Trends may come and go, but multiplayer has, and always will be, Call of Duty's bread and butter. While Treyarch and Sledgehammer have remembered this during the Warzone era, it's hard to shake the feeling that Infinity Ward hasn't. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 started off decently enough before post-launch support shifted heavily towards Call of Duty: Warzone, which blew up in popularity. This led to the divisive Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, whose multiplayer suite at launch felt tampered by Warzone. The glacial movement, emphasis on camping over engagement, focus on realism over playability and weak map pool all felt lifted from Warzone. Add on top of that the horrendous Hulu UI, strict matchmaking, terrible changes to how Perks function, and a confusing progression system and you have a recipe for disaster. It wasn't till the next year that Sledgehammer Games was able to fix all these issues with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. Going into their next title, Infinity Ward needed to learn from its past to deliver a focused multiplayer experience and win back players. They just might.
We visited Infinity Ward to see and get hands-on with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's multiplayer. While we only got to play a slice, and there's still a flashing warning sign, what we played left us cautiously optimistic about what's in store for multiplayer fans.
Review: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is not a revolutionary entry in the franchise, but its multiplayer and co-op do just enough to make it enjoyable.
I Can See the Enemy From My House
Infinity Ward's goal for Modern Warfare 4's multiplayer was to make it feel slick and sophisticated, while still maintaining a gritty and grounded feel. This philosophy led them to make numerous changes to gunplay and movement, incorporating feedback from Modern Warfare II.
Gunplay in Modern Warfare II was visceral and impactful thanks to excellent feedback, but it came at the cost of visibility. Gun kick, wonky iron sights and muzzle smoke all contributed to visibility problems. Those are no more in Modern Warfare 4 thanks to Infinity Ward's new Ballistic Authority system, a new tech stack that eliminates many of these issues. FOV now applies to weapon framing, providing players with better situational awareness without reducing the size of targets. Muzzle smoke now leaves a translucent opening in front of players so they can continue tracking enemies, and a new depth of field technique has been placed on the iron sights to ensure it doesn't bleed into the environment.
Perhaps the largest -- and most requested -- change in any FPS title is the elimination of weapon bloom when firing from the hip. This antiquated technique places RNG on your bullets, deciding artificially when the bullet hits. Now, in Modern Warfare 4, a simulated convergence system replaces bloom, enabling truly accurate hipfire. We were able to significantly feel the difference when playing. Like a Treyarch or Sledgehammer title, it was much easier to track enemies within the environment and when already firing. We now have a system where we got the best of those titles plus the excellent gun feedback of an Infinity Ward title.
Movement has also been heavily updated. Infinity Ward stated they went through all their animations to uncover little hitches and remove them, and then paired them with new features like a backwards slide, shimmying, and slide-to-prone. The result was a movement system that felt like a solid middle-ground between Modern Warfare II and Modern Warfare III. Enough speed to discourage camping, but not so much to take away from Infinity Ward's penchant for heavier movement.
Traditional Create-a-Class, Meet Traditional UI
It isn't just the in-game experience Infinity Ward has learned lessons from Modern Warfare II. The entire UI has been redone to be more traditional. Say goodbye to that awful Hulu-like interface. All menus and interactable elements are now handled in the traditional top-to-bottom way, a setup that always made sense for a controller.
Infinity Ward Breaks Down Lessons Learned from Modern Warfare II, How Things Have Changed for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4
We sat down with Joe Cecot, Multiplayer Creative Director, and Jacky Reynolds, Multiplayer Design Lead, to see which lessons were learned.
Create-a-Class has also been streamlined to be more traditional with a handful of new features. First-off, the clean 3-Perk system is back. No more charging Perks, and we're also happy to confirm that Infinity Ward has listened and brought Ninja back as a Perk. Second, the Riot Shield returns, but as a Field Upgrade that can be destroyed. No more forever turtling. New features coming to Create-a-Class include the ability to set an Operator and Killstreaks for each class. That's right, you're no longer bound by one set of Killstreaks to use across every class.
