GameCentral has obtained a first look at this year's Call Of Duty, which boasts a new Korean setting, DMZ, and some notable changes to multiplayer. After last year's Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 fell short both critically and commercially against Battlefield 6, Activision's juggernaut shooter has never looked more vulnerable. EA might not have another Battlefield planned for this year, but there's a prevailing sense that a once unshakeable franchise has been knocked onto the backfoot.
This is where Call Of Duty's next entry awkwardly and – because of the yearly development cycles – unintentionally sits. Activision has now revealed it is, as the leaks already suggested, a sequel to 2023's Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. A follow-up to one of the worst received entries in series history is an unfortunate choice for a franchise which is coming off such a notable blow, but Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is insisting it will shake things up for the better.
Campaign: A Korean Setting
In terms of the campaign, the most promising change is the Korean setting. The story hinges around a war between North and South Korea, which threatens to destabilise the entire world. In the preview, Activision provided a rundown of every level in the campaign, and you're oscillating between two factions: a blended squad of Korean and US soldiers you follow in missions set in Korea; and the globe-trotting escapades of franchise regular Captain Price, who is dealing with the wider conflict and going rogue across Paris, Mumbai, New York, and other locales.
Because of the country's mandatory military service, the Korean soldiers you play as aren't trained military experts but regular people who are naïve to the dangers ahead of them – which is something Call Of Duty hasn't really explored since it drifted away from the Second World War and leaned into superhero-like machismo.
We'll have to wait to see how the full game shakes out, but we were disappointed that the exploits of the Korean squad wasn't the entire focus of the campaign. Instead they share headline billing with Captain Price, who, while a notable character for those invested in Call Of Duty lore (and the connective tissue to Modern Warfare 3), is a far less interesting prospect in comparison.
Multiplayer: Enhanced Fluidity and Realism
On the multiplayer side, there are changes too – although the majority of them might only register with hardcore players. Developer Infinity Ward is promising more fluidity than ever, thanks to slicker transitions between sliding, mantling, and climbing. The omni-movement of recent titles has been expanded as well, allowing you to shoot while hanging off ledges, shimmy around corners, and launch into a super slide directly onto your back via a quick double tap.
Additionally, Infinity Ward is emphasising realism and precision through what it calls 'Ballistic Authority'. This is a catch-all term to encompass improved gun animations, enhanced player visibility and, perhaps most importantly for a select few, the removal of weapon bloom; where, when firing from the hip, shots would randomly veer away from the centre of the crosshair to incentivise down the sights aiming. Now, the small element of inaccurate randomness has been removed – a move which, while sound in theory, could make aiming down the sights far less useful.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 might be gunning for the competitive hardcore crowd with these alterations, but there are some welcome improvements to streamline parts of the experience too. There's a new 'Gunny' system in the Gunsmith which allows you to quickly assemble gun builds based on pre-selected criteria, while there's greater flexibility in applying different loadouts to different operators.
Infinity Ward is promising over 12 multiplayer modes at launch, including three new ones titled Inflation, Hijack, and Counter Attack, and 12 brand new multiplayer maps. The most interesting of these is Killblock, which appears to be some kind of procedurally generated map split across different environmental slabs, which are randomly assembled into over 500 combinations each time you jump in.
DMZ Mode Returns
The third pillar to Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is DMZ, an extraction mode which returns following its beta iteration in 2022's Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The franchise has been experimenting with extraction modes for some time, as seen in last year's Endgame mode in Black Ops 7, but we'll have to wait and see how different this will be.
Switch 2 Launch and Release Date
Perhaps most notably beyond the game itself, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will be the first game in the series to arrive on the Nintendo Switch 2, and simultaneously with the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC versions on October 23, 2026. We didn't see any footage from the Switch 2 version, so it remains to be seen if it will retain Call Of Duty's all-important 60fps frame rate, but no doubt compromises will need to be made somewhere.
Overall, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 doesn't appear to be a drastic reinvention, but it feels like it's trying something slightly different at least, which is perhaps the best you can ask for when a series is stuck in a yearly development rotation and Activision won't be able to properly respond to recent criticism for a few years yet.
