Call of Duty Modern Warfare Revealed, Releases in October

The next Call of Duty game was revealed today. Called Call of Duty Modern Warfare, the next installment of the popular FPS franchise is set to release October 25. 

It will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The PC version of the game will be available exclusively through Blizzard’s Battle.net. Activision has confirmed the game will not have a Zombies Mode.

Developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision, Call of Duty Modern Warfare is a soft reboot of the Modern Warfare subseries. It will see classic characters return under new conditions geared more toward modern geo-political circumstances. 

Unlike last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Modern Warfare will feature a single-player campaign. According to Engadget, the campaign is “thrusting classic characters like Captain John Price into overwrought situations that are ripped from current, real-world headlines.”

Like the Battlefield games have done in the past, players will assume two different perspectives in the campaign. The Engadget story regarding an early look at the game states these perspectives will be a “Tier 1 Marine” and “a freedom fighter from an ambiguously Middle-Eastern region.”

A post on the Activision blog says that the game will also feature online multiplayer and co-op experiences. According to Infinity Ward Creative Director and co-Studio Head Patrick Kelly, the game will also feature crossplay between platforms.

Whether that includes PlayStation 4 has not been explicitly stated at the time of writing, but the recently launched free to play title Dauntless launched with full crossplay. A good sign of things to come.

The Season Pass the Call of Duty community has become so familiar with over the years may be tossed to the wayside as well. Kelly said that “we’re eliminating the traditional season pass, so that we can deliver more free maps and content as well as post-launch events to all players.”

Dave Stohl, co-Studio Head, Infinity Ward, said in a release about the game that it was important to portray the blurred battle lines of modern, conventional warfare. On most battlefields, actions are coated in shades of grey; they are not purely black and white. 

He said:

This is an all-new Modern Warfare reimagined in every way. We are creating an emotionally charged experience that’s inspired by the headlines in the world today, where the rules are grey and battle lines are blurred. 

Players will join a varied cast of international special forces and freedom fighters in gripping and heart-pounding missions through iconic European cities and volatile expanses of the Middle East. It’s intense, it’s exciting, and we can’t wait for our fans to play this October.

As evidenced by the trailer above, the game will also feature some of the series’ most realistic graphics yet.

According to the developers, Modern Warfare features a brand-new engine, “allowing for state of the art photogrammetry, a new hybrid tile-based streaming system, new PBR decal rendering system, world volumetric lighting, 4K HDR, [and] DirectX Raytracing (PC) …” 

Digital pre-orders are also live. Those who purchase the game before release will get a prestige token that can be used in Black Ops 4. 

As reported earlier today by GamesRadar, key information about the game, including box art, a trailer, and a purported release date were accidentally leaked on the official Call of Duty YouTube ahead the official reveal.  

Earlier this week, we reported via multiple media sources that Call of Duty 2019 would carry the Modern Warfare moniker and be a soft reboot. 

Last week, information was also released regarding Call of Duty 2020. Specifically, sources told Kotaku that internal rifts between Raven and Sledgehammer Games have caused Activision to pivot that game’s production to Treyarch.

Reportedly, the game will be the next installment in the Black Ops subseries, Call of Duty Black Ops 5. Although not yet confirmed, it’s a safe bet the studio would be working on such a title, as it has so far worked on the entire Black Ops subseries. 

Additionally, Call of Duty Mobile is currently in its beta phase. While we don’t yet know everything about the game, we do know that it will have traditional multiplayer modes as well as a battle royale mode. The game is set to release on mobile devices sometime this year. 

More on the Call of Duty Modern Warfare reboot will be shared in the coming weeks, according to Activision.