Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Launched Without a Dedicated Open Matchmaking Playlist
Popular Modes appear to keep players together between matches and vary opponents, despite the lack of a dedicated Open Matchmaking playlist.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 multiplayer opened in New Zealand on Oct. 22 and launched worldwide on Oct. 23 without a dedicated Open Matchmaking playlist. Initial checks found Quick Play, featured playlists, and Popular Modes apparently using Standard matchmaking. A closer look at Popular Modes points to persistent lobbies and more varied opponents, however, giving some matches an Open Matchmaking-style feel.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 MP currently has no Open Matchmaking playlists
All playlists have the “Standard” system that debuted in the beta pic.twitter.com/CZg89B9Cij
— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) October 22, 2026
Activision’s beta matchmaking plan described Standard as a system that still considers player skill while prioritizing connection quality. The publisher also said it would be less restrictive than matchmaking in recent entries.
TheXclusiveAce’s analysis points to Team Deathmatch and Domination selected through Popular Modes as examples of playlists that can keep players together between matches. Persistent lobbies and wider variation in opponents resemble parts of Open Matchmaking, but they do not show that skill stops factoring into matches or confirm a separate Open setting.
Activision has also cited Black Ops 7 data. For 80% of players, the publisher said Open Matchmaking had a 32.7% higher quit rate, 14.4% fewer kills per minute, a 5.3% lower win rate, and 59.2% more “Not Fun” ratings than Standard. Those figures cover Black Ops 7, not Modern Warfare 4‘s live matches.
We know some players like Open, but the issues were clear.
For 80% of players in BO7 from launch to Season 04, Open vs. Standard saw:
• 32.7% higher quit rates
• 14.4% fewer kills per minute
• 5.3% lower win rates
• 59.2% more “Not Fun” ratingsOn Nuketown 24/7, quit rates…
— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) August 19, 2026
Disbanding lobbies remain part of Activision’s case for starting fresh groups between matches. The publisher says about 50% of players leave after their first match and almost none of the original group remains by the third. Its argument is that fresh lobbies can get players into another match sooner while giving matchmaking more room to prioritize ping. Popular Modes’ persistent-lobby behavior adds a wrinkle to that explanation without establishing how every playlist works.
Have Popular Modes kept the same players together in your matches, and does that change what you want from a dedicated Open playlist? For updates as the matchmaking system becomes clearer, stay connected on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4
Developed by Infinity Ward
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is a first-person shooter and the follow-up to Modern Warfare III (2023), continuing the rebooted Modern Warfare storyline. The campaign is set during a North Korean invasion of South Korea and features dual perspectives: a young South Korean soldier named Private Park facing his first combat deployment, and Captain Price operating outside official channels on a personal mission. The game also includes multiplayer with 6v6 core maps, large-scale vehicle combat maps, and a dynamic map system called Kill Block that reshapes layouts between rounds. A DMZ extraction mode is also featured. The game is released exclusively on current-generation platforms and PC.
- Genre Shooter
- Platforms Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5
- Perspective First person
- Modes Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative
- Release October 23, 2026
- Publisher Activision
-
Age Rating
