Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Beta Brings Multiplayer, Campaign, and Warzone Together for the First Time
Activision has revealed the full contents of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 beta — and for the first time in the franchise's history, a single beta will let players sample the campaign, competitive multiplayer, and the battle royale mode Warzone all at once (Eurogamer, 17 August 2026).
The beta runs across two sessions. The first opens on Friday, 21st August, and closes on 25th August. It is open only to players who pre-ordered the full game, and it is playable on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. The second session runs from 28th August to 1st September — and adds Nintendo Switch 2 to the platform list, a first for the Call of Duty series (Eurogamer, 17 August 2026).
The first weekend brings five 6v6 multiplayer maps: Rooftops, Silkworm, Transit 213, Cachette, and Lotus. Players can queue into Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, and Search & Destroy, plus a new mode called Inflation that Activision has not yet detailed. Kill Block — a mode previously given its own preview — appears in both its 3v3 and 10v10 variants (Eurogamer, 17 August 2026).
The second weekend widens the selection. Ground War, Call of Duty's large-scale infantry mode, joins the rotation with two maps: Imjin Farmland and Wolves Stadium. The beta also adds Warzone's upcoming Resurgence map, Zodiac — a smaller, faster-paced battle royale map than the game's standard large arenas. Players will get a first look at Zodiac during the Call of Duty: Next showcase, which is being held entirely online this year on 21st August (Eurogamer, 17 August 2026).
The most unusual inclusion is a full campaign mission. Called Entrenched, it is playable in the open beta starting 28th August — the first time a Call of Duty beta has offered story content alongside multiplayer and Warzone (PlayStation, 15 August 2026; Eurogamer, 17 August 2026). The campaign follows Private Park, a young South Korean soldier experiencing live combat for the first time, according to Activision's own blog (Call of Duty Blog, 12 June 2026). Modern Warfare 4 is also the first Call of Duty in several years to revive campaign early access as a pre-order perk (Eurogamer, 17 August 2026).
Before the beta begins, the current Call of Duty title — Black Ops 7 — gets its Season 05 Reloaded update on 20th August. That patch closes out the game's Zombies storyline with the antagonist Rex Infernus, adds a new Perk-a-Cola, a Wonder Weapon, a GobbleGum, and two legacy weapons to the Zombies mode. Multiplayer gets Turbo Tilt, a pinball-themed map, and Freeran: Descent, an obstacle course. In Warzone, players can shoot down Special Delivery Drones, and the Endgame mode becomes free-to-play through the end of the season (Call of Duty Blog).
Modern Warfare 4 itself is scheduled for release on 23rd October on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2 (Eurogamer, 17 August 2026).
For a series that usually treats its campaign, competitive multiplayer, and battle royale as separate worlds, putting all three into one beta is a notable shift — and the Switch 2's inclusion gives Nintendo's newest hardware its first real taste of a frontline Call of Duty release.
