While still within the Early Access portion of its release, Infinity Ward is preparing fans for the global launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on October 23 by releasing the full Day 1 update patch notes. While technically not fully launched yet, there are some players enjoying Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 thanks to early access portions for parts of the game. As it stands, what fans do have access to, including the campaign and revamped DMZ modes, have seemingly been really well received.
Alongside other opportunities to jump in early, such as beta tests, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 also made its campaign and DMZ game mode available to play ahead of its global launch. An Early Access portion of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 was given to those who pre-ordered any edition of the game. The campaign went live a week ahead of the game’s October 23 release date, while the completely revamped DMZ mode kicked off on October 20. So far, fans seem to really be enjoying both game modes, with many praising the Modern Warfare 4 campaign as one of the best in the series. Regardless, fans don’t have to wait too much longer to finally get their hands on the full game, which launches this week.
Ahead of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4‘s global launch, Infinity Ward has posted the official patch notes for the game’s Day 1 update. It also reveals the full list of multiplayer content fans can expect to see by default, including the full list of maps and which modes they’re attached to. All in all, there’s 12 core multiplayer maps, 3 Ground War-specific maps, and 4 Gun Fight maps. The patch notes also cover the launch day game modes, which feature many core experiences like TDM, Kill Confirmed, Gun Game, and others. There are also 4 new modes being added, with the blog post providing a few additional details for Inflation, Hijack, Collateral, and Combat Outpost.
As expected, there’s a camo grind in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, letting players unlock new visual styles for their weapons, with Infinity Ward admitting that it’s the “the deepest we’ve ever built in a Modern Warfare game.” Alongside attachments and new Optics, players can unlock new items through DMZ, Multiplayer, and once Season 1 launches, Warzone. Mastery Camos are also making a comeback, with the post confirming that some of them, like Chiral and Ripple Tide, make up some of the studio’s favorite skins they’ve ever made.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Launch Update Patch Notes
MAPS
At launch, Multiplayer includes:
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Core 6v6 Maps
- Cachette
- Coal
- Lithium
- Lotus
- Mumbai
- Munition
- Nautical
- Reactor U92
- Rooftops
- Sentry
- Silkworm
- Transit 213
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Ground War 32v32 Maps
- Imjin Farmland
- Wolves Stadium
- Forest
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Gunfight 2v2 Maps
- Cafe
- Library
- NYC
- Smuggler
Kill Block
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New dynamic Multiplayer map
- Supports 3v3 and 10v10 Gunfight at launch
- 6v6 modes supported post-launch
- New Slabs and configurations coming post-launch
MODES
Over a dozen Multiplayer modes are available at launch, including returning favorites and several new additions (including Hardcore). Get ready to jump into these brand-new modes on day one, plus returning classics including TDM, Domination, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Free-For-All, Frontline, Search & Destroy, Gunfight, and Gun Game.
New Modes
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Inflation
- Eliminate enemies and collect their cash. The more you carry, the bigger the target on your back. Players who reach the High Value Target threshold are revealed to both teams, creating a constant choice between hunting enemy HVTs and protecting your own.
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Hijack
- Fight for control of the Data Spike, then carry, throw, or pass it on the way to the enemy Comm Station. Plant it to begin scoring and defend the upload to earn the full bonus.
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Collateral
- A round-based tactical mode combining Search & Destroy mechanics with a Buy Phase. Start each match with a Pistol and $800, earn cash through objective play and eliminations, then spend it between rounds to build your loadout.
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Combat Outpost
- Ground War expands into a large-scale fight for territory. Capture Outposts to score and establish new spawn locations, then reinforce them to unlock increasingly powerful team rewards.
Infected and the new Possession mode are also dropping next week as a Halloween treat. For more intel on everything coming at launch, check out our Maps & Modes blog with all the details.
PROVING GROUNDS: MOBILITY COURSE
Building on the Mobility Course available during the Beta, Proving Grounds brings together movement practice and a variety of combat training exercises in one place. Whether you’re looking to improve your movement, sharpen your combat skills, or get more familiar with gameplay mechanics, Proving Grounds gives you the space to practice before jumping into a match or test your skills for a high score.
WEAPONS
Modern Warfare 4 launches with 33 weapons across Primary, Secondary, and Melee categories. Create-a-Class unlocks at Player Level 4, with Default Loadouts available before then.
