Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will be a first-person shooter video game.^[1][3] It will comprise three main game modes: a single-player campaign mode; a competitive multiplayer component; and the extraction shooter mode "DMZ", returning from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022).^[3]

Modern Warfare 4's campaign will have a focus on a war between North Korea and South Korea. Following the events of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023), an invasion of the Korean Peninsula by the Korean People's Army threatens to destabilize the world. The story is centered around two protagonists: Private Park (Young Mazino), a South Korean recruit who fights alongside his squad to protect his home; and Captain John Price (Barry Sloane), the former leader of Task Force 141 who is on the run following his assassination of United States General Herschel Shepherd. Other characters featured in the story include: First Lieutenant West (Luke Tennie), a United States Army soldier stationed in Korea serving with Park's squad; Valeria Garza (María Elisa Camargo), the leader of the Las Almas Cartel and former enemy of Task Force 141 who is allied with Price; and Simon "Ghost" Riley (Samuel Roukin), a Task Force 141 operative who is at odds with Price.^[2][4][5] In addition to Korea, missions will also take place in various locations such as New York, Paris, and Mumbai.^[2]

The multiplayer mode is set to feature 12 core 6v6 maps at launch, accompanied by returning game modes such as "Gunfight" with a dedicated map pool, and "Big War" featuring large-scale maps. A new map, "Kill Block", features dynamic layouts that constantly change as the match progresses, with over 500 different possible configurations. One of the major changes to the gameplay system is the removal of hipfire bloom, a gameplay mechanic that penalizes players by reducing accuracy of shots when firing their weapons from the hip. Updates to the movement system include the ability to hang and shimmy along edges and pipes.^[3]

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Development on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is led by Infinity Ward with assistance from 10 additional studios, including Treyarch, Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software.^[6]

Modern Warfare 4's setting on the Korean Peninsula with a renewed conflict between North and South Korea evokes the real world Korean War between the two states, which has been at an armistice since 1953 without an official conclusion.^[7] South Korean journalist Hyeonju Song said that "creating fiction based on it is bound to cause pain to someone" as "separated families who were torn apart by the war are still alive".^[8] Infinity Ward co-studio head Jack O'Hara said the studio worked to portray the region as respectfully as possible.^[8] They consulted regional specialists, defectors from North Korea and Infinity Ward's own Korean employees.^[9] Infinity Ward were interested in the setting as they had not portrayed Asia at scale in a Modern Warfare game.^[9] Narrative director Jeff Negus said the studio wanted the narrative to feel "ripped from the headlines" such as the role played by American troops stationed in South Korea if North Korea were to attack its neighbor.^[10]

When explaining the changes made to the movement system in Modern Warfare 4, co-studio head Mark Grigsby said that the development team was motivated by player feedback to their previous title, Modern Warfare II (2022), where movement was perceived as being more restricted.^[11] The game does not employ the "Omnimovement" system featured in Treyarch's titles, Black Ops 6 (2024) and Black Ops 7 (2025), though Grigsby and O'Hara said Infinity Ward still aimed to make movement as fast and fluid as possible.^[12]

Modern Warfare 4 will be the first Call of Duty game to only release on ninth generation consoles. Activision press material claimed that the game will set "a new technical benchmark for the series".^[6] The PC version's development was aided by Beenox, as with every Call of Duty title since Black Ops 4 (2018).^[13] The PC version will feature expanded ray tracing effects, including ray traced reflections, ambient occlusion and shadows, across all game modes.^[14][15] Modern Warfare 4 is the first Call of Duty title to ship on a Nintendo console since Call of Duty: Ghosts (2013) released on Wii U.^[16] The Nintendo Switch 2 version was developed by Digital Legends, who previously worked on Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile (2024). O'Hara said the process has been "pretty seamless" and they "got the game up and running pretty quickly" on the Switch 2.^[17][18] It will support cross-play and optional Joy-Con 2 mouse controls on the console.^[19]

Modern Warfare 4 was announced on May 28, 2026, set to be released on October 23 for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.^[1][2] Unlike previous Call of Duty titles Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, which launched on Xbox Game Pass on release day, Modern Warfare 4 is set to release on the subscription service at least a year after release day.^[20]