Modern Warfare 4 Release Date, Editions, Early Access and Preload

Infinity Ward and Activision print 1 calendar day for every current-gen store on the list: Friday 23 October 2026. Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Battle.net, Xbox on PC, Steam, and Nintendo Switch 2 share that day. A per-store clock such as 9:00 AM PT is absent from those pages. Store footnotes say actual play time can move with outages and time zones. Plan on the servers opening on 23 October.

PlayStation 4 is out. Last-gen Xbox is out. The US Microsoft listing for Digital Standard and Vault says MW4 is off Game Pass this year. Online Multiplayer on Xbox still needs a Game Pass Essential subscription sold separately. Xbox Play Anywhere is written down: a purchase on the Xbox Series store or the Xbox on PC store unlocks both. PC needs TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot. An Activision account is required. A mobile phone number may be required.

This page is the dated calendar. Launch. Campaign Early Access. Editions and prices. CoD Points and BlackCell. Platforms and preload. Sibling pages: Campaign, DMZ, the MW4 hub.

Each row is a clock Activision or Microsoft printed. Relative words stay off this table.

The August–September test window is closed. Gameplay rank from that window reset. Cosmetics persist on the Activision account. That window is history on this page.

Support writes starting Friday, October 16 (PT). The Campaign Early Access blog names the same Friday. Official pages print 0 hours. Store footnotes say the start can move. Plan on 16 October as the day.

Who: players who digitally pre-ordered or pre-purchased Standard Digital or Vault on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, PlayStation 5, Battle.net, Steam, and Nintendo Switch 2. Support lists Campaign Early Access under all digital editions. A disc stays off this list.

What: the Campaign. Support says full Campaign. Multiplayer stays closed on 16 October. DMZ stays closed. Warzone stays closed. Official pages print 0 mission names and 0 hours. Sibling: MW4 campaign guide.

If the story is the product you want on day 1 of the window, a digital Standard or Vault pre-order is the gate official pages name. Reserve a campaign completion on the campaign page. A pro starts when that window opens.

3 editions exist. Digital Vault on every listed platform. Digital Standard on every listed platform. Physical Standard on Xbox Series disc and PlayStation 5 disc. Physical Standard skips PC. Vault is digital-only.

The US Microsoft catalog prints Digital Standard at $69.99 USD (product 9NCPSQQD1Z66) and Vault at $99.99 USD (product 9NWWNS0C3007). The Vault upgrade is $30.00 (product 9N5RJ569GVZ2). Activision blogs still skip a Standard sticker. This page prints the Microsoft figures because both store listings carry them today.

Physical editions cannot take the Vault upgrade. Loyalty 10% skips upgrades. Loyalty runs through 23 October 2026 on Vault pre-orders at official platform stores.

Digital Standard and digital Vault share these pre-order bonuses. The full game. Campaign Early Access from 16 October. Hunter Killer Operator Skin: instant in BO7 and Warzone, MW4 at launch, redeem by 23 October 2027, needs BO7 or Warzone on that platform. Gilded Pearl Camo Pack: Moonlit Pearl instant in BO7 Season 05 plus a challenge for Gilded Ruin, serialized for the opening 100,000 unlocks. Inner Circuit M4 Weapon Blueprint at MW4 launch. Xbox Series shows an Xbox 25th Anniversary treatment. Other platforms show a mil-spec treatment.

Vault adds Hostile Alliance Operator Pack (Price in 2 variants, Valeria in 2 variants, Ghost, Blix). Special Forces Operator Pack (COM SFT France, KSK Amphibious Germany, South Korean Special Forces, SAS UK, each with a local-language voice pack). Signature Weapon Collection at launch and in Warzone Season 01. Kastov 762 / Voltspine. ISO Nightshade / La Sombra Venenosa. Rezi 12 / Shattered Code. Oris 8.6 / Volt Edge. Combat Knife / Sombra Besada. BlackCell for 1 Season. A DMZ Deployment Bonus with details still pending on Support.

Campaign, Multiplayer, and DMZ launch on 23 October. Warzone integration is Season 1. Activision has not printed that calendar day.

Official pages confirm these BO7 and Warzone items also unlock on MW4 at launch: Hunter Killer; Moonlit Pearl; Gilded Ruin. Vault BlackCell CoD Points are a new Season 1 grant. They are a Season 1 grant, separate from the BO7 wallet.

A Battle Pass exists. BlackCell covers 1 Season of that pass: 20 skips, 1,100 CoD Points, and 100+ rewards. The 1st grant opportunity is Season 1. Treat BlackCell as a Season 1 unlock. Official copy withholds a 23 October Battle Pass start.

RICOCHET Anti-Cheat is listed as live in Modern Warfare 4 on the official store. Accounts under a permanent Activision restriction from CoD titles since MW (2019) may be ineligible to play MW4. Accounts under a permanent Battle.net restriction cannot buy MW4 on Battle.net. Those accounts may buy on Xbox, PlayStation, or Steam and still stay locked out of online modes. Work on this site is hand-played on your account or piloted by a human Pro, with no cheats and 0 tools from outside the game.

The standing pack page remains CoD Points, Battle Pass and MW4 prices.

Official pages fetched today print 0 launch preload dates and 0 launch install sizes. Community gigabyte figures stay off this page.

What is dated is the test preload, already in the past. Early-access test preload: 9:00 AM PT Thursday 20 August 2026, every platform except Switch 2. Public-weekend preload: 9:00 AM PT Wednesday 26 August 2026, every listed platform. Those clocks do not become a launch preload by analogy. The FOB page also used preload language for the August beta on Switch 2. That was the beta.

Platforms at launch: Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Battle.net, Xbox on PC, Steam, Nintendo Switch 2 (native port with Digital Legends). PlayStation 4 is out. Last-gen Xbox is out. Steam listing exists (app 4435490, age-gated). Official MW4 pages skip a crossplay on/off spec. Xbox Play Anywhere is same-purchase console plus PC.

Install the client when Activision prints a launch preload. Until then this page will not invent a day. If you want a launch-day slot for camo, rank, or a nuke, reserve it on the Modern Warfare 4 hub. A pro starts when the servers open on 23 October.

Pick the Friday that matches the product you want. Digital Standard or Vault if the Campaign on 16 October is the goal. Any edition if Multiplayer, DMZ, camo, rank, or a nuke on 23 October is the goal. Physical Standard waits for 23 October on the Campaign too.

Vault at $99.99 buys the operator packs, the Signature Weapon Collection, 1 Season of BlackCell, and the DMZ bonus on top of the digital Standard list. Standard at $69.99 on the US Microsoft catalog still buys Campaign Early Access and the shared pre-order cosmetics.

Tell LFCarry which Friday and which mode. A pro starts when that window opens. Maps and modes sit on the campaign guide and the DMZ guide.

See where MW4 sits in the series: every Call of Duty game in order, from 2003 to 2026.