Perhaps the most interesting new addition to Create-a-Class and weapon customization are Apex Attachments. Essentially replacing the Aftermarket Parts in Modern Warfare III and Black Ops 7, these attachments serve as the final unlock for every gun and fundamentally change how a weapon works. Some examples provided include the M4 turning into the Hurricane SMG, the SANG 9mm SMG getting a 12-guage shotgun mounted to its side, and the Straight Pull Rifle getting a saddle of three throwing knives for it to fire. If these are anything like Aftermarket Parts, these should be fun, crazy ways to change how a weapon plays.
Review: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
There’s still fun to be had in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, but this year’s entry feels like a stopgap while we wait for the next major release.
What All's Coming at Launch?
Of course, a Call of Duty game isn't complete without its maps. Modern Warfare 4 launches with 12 core 6v6 multiplayer maps, all new, no remakes or remasters, and none pulled from Warzone. We were able to play about four of them, and we're happy to say that these maps follow the game's philosophy on visibility and readability. They all looked great visually, but Infinity Ward didn't pack them with clutter or easy-to-use camping spaces. The flow of each also felt more like Sledgehammer's Modern Warfare III original maps, preserving lanes while removing some of the trick paths players could take to spawn trap the opposing team. We enjoyed the maps we got to play, but we won't know how the spawn system and lanes will hold up until all players get their hands on the game.
In terms of modes, expect the usual suspects at launch. Team Deathmatch, Domination, Kill Confirmed, Gun Game, Search & Destroy and more are all there. New modes like Inflation (deathmatch mode where players drop bounties and the team with the most cash at the end wins) will also be there. Gunfight and Big War Offerings return with their own sets of maps. New to the franchise is Gunfight 10v10 and the first dynamic multiplayer map. Titled Kill Block, the map shifts layouts in-between Gunfight rounds to provide a unique experience each match. It has 500 possible combinations at launch with plans for more post-launch, including adding traditional modes like TDM and Gun Game to the map.
Invasion! Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's Campaign Returns the Franchise to Darker, Grittier Storytelling
We visited Infinity Ward to get a first-hand look at the campaign, its characters and the type of story Modern Warfare 4 aims to tell.
As for the rest of the content, Infinity Ward confirmed 24 primary weapons, 8 secondary and 1 melee weapons, 17 Killstreaks, 11 Field Upgrades, 500+ weapon attachments, 11 lethals, 9 tacticals and 18 Perks. A solid amount of content for the launch with more coming post-launch.
Cautious Optimism with a Massive Warning Sign
There are a lot of reasons to be cautiously optimistic about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's multiplayer. Infinity Ward appears to have learned a lot of lessons from Modern Warfare II, focusing heavily on playability over realism. From what we've played, the game feels much better to play with maps that don't feel like anthills. It's a clear statement that the studio has heard the criticism directed at their last two titles and are working hard to correct it.
Infinity Ward's goal for Modern Warfare 4's multiplayer was to make it feel slick and sophisticated, while still maintaining a gritty and grounded feel. This philosophy led them to make numerous changes to gunplay and movement, incorporating feedback from Modern Warfare II.
Of course, systems like spawns, map lanes and balancing can't fully be tested until the game gets into the hands of players. That will come in the beta.
The biggest, flashing warning sign though is matchmaking and persisting lobbies. Treyarch shocked and delighted fans last year when they opted to ditch the franchise's strict skill-based matchmaking system and disbanding lobbies for Open Matchmaking. The result was a multiplayer experience that felt and played more like a pre-Warzone era experience that players could build communities within. Infinity Ward told us in our interview with them that they have not decided on matchmaking yet. We implore Infinity Ward to continue Treyarch's work and bring Open Matchmaking and Persistent Lobbies forward into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.
What we got to play and see is impressive, and this is clearly a step in the right direction after Modern Warfare II. There's good reason to be optimistic about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, but it should be approached with caution until we get a final decision on matchmaking and lobbies.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches October 23 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. Be sure to come back in the next week to see our impressions of the new DMZ mode. For more on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, be sure to check out our Infinity Ward interview and campaign hands-on coverage.
- Released
- October 23, 2026
- Developer(s)
- Infinity Ward
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Prequel(s)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022), Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare III
- Franchise
- Call of Duty
- Number of Players
- 1-60 players
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- October 23, 2026
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- October 23, 2026
- PS5 Release Date
- October 23, 2026
- Nintendo Switch 2 Release Date
- October 23, 2026
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch 2
- Genre(s)
- First-Person Shooter, Action
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 329.26 GB
