The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Open Beta is available now, giving players their first hands-on look at Infinity Ward’s grounded multiplayer systems. The test focuses on boots-on-the-ground movement, direct gunplay, expanded loadouts, new modes, and the constantly changing Kill Block battleground.
The Early Access period is available for players with a Beta Code or a preorder on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Steam, and Battle.net. Its scheduled start time was 11:00 AM PT on Friday, August 21, and the first beta weekend is scheduled to end at 10:00 AM PT on Tuesday, August 25. The full game will launch globally on October 23, 2026. The official Call of Duty: NEXT multiplayer breakdown details what players can expect from the test and the launch version.
Movement keeps momentum alive
Modern Warfare 4 returns to a grounded combat style, but its movement system is built to keep players moving instead of locking them into long animations. Mantling, sliding, climbing, and prone transitions can connect together, allowing aggressive pushes and quick retreats without throwing away control.
- Mantle Slide: Slide directly from a mantle over objects such as car hoods, planters, and low cover.
- Mantle Momentum: Preserve forward speed while clearing an obstacle instead of stopping at the top.
- Mantle Steering: Move left or right, aim down sights, or cancel a mantle before it finishes.
- Supine Slide: Double-tap crouch during a sprint to perform a longer, lower slide that ends on the player’s back.
- Pipe Climb and Fast Pipe Slide: Move up or down building pipework, including a fast crouch-based descent.
- Hang Shimmy and Hang Lean: Reposition while hanging and aim or rotate with 360-degree control.
- Climbing Jump: Jump in any direction while hanging, climbing ladders, or moving across pipes.
The movement systems will appear across Campaign, Multiplayer, DMZ, and Call of Duty: Warzone. A dedicated movement training course will also arrive at launch, giving players a place to practice chaining actions together.
Gunplay puts the crosshair in charge
Infinity Ward has rebuilt weapon handling around clear feedback and a direct connection between player input and shot placement. Hipfire bloom has been removed, so bullets travel where the weapon is pointed rather than drifting because of hidden shot variance. Recoil, weapon sway, movement, and handling still affect accuracy, but the result should be easier to read during a frantic fight.
Weapons and the surrounding environment now use the same field of view, creating a more consistent first-person perspective. PC players will also have access to a lens-based FOV system that expands awareness without making targets feel smaller. Muzzle effects are masked around the point of aim, while reworked depth of field keeps the target and sight picture clear when aiming down sights.
Weapon behavior also changes with movement and nearby geometry. Guns shift when players pass walls or turn through corners, stances adapt to engagement distance, and Tactical Sprint changes as stamina runs down. Recoil motion is tied more closely to bullet travel, while lasers reflect the weapon’s actual trajectory.
Even the surfaces receive extra attention. Polymer, wood, and hammer-forged steel use scan data with details such as tool marks, carbon residue, and wear patterns, giving each weapon a more distinct appearance.
Loadouts combine operators, weapons, and streaks
Create-a-Class places the Operator, weapons, Perks, Equipment, and Killstreaks inside one loadout. The beta includes 22 of the game’s 33 weapons, 19 of 28 Apex Attachments, 15 of 18 Perks, 10 of 17 Killstreaks, seven of nine Tacticals, eight of 11 Lethals, and nine of 11 Field Upgrades.
The optional Gunny system can assemble close-range, balanced, or long-range weapon builds from attachments that have already been unlocked. Players can still change every part of those builds manually, while Gunny updates its recommendations as weapon progression continues.
Apex Attachments are separate from standard Gunsmith attachments and do not use an attachment slot. They unlock as the final reward for maxing out a weapon and can change its role in combat. Examples include the Mojave .357’s “Outlaw” fan-firing conversion, the Sang 9mm’s “9&12” side-mounted shotgun, the M4’s “Hurricane” 5.7×28 conversion, and the Kastov 762’s “ARC” system for disrupting enemy Killstreaks and Equipment.
Smartstreaks also broaden the path toward Killstreak rewards. Kills remain the main source of progress, but objective play now contributes as well, giving players another way to earn streaks while helping their team.
Beta progression also puts a level gate on much of the available equipment. UAV, Artillery Beacon, and Attack Helicopter are available from the start, while other Killstreaks unlock as players gain beta levels. Air Lockdown sits at the top of the Killstreak progression track at Level 55. The in-match number of kills needed to earn a Killstreak is separate from the account level required to equip it.
The Perks are divided across three slots. Six are available immediately, with the remaining beta Perks opening through level progression.
Matchmaking is being tested in two forms
The beta is comparing Infinity Ward’s revised matchmaking system with an Open Matchmaking option. The revised system still considers player skill, but also weighs connection quality, location, time of day, playlist, party composition, platform, cross-play settings, and the size of the active player pool.
