Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is live worldwide. The game Activision’s chief marketing officer has called the “epic conclusion for this recent series of Modern Warfare” launched October 23 on Xbox Series X|S, PC (Steam and Battle.net), PlayStation 5 — and, as Xbox Wire’s launch announcement confirms, on Nintendo Switch 2 as well. Players have had the campaign since October 16 via early access for pre-orders of the $69.99 base game or $99.99 Vault Edition; the full game, multiplayer and DMZ included, unlocked today.
The Best-Received Call of Duty in a Decade
The reception is the story here. Modern Warfare 4 rocketed to the number-one spot on Steam’s Top Sellers charts in both the US and globally ahead of launch, blasting past Counter-Strike 2 — a jump of 18 positions worldwide and 25 in the US, reflecting a stark increase in pre-order volume. And the players actually playing it are happy: with 5,116 user reviews counted during campaign early access, the game sits at a “Very Positive” 91% rating on Valve’s storefront.
As TechPowerUp notes, that already makes it the best-received Call of Duty on Steam since 2015’s Black Ops III. The contrast with recent entries is stark: SteamDB rates Black Ops 7 at 38.71%, Black Ops 6 at 45.75%, Modern Warfare III at 48.19%, and Modern Warfare II at 47.10%, while Black Ops III still leads the modern games at 84.36%. There are caveats: the early reviews come from players who pre-ordered to play the campaign a week early, so they are probably the most enthusiastic part of the audience — and now that the wider player base is jumping into multiplayer and DMZ, the score could look quite different. PC players also need TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot enabled to play at all.
Activision has positioned the game as a deliberate return to form: the studio has said Modern Warfare 4 forgoes the “clowny skins” in favor of a more realistic, grounded experience, “bringing that edge back that Call of Duty is known for.”
Kill Block: the Multiplayer Map That Rearranges Itself
The launch also introduces one of the most inventive multiplayer maps the series has seen in years. Hidden inside the West Bridge Advanced Military Training Facility, Kill Block is a “complex combat environment where shifting, modular battlegrounds challenge even the most elite Operators,” as Xbox Wire puts it. The map reconfigures every match — more than 500 configurations are possible at launch, with layouts changing between matches and throughout rounds. It supports 3v3 and the new 10v10 Gunfight mode at launch, with more core modes planned. Xbox Wire’s verdict: “it’s one of the most inventive and fun maps to come to Call of Duty Multiplayer in years.”
Korean Lawmakers Turn the Campaign Into a Political Weapon
The single-player campaign splits its time between Captain Price’s globe-trotting hunt for Makarov and Private Park’s half of the story in the Korea Theater — which DualShockers argues “provides some of the game’s greatest moments.” It’s the first time the franchise has returned to South Korea since Advanced Warfare, and the nation plays a central part in the main conflict.
That spotlight has ignited debates in South Korean politics. As initially pointed out by the XBOX News for Koreans page, some lawmakers are using the game’s depiction of destruction as fuel to shame the current president, asking him to play the game in order to, quote, “learn how much destructive damage his naive judgment will bring to the Republic of Korea.” It’s not the old “violence in video games” song and dance — the actual arguments center on the country’s tenuous relationship with its northern counterpart, with some politicians using the game as a warning about what could happen should South Korea let up on its security measures. As DualShockers observes, the reaction is a wake-up call to how desensitized the rest of the world is to seeing its own nations ravaged by war in games — and with Modern Warfare 4 off to this kind of start, imitators may well follow.
More GamerMenu coverage: Modern Warfare 4’s launch details and DMZ plans and the Counter-Strike-inspired Collateral mode.
Sources
- Xbox Wire — Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is Live Worldwide — Play Now!
- Xbox Wire — Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 – Kill Block is Must-Play Multiplayer at Launch
- TechPowerUp — Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Rockets to 1st on Steam’s Top Sellers List Ahead of Launch
- TechPowerUp — Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Gets a Warm Steam Welcome With 90% Positive Reviews
- DualShockers — Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 Has Korean Lawmakers Lashing Out