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🕹️ Gamer· 2 min read

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is out: current-gen consoles only, and no Game Pass at launch

The new Call of Duty arrived on October 23 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo Switch 2. It leaves PS4 and Xbox One behind and skips Game Pass at launch.

Official Modern Warfare 4 multiplayer image from the Kill Block map.
Official Modern Warfare 4 multiplayer image from the Kill Block map. Image: Activision / Xbox Wire

On October 23, 2026, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launched worldwide. It is the 23rd entry in the franchise and the final chapter of the Modern Warfare series that was rebooted in 2019. Infinity Ward developed it together with ten other Activision studios, including Treyarch, Sledgehammer and Raven.

The most noticeable change for players: it is the first major Call of Duty in a long time to drop the previous generation. It runs on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Steam, Battle.net and the Xbox app) and, for the first time in years, on a Nintendo console: the Switch 2. PS4 and Xbox One are left out.

Korea, a campaign and the return of DMZ

The campaign follows a new war between the two Koreas, triggered by an electromagnetic pulse attack on the fictional city of Hajin. There are also missions in New York, Paris and Mumbai, and Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen plays the villain. Early reviews rank it among the best in the series: 91 out of 100 on Metacritic for the PS5 version.

A PlayStation 5 with its DualSense controller, one of the consoles where Modern Warfare 4 is already playable.
A PlayStation 5 with its DualSense controller, one of the consoles where Modern Warfare 4 is already playable. Image: Osh33m / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Kill Block, the map everyone is talking about

Multiplayer offers 12 six-versus-six maps from day one, and the one everyone is talking about is Kill Block: a training ground built from three blocks that combine in more than 500 ways, so the map changes from match to match. DMZ, the extraction mode for squads of up to three players, also returns.

What changes for Game Pass

Unlike Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, which joined Game Pass on day one, Modern Warfare 4 is not part of the subscription at launch: Microsoft and Activision will add it at least a year after release. Anyone who wants to play now has to buy it.

Xbox Series X and Series S with their controllers: the game is on both, but this time it did not join Game Pass on launch day.
Xbox Series X and Series S with their controllers: the game is on both, but this time it did not join Game Pass on launch day. Image: AsmodeanUnderscore / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

On the technical side, it uses the IW 9.0 engine. On PC it adds more ray tracing (reflections, shadows and ambient occlusion), and on Switch 2 it supports cross-play with the other platforms and the option to use the Joy-Con 2 as a mouse.

At MBTECNIC we often see what happens when a game like this pushes a console to the limit for hours: if your PS5 or Series starts getting loud or running too hot, it is worth having it checked before the problem grows.

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