Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Announced

Today Activision announced Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, and with it details have dropped about the nature of this year's storyline, the multiplayer systems, and the return of their take on the extraction shooter formula which they "beta-tested" two instalments ago, DMZ.

Developed by sub-series custodians Infinity Ward and releasing October 23 for PC, Xbox Series and PS5, with the franchise seemingly calling time of death on the last generation of consoles.

MW4 will also mark the first appearance of a Modern Warfare title on a Nintendo platform since Call of Duty: Ghosts released on the Wii U in 2013. The Switch 2 port will be developed by Digital Legends, a Spanish studio with roots in mobile games and the Call of Duty IP. The studio's last projects was as a support studio on Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7.

As for the PC version, Beenox will be supporting Infinity Ward to optimise the PC build of the game, with additional graphics options like ray-tracing, DLSS 4.5, as well as upscaling and frame-gen options.

Off to Korea

In this instalment, players will play as Private Park, a South Korean soldier caught in the maelstrom of a North Korean invasion. Fan-favourite character Captain Price will also make a return, with the now-outlawed former captain on a revenge trip.

Multiplayer Changes

Another Call of Duty means another set of tweaks to the battle-tested formula, and this instalment is no exception.

Weapons handling is being overhauled, and IW's "weapon-first technology stack" (c'mon guys, all this marketing budget for that?!) means that the entire character to weapon to bullet systems should line up to a more realistic and "predictable" shooting experience. Bloom has also been removed, and hipfire shots are said to be more direct in relation to where the weapon is.

Next, in addition to the twelve new "Core" maps, IW is also going to be dropping dedicated Gunfight maps and "Big War" maps, potentially signaling an attempt to attract players away from the successful launch of last year's Battlefield 6.

Kill Block is a new "dynamic" multiplayer map with over 500 configurations which IW say will make each round or match feel unique, with sight lines and kill arenas changing and adapting to the way players are fighting. The map iwll support 3v3 through to 10v10 firefights, and the studio claims it will update the Kill Block with new changes over the course of the game's live service drops.

Create-a-Class has also been redesigned with the intention of allowing players to build loadouts faster without needing to resort to scrolling through hundreds of permutations of attachments. While the Gunsmith will return, a new feature known as "Gunny" will allow players to quickly decide on what kind of playstyle they want (such as close, mid, or long-range), and Gunny will configure a weapon to the player's tastes.

Apex Attachments are a new addition to weapon customisation, and are unlocked when a player fully completes a weapon's progression. The unique modifications will significantly change the weapon's behaviour on the battlefield.

It feels like every year we hear about movement systems, and while the term 'Omnimovement' (now that's some marketing) hasn't been uttered in this year's reveal, IW is promising a "grounded" and "responsive" movement system this time around.

Prestige has also had a touch-up with "Classic" and "Regular" prestige. Classic will function as it always has (you'll be returned back to Level 1 with everything locked but get an increased XP rate and other rewards), while Regular mode will enable players to keep their loadouts without resetting their Create-a-Class.

DMZ Returns

DMZ originally launched as a "beta test" back as part of Modern Warfare II. Before the days of Arc Raiders or Marathon this was probably one of the first "bigger budget" extraction shooters on the market.

Details are limited, but the studio is planning on sharing a first look at the new mode on June 7th, so we'll be here to give you the low-down.

Last-Gen a Casualty in the Warzone

Warzone, as usual, will sit as part of MW4 in October, and because of the changes to platforms, that means that the last-gen version of Warzone will be taken out the back. If you're still rocking an Xbox One or PS4, in just a few days on June 4, the game will no longer be downloadable, and on June 256, you'll no longer be able to buy items from the in-game store. The Black Ops 7 battle pass will be unaffected by this.