PRIMARY WEAPONS
ASSAULT RIFLES
- Han 86
- M4
- Hyeon Burst
- Patriot XMR
- Kastov 762
- Oden
- Axion
- Cronen Squall
SUBMACHINE GUNS
- ISO Nightshade
- VEL 46
- Wz.55 Striga
- PPSh-41
- X-58 Nyx
SHOTGUNS
LIGHT MACHINE GUNS
- Finn LMG
- Type 73
- APOC-338
MARKSMAN RIFLES
- MAR-9
- Oris 8.6
- Mosin-Nagant
SNIPER RIFLES
- KG-7 Vulcan
- Astaroth .57
- Signal 50
SECONDARY WEAPONS
PISTOLS
- Sang 9mm
- Krait P68
- .50 GS
- Mojave .357
LAUNCHERS
- PILA
- RPG-8
- JOKR
- PM-40 Anvil
MELEE
WEAPON TUNING
We received a lot of feedback about TTK and the pace of our game during the first weekend of Beta. We had a short window to make adjustments and collect data, so we made the choice to swing hard on changes in Weekend 2. Gunfights in the second weekend of Beta felt more meaningful; players had a little more breathing room and the pace of our game felt better across all game modes. We collected a lot of feedback and in-game data, and the TTK from Weekend 2 was strongly preferred by all skill levels.
While there was a clear player preference for Weekend 2’s TTK, we did not get the balance between weapons and classes exactly right. Since then, our team has spent countless hours and late nights playtesting and iterating to improve balance between all our weapons.
SMGs are now more efficient in close to mid-range combat, powerful one hit kill weapons are tempered with flinch and damage tuning, and all weapons have had a deep balance pass to ensure the weapon you pick is a choice, not a requirement.
We have also combed through all our attachments and tuned them to make sure Gunsmith allows flexibility and balance. Advanced Weapon Stats are also available at launch, so you’ll know everything you need to make the right choice for your playstyle.
Our weapon pillars are:
- Distinction – Classes and weapons have clear, unique roles on the battlefield.
- Balance – Players can find success with every tool available.
- Feel – Weapons feel awesome, visceral, and fun.
These pillars must work together in harmony to deliver the best version of Modern Warfare 4. Our team is excited about the tuning we have arrived at for launch. We will be playing right alongside you and updating our game to hone it to perfection.
WEAPON PROGRESSION
The MW4 weapon system provides deep weapon customization with a variety of attachments and modifications. Our weapon progression is a streamlined approach to grow your arsenal without friction, respecting your time and reducing the grind to acquire functional customization.
No redundant unlocks. The speed of weapon progression increases with every shared attachment you’ve earned.
Once unlocked, shared attachments are immediately available for every weapon that can use them. Every attachment is a valuable piece of equipment that makes your entire arsenal more powerful.
Since the Beta we have worked to improve how weapon progression displays weapon unlocks instead of weapons levels. We’ve also improved the visualization of weapon progress after a match to more clearly represent a how progress is skipped with shared attachments.
WEAPON PRESTIGE
For those of you who want an even deeper progression journey, we’ve got you covered. Weapon Prestige is back for players who want a more dedicated grind to their favorite weapon. If a player chooses to Prestige their weapon, all attachment on that weapon (including shared attachments) become locked, and the weapon moves to a classic level system unlock. The shared attachments will remain unlocked on other weapons that have not been Prestiged.
OPTIC & RETICLE CUSTOMIZATION
We have added a new Optic Rail Placement feature in Gunsmith that allows you to tailor your weapon’s ADS sight picture exactly to your preference.
This is a completely cosmetic adjustment that can have a profound effect on the feel of your weapon. We also allow tuning from the ADS perspective in Gunsmith, so there is no guesswork involved in dialing placement down to perfection. What you see in Gunsmith is what you get in game.
Reticle Customization is also available on optics, with a small but significant improvement made to thermal optics. When you earn and equip custom reticle for a thermal, it comes with a completely different thermal effect. If you find a thermal optic you like but don’t enjoy that specific thermal effect, we have created a variety of authentic and distinct thermal options that are available when you customize our thermal optics reticle.
