The confirmed date (and who printed it)
Three official pages, all opened August 30, 2026, lock the same Friday:
- Activision Support — Modern Warfare 4 Editions (article stamp 07/20/26): launches worldwide on October 23, 2026.
- Xbox.com — Modern Warfare 4: Available October 23, 2026.
- callofduty.com/modernwarfare4/beta: Day One on October 23.
Platforms named on Support: Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC (Play Anywhere), PlayStation 5, Battle.net, Steam, Nintendo Switch 2. Switch 2 preorders began August 26 (same Support article). Exact regional unlock hour on Oct 23 = missing-evidence — Support footnote 8 says play time is subject to outages and time-zone differences.
Campaign Early Access — October 16 (digital only)
COD Blog — Campaign Early Access Confirmed and Activision Support (footnote 8): players who digitally pre-order or prepurchase any edition get Early Access to the full Campaign starting Friday, October 16 (PT).
Physical console boxes get Open Beta codes, not Campaign EA — Support lists Campaign EA under digital editions only. A week of story before multiplayer/DMZ launch is the product, not an earlier multiplayer unlock.
BO7 camo guide →Camo and COD Points math are live now. MW4 launch does not make those pages stale.
Open Beta — weekend 2 is live this snapshot
Official beta hub (scraped Aug 30, 2026): Open Beta access for all players August 28 at 10:00 AM PT – September 1 at 10:00 AM PT (MW4 Beta Weekend 2). Pre-order / physical retailer codes were Early Access to earlier windows; this weekend is the open window. Minimum Open Beta duration is 2 days (Support footnote 2). Weekend 1 start date = not reprinted on the extract we opened — we do not invent it.
Editions — what Support actually lists
Activision Support editions article (07/20/26), opened Aug 30. We print content, not a storefront sticker we did not read.
| Edition | What Support names | USD we can print |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Standard | Base game + Open Beta EA + Hunter Killer Operator Skin + Gilded Pearl camo pack + Campaign EA (Oct 16 PT) | List price = missing-evidence on this extract |
| Physical (Xbox Series X / PS5) | Base game + Open Beta retailer code. Cannot upgrade to Vault | Retailer list = missing-evidence here |
| Vault Edition (digital-only) | Standard + Hostile Alliance pack (Price ×2, Valeria ×2, Ghost, Blix) + Special Forces pack (COM SFT, KSK Amphibious, ROK SF, SAS) + Signature Weapon Collection (5 blueprints) + one Season of BlackCell + DMZ Deployment Bonus (detail TBA) | Upgrade from Digital Standard: $30 SRP. Vault list USD = missing-evidence. 10% Loyalty Discount until launch if you owned+played a qualifying 2019+ CoD on the same platform |
Do not treat a YouTuber "$69.99 / $99.99" as Activision. Re-read the storefront the day you buy.
Countdown calendar
| When | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 26, 2026 | Switch 2 preorders open | Activision Support 07/20/26 |
| Aug 28 10:00 AM PT – Sep 1 10:00 AM PT | Open Beta weekend 2 (all platforms named on the beta hub) | callofduty.com/modernwarfare4/beta |
| Sep 15, 2026 | Six-week freshness deadline for this page (owner law) — re-verify date/editions | internal |
| Oct 16, 2026 PT | Campaign Early Access (digital pre-orders) | COD Blog + Support |
| Oct 23, 2026 | Worldwide launch — MP + DMZ + Campaign for everyone else | Support / Xbox / beta hub |
What Emily can open from this page
Machine-readable routing (D267-G), opened Aug 30, 2026:
- /call-of-duty — category listing. No MW4
type=basicSKU tonight; we do not print a dollar. - Live CoD grind that already exists: BO7 camo guide, COD Points pack ladder.
- Siblings: 12 Core 6v6 maps, beta loadouts.
Sources
- Activision Support — MW4 Editions, stamp 07/20/26, scraped Aug 30, 2026. Launch Oct 23; Campaign EA Oct 16 PT; Vault contents; $30 upgrade SRP; Switch 2 preorders Aug 26.
- Official MW4 Beta hub, scraped Aug 30. Weekend 2 Aug 28 10:00 AM PT – Sep 1 10:00 AM PT.
- COD Blog — Campaign Early Access (Jun 2026).
- Xbox.com MW4 — Oct 23, 2026; Campaign EA Oct 16.
US Standard / Vault sticker prices on a storefront checkout = missing-evidence this pass.
FAQ
Ask Emily — free →Standard vs Vault, digital vs box, Campaign EA vs launch day. Free.