Infinity Ward and Activision will stage a two‑weekend public beta for Modern Warfare 4, giving players an early look at multiplayer, a campaign mission and a new Warzone Resurgence map, the studio said on the Call of Duty blog.
The publisher will showcase beta highlights during Call of Duty NEXT at 9:00 AM PT on Friday August 21, with the Early Access beta opening at 11:00 AM PT that day for pre‑orders and code holders. Weekend One runs through 10:00 AM PT on Tuesday August 25, the blog states. An Open Beta begins at 10:00 AM PT on Friday August 28 and ends at 10:00 AM PT on Tuesday September 1, and includes Nintendo Switch 2 access during Weekend Two.
Infinity Ward said the Modern Warfare 4 beta is a separate install from the main Call of Duty app and can be preloaded. Preloading for Early Access begins at 9:00 AM on Thursday August 20 on most platforms. Open Beta preloads start at 9:00 AM on Wednesday August 26 for all platforms.
PC players will need TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot enabled to play the beta online, the developer warned. Minimum PC specs listed include Windows 10 64‑bit, Ryzen 5 1600 or Core i5‑8400, 12 GB RAM, and GPUs such as Radeon RX 470 or GeForce GTX 970. Recommended specs list Windows 11, Ryzen 5 3600 or Core i7‑8700, 16 GB RAM, and GPUs such as Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 Ti.
Infinity Ward introduced Shader Preloading for the beta to reduce in‑game stutter by preparing GPU shaders before launch. The feature runs in the background and can be disabled. Battle.net enables preloading when the beta is installed. Steam enables preloading but requires a one‑time shader compile on first boot, the blog explains.
The studio also said it is reducing instances where updates force a restart. On PC platforms most data patches will not require a restart, while Xbox Series X|S still needs restarts during the beta. PlayStation 5 will usually avoid restarts, and Nintendo Switch 2 will still require them for now.
Launch Plans And Game Features
Modern Warfare 4 is scheduled to launch on October 23, 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo Switch 2, according to Activision and Infinity Ward materials. Digital preorders grant campaign early access from October 16 and other preorder bonuses, the publisher said.
The campaign centers on a renewed conflict on the Korean Peninsula, with protagonists Private Park and Captain John Price, as reported by Wikipedia and studio briefings. Missions span Korea, New York, Paris and Mumbai and the narrative links Price’s off‑book operations to the wider invasion.
Multiplayer will ship with twelve core 6v6 maps, dedicated Gunfight maps, and Big War large‑scale maps. A new Kill Block map will reconfigure layouts during matches, offering over 500 possible configurations. The game removes hipfire bloom and expands movement, including hanging and shimmying along edges, the developer said.
DMZ returns as a large‑scale extraction mode with 20 squads of up to three players, forward operating bases for loadout preparation, persistent operator trait trees, dynamic weather and varied objectives, Wikipedia reports. Forward Operating Bases let players craft items, set loadouts and interact with vendors before deployment.
Infinity Ward said Modern Warfare 4 is built natively for current generation consoles and PC. Beenox supported the PC build and Digital Legends handled the Nintendo Switch 2 port. The studio highlighted expanded ray tracing, DLSS 4.5 support and multiple upscaling and frame generation options for PC users.
