Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 to Solve Two Long-Standing Franchise Problems

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is set to fix two of the franchise's most persistent annoyances. First, Infinity Ward has confirmed that the campaign for the newly announced Modern Warfare 4 will be fully playable offline. Previously, if you lost internet connection or couldn't access the game's servers, the entire game became unplayable. This was a major frustration for single-player fans, especially highlighted during last year's extensive PlayStation Network outage. Second, Infinity Ward is addressing the "update requires restart" issue that has plagued Call of Duty for the past six years. When booting up a modern Call of Duty game, players often face a forced reboot due to updates, delaying gameplay by several minutes—a rare and irritating practice. Modern Warfare 4 aims to eliminate this and provide a smoother launch experience. These are just two of many changes coming to Call of Duty this year. Modern Warfare 4 will skip last-gen consoles but will launch on Nintendo Switch 2, marking the first Call of Duty on a Nintendo platform since 2013, with full parity expected across versions. However, this means Warzone support will end on last-gen consoles this fall, closing a chapter for the free-to-play battle royale but potentially freeing the game from older hardware limitations. We recently previewed Modern Warfare 4 and found it to be "a confident step forward for the series," unburdened by outdated ideas and technology. While the final verdict is pending, initial impressions are promising. The campaign will take players worldwide, centering on a tense conflict between North and South Korea, with Captain Price dealing with the aftermath of his actions in Modern Warfare 3, straining his relationship with Task Force 141. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 releases on October 23 for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.