Infinity Ward has officially unveiled Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and given first details about the game’s campaign, engine updates and a release date.
Teased on May 29, the full reveal for Modern Warfare came a day later, and was much more than just a trailer – although we got one of those too.
You can watch the full reveal trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare below.
When is Modern Warfare coming out?
Infinity Ward confirmed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will release on October 25, 2019. This is a similar approach to Black Ops 4, which also released in October, unlike previous years which were always November.
The earlier release date will be welcome news for fans, especially those who have been waiting the full eight years since the last MW game.
Will Call of Duty: Modern Warfare have a beta?
The release of the official Modern Warfare teaser on May 30 immediately caught the attention of Call of Duty fans, who are already desperate to get their hands on the game and try it out for themselves.
While Modern Warfare isn’t scheduled for release until October, many fans are hopeful that there will be a beta in the summer, so they could try out the game and see what it’s like for themselves.
Activision and Infinity Ward have yet to officially confirm whether there will be a public beta, but every Call of Duty since Advanced Warfare has had one, so it’s a safe bet that Modern Warfare will two. Based on previous beta releases, players can expect an early access version of the game in late July or August.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare campaign
2018’s Black Ops 4 may have scrapped the single-player campaign, but the fourth entry in the Modern Warfare series has, as expected, brought back the signature mode.
Set in 2019, the campaign is said to be the most controversial ever, pushing the boundaries of ‘troubling’ and ‘realism’, inspired by Modern Warfare 2’s controversial ‘No Russian’ mission.
Infinity Ward has also confirmed that players will be able to play as different characters other than Tier 1 Operators and that they’ll be playing from an Arab soldier’s perspective for half of the campaign.
They’ve dropped the ‘4’ from the title to allow them to create a new story, not based on the events of the trilogy. Captain Price is set to make a return however.
Infinity Ward make big engine improvements
As we head into the next generation of console gaming, Infinity Ward are keen to push forward the technical performance of the CoD franchise. To do so, they have implemented some major updates to the game engine.
These updates will make for much improved graphical fidelity, which in turn should help the game’s desire for ‘realism’.
The new technology utilizes the latest advancements in visual engineering, including a physically-based material system allowing for state of the art photogrammetry, a new hybrid tile based streaming system, new PBR decal rendering system, world volumetric lighting, 4K HDR, DirectX Raytracing (PC) and more as well as a new GPU geometry pipeline.
What about multiplayer?
Like previous years, the developers are keeping multiplayer under wraps for now. For now, they are focusing all the attention on a more general overview of the game, and of course the campaign.
Leakers have claimed that multiplayer will be getting a major overhaul for Modern Warfare, including a new class system, no mini-map, and even the potential for cross-platform play. Note that this leak is currently unconfirmed.
Given the game’s title and inspiration from past Modern Warfare games, it is possible that maps and other content from previous entries in the series make a return.
We already know that there will be a brand new reload system to go along with a ton of real-world weapon but the biggest news might just be that the full list of killstreaks have been ‘leaked‘. According to that leak, the game would make a return to gaining bonuses via kills and not wracking up points for scorestreaks,
Cross-platform play coming to Modern Warfare
Cross-platform play between PS4, Xbox One and PC has been confirmed for the 2019 Call of Duty, a first in franchise history.
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This follows a growing industry trend, which helps to connect players on all platforms, increasing the player base for multiplayer modes.
Issues around keyboard and mouse players and controller players will still need to be addressed however, especially when so crucial in a first person shooter.
“Never before seen” progression system
Another major change coming to Modern Warfare is a brand new progression system.
Previously, players would rank up in each of Call of Duty’s modes separately, however in Modern Warfare progress from single-player, multiplayer and co-op will all be linked, in which Activision states will be a “unified narrative experience.”
This means that if you rank a weapon up in the game’s campaign, it will also be ranked up in multiplayer.
There’s no season pass coming, though
Activision has announced that there’s no season pass in sights for the game, which is a big relief on players’ wallets as nobody likes forking out more money on a game they’ve already paid for.
In the official Infinity Ward press release, they said, “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. This is just the beginning – there’s much more to come.”
The promise of free content is a great step forward for the company, and will no doubt get players to stick around far after the release of Modern Warfare.
Modern Warfare price and special editions
Modern Warfare is already available for preorder, with prices for the standard version of the game sitting between $60 to $70 depending on the retailer.
Gamestop also added preorder pages for two special versions of the game, the Precision and Dark Editions, which are priced at $99.99 and $199.99 respectively.
The Precision Edition will include:
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare game
- Steelbook
- KontrolFreek Modern Warfare branded Performance Thumbsticks
- KontrolFreek Modern Warfare branded Controller Skin
- Custom In-game Tactical Knife
- “All Ghillied Up” Operator Pack
- “Crew Expendable” Operator Pack
- “War Pig” Operator Pack
- C.O.D.E. Animated Calling Card
It’s currently unknown what the Dark Edition will offer.
What is Modern Warfare’s ESRB rating?
ESRB ratings are used to signify what age groups a game is suitable for, based on the violence, adult themes or gory nature of the title.
Black Ops 4 was rated Mature, but many feel that Modern Warfare will be given an ’18+ Adults Only’ rating based on the information available regarding the campaign and it’s storyline, but this is yet to be confirmed by ESRB.
Will there be a Battle Royale mode?
Treyarch’s ‘Blackout’ mode in Black Ops 4 was a big success, bringing a triple-A feel to the battle royale trend. Although it may not have usurped the unbeatable Fortnite Battle Royale, it still cut out a nice chunk of the market for itself.
Infinity Ward have yet to say anything about a possible Modern Warfare battle royale mode – maintaining their ‘no comment’ stance.
That’s everything we know so far about Call of Duty 2019, but there is plenty more information to come in the months leading up to release – stay tuned to Dexerto for updates.
This article was updated at 12:27PM EST on Sunday, July 7.