A little less than a month before launch, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 has just revealed a multiplayer game mode that’s brand-new for the franchise. Titled ‘Collateral’, this new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 multiplayer mode is geared towards the competitive side of the community, and it bears a striking resemblance to another immensely popular first-person shooter.
While Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 earned a surprisingly warm critical reception, the same couldn’t be said for its immediate follow-up. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is currently sitting at a Top Critic Average of 65 on OpenCritic, and a recommendation score of just 36%. One of the most common criticisms surrounding Black Ops 7 was its severe lack of innovation across the board, from its campaign mode to its multiplayer and Zombies components. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 seems to be going out of its way to avoid such a complaint.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Has Revealed Counter-Strike-Like Collateral Mode
Announced as part of an official blog post detailing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4‘s PC tech specs, Collateral is said to be a highly competitive game mode, one that’s been specifically “designed for fans of Search and Destroy.” In Modern Warfare 4‘s Collateral mode, players will start a match with only their pistol, and must earn cash by completing objectives and taking down enemy players. With their earned cash, players can then unlock better sidearms and primary weapons, gain armor and Perks, purchase equipment, or join forces with their teammates to buy a UAV.
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The core loop of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4‘s new Collateral game mode will revolve around two teams, one of which needs to defend a bomb site, while the other attempts to attack it. Upon death, players will lose their entire loadout, though any earned cash is kept then and between rounds. Respawns, automatic health regeneration, Killstreaks, and custom loadouts are all disabled in Collateral mode.
Of course, Collateral is going to sound immediately familiar to anyone who’s ever played Counter-Strike before. Bomb Defusal, arguably the Counter-Strike series’ most popular game mode, revolves around two teams attempting to either plant a bomb or stop opponents from doing so. While Call of Duty‘s Search and Destroy mode has always borrowed this core premise from Counter-Strike (Counter-Strike had Bomb Defusal three years before Call of Duty had Search and Destroy), this is the first time Call of Duty has paired the mode with a cash mechanic, though Call of Duty has used a cash mechanic in non-Search and Destroy modes, like Call of Duty: Vanguard‘s Champion Hill mode and Call of Duty: Warzone.
Collateral isn’t the only new mode that’s coming with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, however. Alongside staples like Team Deathmatch and Domination, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is putting forward a total of six new modes, including Counter Attack, Inflation, Hijack, Fontral Assault, Combat Outpost, and 10v10 Gunfight. Some of these modes can also be played via Modern Warfare 4‘s new Kill Block map, where each round offers a unique configuration of scenery, explorable buildings, environmental hazards, and set dressing.
- Released
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October 23, 2026
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
