Activision has confirmed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will offer campaign early access starting October 16, a full week before the game's official release. This marks the first Call of Duty title to feature campaign early access since 2023's Modern Warfare 3, which received poor reviews (IGN gave it a 4/10). Notably, 2024's Black Ops 6 and 2025's Black Ops 7 skipped this feature, suggesting that Activision is confident in this year's campaign.
In a blog post, Activision stated that players must pre-order the game to gain early campaign access. This applies to those who pre-order or pre-purchase the Standard Digital Edition or Vault Edition on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, PlayStation 5, Battle.net, Steam, and Nintendo Switch 2 (pre-orders for Switch 2 will open later this year).
It's worth noting that Modern Warfare 4 will not be a day-one Game Pass release. New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma decided to pull new Call of Duty titles from the subscription service, adding them only after a period following launch. This means players will need to purchase the game directly to play it.
Here is the official description of the Modern Warfare 4 campaign: 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 development is led by Infinity Ward and will be available globally on Friday, October 23.'
