MW4 is scheduled for Game Pass at least a year after launch.
Does the game support last-gen consoles?+
No. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are dropped. Warzone on those platforms also ends around Season 01.
What are the three launch modes?+
Campaign, Multiplayer, and DMZ. Warzone remains a separate free experience: Zodiac Resurgence was in the Open Beta; Hajin BR arrives in Season 01.
Where do I start if I only want to play well on day one?+
Read how to play, then the movement guide, the weapon tier list, and the loadout planner. If you bought Vault, check the Vault page so you actually equip the Signature Weapons.