PERK PLACEMENTS
Since the Beta, we’ve reconfigured our Perk distribution to better balance the categories and to keep interesting player choices between speed, durability, utility and stealth.
Here’s where we landed for launch:
Perk 1
- Quick Fix
- Overkill
- High Alert
- Ghost
- Resupply
- Kill Chain
Perk 2
- Hardline
- Blood Rush
- Bomb Squad
- Fast Hands
- Ninja
- Birdseye
Perk 3
- Lethal Reach
- Combat Grid
- Battle Hardened
- Scavenger
- Tracker
- Cold-Blooded
PERK TUNING
We’ve buffed some Perks based on Beta feedback:
- Battle Hardened will now more effectively negate most of the effects from Tactical grenades like the Flash, Concussion, and Screamer Mine.
- Resupply has been buffed to provide your first recharge faster.
- Blood Rush has been updated so that pressing the sprint key automatically triggers Tactical Sprint by default. If you prefer to manage this directly, head towards the Movement Advanced Settings to adjust it.
PLAYER MOVEMENT
Movement in Modern Warfare 4 is about playing the way you want, whether you prefer being a tactical elite operator carefully clearing rooms, an action hero star mantling over cars and sliding under obstacles, or a heavy gunner holding down an objective. Since the Beta, we have focused hard on making sure transitions between actions are balanced, feel grounded, and allow a clear benefit at a clear cost. The results are smoother movement that feels more authentic than ever before.
Another area we have focused on improving is how enemy players move. We found several bugs where the third-person and first-person experience did not match, misrepresenting the enemy’s actions, creating some unrealistic looking movements, and allowing a few snaking opportunities. All the issues we identified have been fixed, and we will carefully monitor for any additional changes.
Lastly, we have kept the change from Beta to make Tactical Sprint not available by default. It lives on the Perk Blood Rush, which is now in the second tier. Since the player is using a valuable Perk slot to Tactical Sprint, we removed the additional sprint out penalty that Tac Sprint typically incurs, and for the benefit of thumbs and controllers worldwide, the default input for Tactical Sprint is now “single tap run.” This means when you activate sprint with Blood Rush equipped, you will Tac Sprint as long as stamina allows. For players who want full autonomy over when they use their Tac Sprint, we still have “double tap” and “single tap sprint” options available.
We’re excited for you to get your hands on our updated movement experience on the new maps we have available for launch.
MULTIPLAYER SPAWNS
Spawn work has continued since the Beta, including further iteration on the changes we made to player separation, squad spawning, and Hardpoint spawn predictability. Spawns have been reoriented around consistent flow and making sure you’re never far from the fight.
KILLSTREAKS
MW4 features 17 Killstreaks at launch, any of which can be attached to individual Multiplayer loadouts for the first time in a Modern Warfare game.
We are launching with our new Smart Streak Later where performing objective tasks like capturing a point in Domination will contribute towards your Killstreak meter. Killstreak tuning in the second weekend of the Beta that increased the cost of all streaks will remain for launch, meaning UAVs are 5 kills (or 4 kills with the Hardline perk equipped).
While the team is happy where most of these landed in the Beta, two specific changes have been made for launch:
- UAV health has been increased from 100 to 150, following feedback that UAVs were too easy to shoot down after their health was reduced during the Beta.
- Wheelson pathing and targeting logic have been reworked to be more aggressive and prevent confusion when targets change quickly.
EQUIPMENT
At launch, Create-a-Class includes 9 Tacticals, 11 Lethals, and 12 Field Upgrades, ranging from returning equipment like the Flash Grenade, Stim, Frag Grenade, and Trophy System to options like the Screamer Mine, Zip Gun, Smoke Wall, and Seeker Drone.
Here are some of the tweaks we’ve made in time for launch:
TACTICALS
- Flash and Concussion effective range and duration have been slightly reduced.
UI / UX
- Improved communication around Shared Attachments (see above)
- Reduced or eliminated pre-game countdown timers that had been originally intended to give previous generation consoles time to load
- Added logic to start pre-loading maps earlier to avoid slowdowns waiting for the map to finish loading
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Gameplay Improvements
- Reduced blur size on splashes to improve gameplay visibility
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Gunny
- Improved the positioning of Gunny tutorials
- Reduced the notifications you get about Gunny
- Gunny got a facelift!
