Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is one of the biggest launches scheduled for October, and it’s one of the last major games before the likes of Nintendo’s Ocarina of Time remake and GTA 6 come blazing through to overshadow everything else. This release date puts Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 in a fascinating position, and the campaign launching ahead of the rest of the game adds even more intrigue to the franchise’s newest Modern Warfare chapter. Modern Warfare 4 is a completely original story that marks the series’ departure from the original trilogy and its reboot. Set during a modern-day conflict between North and South Korea, there are some high expectations surrounding the game, and its newness makes the campaign far more compelling than the last three chapters.
This time around, Modern Warfare 4 finally gets to tell a brand-new story within the Modern Warfare timeline. Every Modern Warfare game has had its own unique story to tell, but Modern Warfare 4‘s new setting presents a fresh era for the Call of Duty spin-off. Between Mads Mikkelsen playing Modern Warfare 4‘s villain and Captain John Price going rogue, this campaign could be one of Call of Duty‘s best in a long time, and getting to experience it before actual launch gives it a much-deserved spotlight.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s Campaign Early Access Is a Pre-Order Bonus Worth Celebrating
Pre-order bonuses for games are obviously nothing new, but a lot of these rewards feel more like publishers and developers are ticking off a box on a to-do list instead of actually bringing anything meaningful to players. For example, God of War Laufey is one of my most-anticipated games at the moment, but the pre-order rewards haven’t convinced me to purchase early. The God of War Laufey pre-order bonuses for the Standard Edition are just in-game skins for the most part, while Modern Warfare 4 lets fans dive into the campaign an entire week early. One reward type clearly outshines the other.
This Is When Modern Warfare 4’s Campaign Early Access Goes Live
- Campaign Early Access goes live on October 16.
- Campaign Early Access is only for pre-orders.
- Multiplayer and DMZ will be released on October 23.
Granted, this is far from the first time that a pre-order bonus has included early access. Games like LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight have offered three-day early access as an incentive to buy early, but Activision offering an entire week is a great move that is bound to give the campaign some serious time to shine. Modern Warfare 4‘s campaign early access might not be as exciting for fans who are multiplayer die-hards, but it’s the necessary appetizer to ignite extra hype ahead of the full launch.
Modern Warfare 4’s Early Access Can Hopefully Break the Current Call of Duty Campaign Curse
The past few years of Call of Duty campaigns have seen a lot of highs and lows. Whether it’s Black Ops 6 and Cold War‘s stronger stories or Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops 7‘s letdowns, they all have something in common: they immediately get overlooked by multiplayer. This really isn’t a surprise or anything. Multiplayer has always been part of the Call of Duty identity, but it has evolved into a completely different beast since the franchise’s early days.
This campaign could be one of Call of Duty‘s best in a long time.
Even when the games feature strong campaigns, the discourse surrounding multiplayer sucks up all the air in the room. The Call of Duty franchise needs to make its campaigns truly matter again, and Modern Warfare 4 may have found the key to making that happen, at least for a short while. Now that there’s the added element of Modern Warfare 4‘s DMZ mode being thrown into the mix, it would be even harder for the campaign to stand out on October 23.
Modern Warfare 4’s Campaign Has the Chance to Usher in a New Call of Duty Era
The hit-and-miss nature of each Call of Duty campaign has kept a lot of players wary about jumping into every new game’s story mode. That’s understandable, especially when they tend to be so short. Story length is one of the things that made Modern Warfare 3 such a controversial entry. Modern Warfare 3‘s short campaign takes less than five hours to complete. Such a short length makes it really hard to get invested in a story that’s supposed to be an action-packed and thrilling look inside military operations.
Modern Warfare 4‘s story can hopefully turn things around, though. The new entry has the pressure of righting Modern Warfare 3‘s wrongs, and with three years between releases, Infinity Ward has theoretically had enough time to craft a stronger narrative. Modern Warfare 4 being a completely new chapter also has its benefits, because it doesn’t have to live up to the expectations set by the original trilogy. It’s uncharted territory for the Modern Warfare games, and that might be just what the series needed all along.
- Released
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October 23, 2026
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
