Signing you in

Image credit: Infinity Ward, Activision. News by Sherif Saed Senior Contributor Published on Oct. 19, 2026, 8:36 a.m. 20 comments Follow Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 (2026) Prioritise us on Google It may be hard to believe, given all the Call of Duty: Modern 4 pre-launch community drama and the beta's lower-than-expected numbers on PC, but the final game may have turned things around - so far, at least.

On Steam, Infinity Ward's final chapter in the Modern Warfare sub-series currently has a Very Positive (92 percent) rating based on over 3,100 user reviews. Modern Warfare 4's campaign early access went live Friday, and the review rating has been improving steadily as players have experienced more of the campaign's missions. Many have likely finished it by now; the campaign is a little over six-hours in length, after all.

Gaining access to the campaign on Friday required pre-ordering any of the game's editions digitally. Modern Warfare 4's official release isn't until 23rd October, which makes it hard to determine the current number of players, because SteamDB, our source for this data, can't reveal numbers without its tracking bot having a copy of the game.

Setting aside player numbers, the sentiment around Modern Warfare 4 is considerably more positive at the outset compared to last year's Black Ops 7, currently sitting at Mostly Negative (37 percent). While review ratings change over time with each major update, Modern Warfare 4 is currently the highest-rated Call of Duty in over a decade.

However, it's worth bearing in mind that the people playing the game are likely the series' most keen players, so perhaps they're more lenient towards it. We haven't had a chance to review the game yet, having only received code late last week, but IGN published a COD: Modern Warfare 4 campaign review on Friday, scoring it 8/10.

In the rebooted Modern Warfare series, the 2019 Modern Warfare game comes closest in average player sentiment with a Mostly Positive rating (79 percent). 2022's Modern Warfare 2 is far lower with a Mixed rating (45 percent). Outside of Infinity Ward's output, Black Ops: Cold War is close at Mostly Positive (79 percent).

Modern Warfare 4's next big moment is the anticipated release of DMZ, the game's extraction shooter mode. Like the campaign, DMZ is available early for pre-orders, unlocking tomorrow, 20th October. Finally, on 23rd October, traditional multiplayer becomes available, which is when we're likely to see a shift in user sentiment, if one is going to happen.

People who've finished Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on the new YOLO, single-life difficulty share experiences and tips for doing so

The next Call of Duty will introduce a new sub-series to the franchise

DMZ for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 being released early, but Infinity Ward shoots down PvE hopes

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 reveals pricey spawn options for DMZ, which offer rich players an enormous advantage over poor players spawning on foot

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's latest DMZ trailers have left players confused about the existence of a PvE-only mode

"This is Call of Duty's definitive extraction shooter experience" - Infinity Ward details the new DMZ mode in Modern Warfare 4

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is getting a Counter-Strike-inspired game mode that I can't believe it never had before

In another unprecedented move, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is changing double XP tokens so they count down in match and not real-time