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Weapon Builds
- Weapon Builds were previously automatically saved when players left the Gunsmith, flooding their Build list. Weapon Build saving in Gunsmith is now a manual process.
- Weapon Builds edited in-match are now automatically saved.
- Various minor improvements and fixes to the front end
AUDIO
- Added missing destruction audio for various destructible objects across Multiplayer maps.
- Fixed an issue where mounted vehicle turrets were missing audio.
- Fixed an issue where Heartbeat Sensor pings could become muted underwater.
- Added audio cues when sending and receiving text messages.
- Fixed issues causing audio dropouts when using the Assault Drone and Bomb Glider.
- Adjusted the audio mix and audible distances for the Chopper Gunner and its weapons.
- Updated Gunship audio to improve the overall Killstreak experience.
- Improved the Nuke sequence audio mix and fixed issues causing audio dropouts.
BUG FIXES
MULTIPLAYER
- Fixed a server crash that could occur during Multiplayer matches.
- Fixed various visual issues on Cachette.
- Fixed an issue where the Seeker Drone could incorrectly deploy out of bounds and be destroyed in certain areas of Multiplayer maps.
- Fixed an issue where the Killstreak counter could reset after using the Argonaut.
- Fixed an issue where match completion events were not being properly recorded in Multiplayer and DMZ.
DMZ
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Addressed on Oct. 20:
- Addressed various crashes and stability issues, including a crash when breaching the door in Breaking New Ground.
- Fixed an issue where the After-Action Report could incorrectly display 0 XP earned after a player’s first match.
- Fixed an issue where the ISO Apex Attachment would not function as intended in DMZ.
- Fixed an issue where players could get double completion credit for story missions.
- Fixed an issue where enemy AI could move into unintended areas when a player was downed during Breaking New Ground.
- Fixed some instances where enemy AI could run over players while infilling.
- Fixed an issue where some Dynamic Operations “find the keypad codes in safes” could appear in locked spaces.
- Fixed an issue where only the player who dealt the final blow to a Commander received XP and progress toward the “King Slayer” Calling Card when playing in a squad.
- Fixed an issue where the Impact Smokes Pro Trait would not activate when a player was downed.
- Fixed some incorrect DMZ Orders description text.
- Fixed an issue where shadows could visibly pop in and out when moving around the FOB.
- Fixed an issue where the tablet screen could fail to turn on after searching the crashed drone in Breaking New Ground.
- Fixed an issue on where a missing prompt could prevent players from progressing the Chemical Denial Dynamic Op at NuriGO Mall on Nintendo Switch 2.
- Fixed an issue where the Gunsmith Attachment menu could remain stuck onscreen during deployment.
- Fixed an issue where players could not purchase saved Blueprint modifications on Nintendo Switch 2.
- Fixed some areas where players could get stuck in the rocks in Hajin.
- Fixed an issue where players could not equip an Active Duty Operator in their Showcase.
- Fixed an issue where selecting Untrack Recipe with no recipes tracked at the 3D Printer could kick the player out of the FOB.
- Fixed an issue where selling starting equipment or dismissing Active Duty Operators with starting equipment equipped before your first deployment could result in a soft lock.
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Addressed on Oct. 21:
- Fixed an error that could occur when opening the Dog Tag Case.
- Fixed an issue where the Toxic Intercept Op could incorrectly fail after completing the Defend the Bomb objective.
- Fixed a performance issue on PC when holding a Heartbeat Sensor with a weapon equipped.
- Fixed an issue where AI enemies could run over players during infiltration in NK Wilderness.
- Fixed an issue where Dynamic Operations text could display incorrectly when Menu Text Size was set to Larger or Largest.
- Fixed an issue where the Orders rewards section of the End Game Report could appear in low resolution.
- Fixed some unintended voice lines during Breaking New Ground.
WEAPONS
- Fixed an issue where the Firing Range could incorrectly display a 0.00 TTK for the Rezi 12 Shotgun.
- Added weapon level icons to Melee and Launcher weapons.
CAMPAIGN
- Fixed a progression blocker in the Hotel sequence of Counter Attack.
UI / UX
- Several hundred bugs. Killed dead.
- Released
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October 23, 2026
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