New equipment changes how teams control space
The beta introduces several pieces of equipment built around movement denial, cover, and aggressive pushes. Trip Wire creates explosive lines that adapt to the surface and can connect with nearby Trip Wires placed by squadmates. The resulting traps can cover routes or turn a chokepoint into a very bad place to walk.
Smoke Wall sends a drone forward while leaving a dense, navigable smoke path behind it. The volumetric smoke reacts to the environment, can be disrupted by gunfire, and disperses when hit by explosives. Razor Wire deploys a barbed trap when an enemy touches it, briefly stopping players who run or slide into the wire.
The Riot Shield is now a Field Upgrade rather than a constant loadout selection. It offers frontal protection, a heavy melee attack, and deployable cover, but its durability is limited. The beta also includes the Bomb Glider, a low-cost Killstreak that lets players pilot a small explosive aircraft, scout from above, and perform a controlled dive attack.
Two Prestige paths and one shared Camo journey
Modern Warfare 4 offers Classic Prestige and Regular Prestige. Classic Prestige resets level unlocks and Create-a-Class progression in exchange for increased XP rates and exclusive rewards. Regular Prestige returns players to Level 1 while keeping their level unlocks and Create-a-Class content intact, with its own rewards and milestones.
Weapon Camo progression spans Multiplayer, DMZ, and Call of Duty: Warzone. Each weapon has a shared Camo Track across the three experiences, followed by three Mastery Camos in each mode for nine total Mastery Camos.
Inflation, Hijack, Arms Deal, and Frontline join the mode lineup
The beta and launch lineup go beyond the familiar Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Free for All, and Search and Destroy. Inflation turns eliminations into cash bounties: players collect money for their team, but part of their haul is lost whenever they die.
- Hijack: A 6v6 objective mode where teams carry, throw, or pass a Data Spike toward the enemy Comm Station. Planting it earns points over time, with a bonus if it detonates, while defenders can defuse it.
- Arms Deal: A 5v5, single-life mode based on Search and Destroy. Kills and objective actions provide cash for weapons and Equipment, but elimination removes the entire loadout for that round.
- Frontline: A 6v6 respawn mode where both teams deploy from their own base. Eliminations outside the base are worth more, pushing teams to advance while protecting their starting area.
Search and Destroy, Gunfight, Gunfight 10v10, Ground War: Combat Outpost, Gun Game, and Drop Zone are also planned for launch. Hardcore variants are supported for the marked launch modes.
Kill Block changes before every match
Kill Block is a modular battleground built from two outer sections and a central combat area. Each section has several variants, allowing more than 500 possible configurations that alter routes, cover, sightlines, and the pace of each engagement.
Weather can also change between clear skies, rain, and snow. Some sections draw from Modern Warfare locations, including Crash, Highrise, and Shoot House. Gunfight arrives in Kill Block during the beta, while Search and Destroy, Domination, and more Core modes are being tested for future combinations.
Ground War expands into Combat Outpost
Ground War: Combat Outpost combines infantry combat, vehicles, and airborne Killstreaks across large play spaces. Teams establish Outposts to earn resources, then spend those resources on additional objectives.
The beta includes two Combat Outpost maps in Hajin: Imjin Farmland and Wolves Stadium. One offers open terrain and the other leans into tall structures and indoor objectives, giving large-scale matches different tactical problems to solve.
Six beta maps lead into 12 at launch
Modern Warfare 4 will launch with 12 Core 6v6 maps, while six will be available during the beta: Cachette, Lithium, Lotus, Rooftops, Silkworm, and Transit 213. The complete launch group also includes Coal, Mumbai, Munition, Nautical, Reactor U92, and Sentry.
The maps cover locations including a French rail terminal, a Mexican lithium refinery, Korean villages and military facilities, New York rooftops, a South Korean shopping district, and an overgrown parking lot in western India. Each map is built around its own routes, cover, and combat spaces rather than relying on one universal layout.
PC and Nintendo Switch 2 plans
On PC, the game will offer control over performance and visual quality across a broad range of hardware, along with mouse responsiveness, visual clarity, precompiled shaders, and fewer “update requires restart” interruptions.
Infinity Ward is developing the game with Digital Legends for Nintendo Switch 2, marking Call of Duty’s return to a Nintendo platform after more than 13 years. The PC version is being developed with Beenox for Battle.net, Xbox on PC, and Steam.
Call of Duty: Warzone will also receive the Zodiac Resurgence experience and the Hajin map in Battle Royale during Season 1. Zodiac includes a train as one of its tactical features, while Hajin’s DMZ setting will move into Battle Royale.
The beta gives players plenty to test, from no-bloom hipfire and controllable mantles to modular maps, matchmaking experiments, and loadouts that can grow in several directions. Tell us what you think in the comments, and follow us 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
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Age Rating
