As Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 approaches on October 23, the PR machine is really getting into full swing. Whether it's reactive or not is irrelevant, so long as players are being given worthwhile features.

It looks like Modern Warfare 4 is going to fix one of the biggest points of irritation I have with Call of Duty in general: burning through 2XP tokens while you're sat in the lobby, or tweaking your loadout, or hell, even checking on your Camo challenges.

Announced today is the news that this will not be the case in Modern Warfare 4. 2XP tokens will now only count down in-game time, not from the very second you apply them, as happens right now.

I don't know if there's panic setting in, if these ideas were always planned, or if players are actually being listened to. But this is twice in recent days that we're getting some positive news about features for Modern Warfare 4.

The 2XP token update comes after the news that from Season 1, when Warzone is integrated with Modern Warfare 4, players will have a toggle to turn off all the goofy legacy skins and see default MW4 operators instead.

I'm not sure this is enough to make me want to play Warzone outside of doing the Mastery Camo, but still, it's another big W from Call of Duty for its players. Even though I only tolerate Warzone for the barest minimum time, there are some truly heinous cosmetics going back as far as Modern Warfare 2.

In isolation each of these may seem small, but both are actually significant quality of life increases. I can now work on the Warzone Mastery Camo without seeing Beavis and Butthead or American Dad, and I can do so knowing I'm not losing my 2XP tokens while waiting on matchmaking.

There are still plenty of improvements that could be made, though. I don't really have a dog in the SBMM fight, but plenty of players do, even if it doesn't look like it's going away. The anticheat will also be a big focus, again, and Activision talks a big game, but players are only going to be happy when they see it working.

But I'm happy to take the wins wherever they come. I've got about 50 hours of 2XP and 52 hours of 2XP weapon tokens to burn through when Modern Warfare 4 comes out. I'm glad that will at least translate to in-game hours and not losing half of it outside of matches.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on October 23 (though the campaign has an early access period for a week prior to this), and if you're jumping in at launch, then you're going to want to burn through leveling up as fast as possible, right?

Whether you're going down the Classic Prestige route (aka, the proper way) or the other Prestige that doesn't reset your progress and gives fewer rewards, there are a lot of levels to climb through. Then there are the weapons, which, based on the Modern Warfare 4 beta period, will take some time.

What you need to speed this process up is a big stash of 2XP tokens. You've likely already got some if you've been playing Black Ops 7, and they will carry forward to Modern Warfare 4. But you should be at least opening Black Ops 7 every day right now to maximize your gains going into the new game by getting all the free 2XP tokens you can.

Open Black Ops 7 daily, grab the free 2XP tokens and profit

Even if you've stopped actively playing Black Ops 7 now (I know I've been putting some time into Modern Warfare 3 Zombies instead), don't uninstall it.

Instead, open it up every day, and go straight to the Store tab. I don't know if it's actually every day, but it sure feels like it right now, but when you open the game after each daily reset, you'll likely see the message "free" at the top of the screen just under where it says Store.

There could be free Gobblegums, but those won't be any use to you in Modern Warfare 4. But what you do need to do is scroll down a little further and look for the "Free Gift" box.

Whatever this is, claim it. It could be a 2XP token, a 2XP Weapon token, or a 2XP Battle Pass token. All three will carry forward into Modern Warfare 4, but it's the first two in particular that you want to be stocking up on.

Just claim it, but be sure not to press the equip button when you do. This way it'll go into your pile, and you can close the game until the next day. Just rinse and repeat and stock up all the way through to October 22.

Finish the Black Ops 7 Season 06 Battle Pass if you can

None of the weapons or cosmetic items you can get in the Season 06 Battle Pass in Black Ops 7 will be usable in Modern Warfare 4 (though you will be able to use some of these in Warzone).

But the Battle Pass also gives you 2XP and 2XP Weapon tokens, alongside COD Points which also carry forward into Modern Warfare 4.

So, if you can finish the current Battle Pass, you'll get a few more tokens to add into your stash. But obviously for this, you'll have to play the game. I recommend not having auto-redeem turned on so you choose the rewards you claim as you progress.

It'll at least make the process shorter if you're mostly interested in the tokens and the currency since new pages can unlock before you've claimed everything on the current one.

This may all sound a little "duhhhh" to regular players, but it's worth highlighting. Especially as we're in that period where traditionally even those regular players have moved away from the current Call of Duty.

Better still, at least if you have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, is that you can claim these tokens even if you haven't played a lick of Black Ops 7. Maybe you skipped this year, but you're coming back for Modern Warfare 4. In that case, why not give yourself a little leg up?

It only takes a couple of minutes to fire up the game, grab any free tokens, and close it again. But it'll certainly help your leveling in Modern Warfare 4.

As will doing it the proper way and going Classic Prestige. Using this track will grant improved XP gains, so you'll be getting higher, faster. Make things easy on yourself; it's the smart thing to do.

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I've been a Manchester United fan for as long as I can remember (going on 37 years now), coming from a family of Manchester United fans. Watching games with my grandad as a young child remains some of my fondest memories.

Sure it's been tough in recent years, but the passion never dies. Imagine my absolute delight when my club crosses over with my job. It's been happening for a couple of years already, since Snapdragon took over shirt sponsorship, and it's gone up another notch this season.

Alongside Microsoft Surface replacing Copilot+ PC (which it seems is now dead) as the rear shirt sponsor, Qualcomm and Microsoft have collaborated on the greatest laptop ever made: The Manchester United limited edition Surface Laptop.

The only downside is that it's not just going on general sale, because I would probably be first in line to buy one. Just because it's red and it has the Manchester United badge on it.

But here it is in all its glory, thanks to our man Zac Bowden, who's on the ground in Hawaii (this job is really tough at times) at the 2026 edition of the Snapdragon Summit.

I don't see an Arsenal laptop out there, do I? Manchester City? Liverpool? Chelsea? Spurs wouldn't even get a calculator these days.

If I had to criticize it at all, beyond the fact it's not going on general sale, it'd be that I don't think it goes far enough into the Manchester United branding. The badge being there is great, but I think they could have done more.

How about ghosting an image of Old Trafford, the Theatre of Dreams, onto the lid like the 1994-1996 home shirt? 30 years on that would have been incredible.

These are extremely limited, and Manchester United and Snapdragon are currently running a giveaway for fans to get their hands on one. You can find out how to enter here and get yourself in the pot to win something that is, frankly, priceless.

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The Division 2's latest expansion, Echoes of Central Park, has finally been fully revealed, and I've been fortunate enough to have an early play test. I dip in and out of The Division 2 these days, but since launch I'm about 1,000 hours deep, and it's been one of my favorite games to play across the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S era.

I've written previously in covering the game that it's a testament to its community and the reaction to said community by the developers that The Division 2 is still getting new content to this day. The original plans would have seen it sunset into maintenance mode long ago.

But a reversal brought new modes and experiences, the Battle for Brooklyn DLC, and now, Echoes of Central Park. With this latest expansion, Massive is taking The Division 2 down a path that we've never walked before. Yes, there's a new map and new locations to explore, but there's also a much darker tone.

If you can get darker than a pandemic that brought civilization to its knees, that is.

Echoes of Central Park is introducing horror elements to The Division 2, and while I have played it, I still don't fully understand where that's leading. But it feels different, and I'm here for it.

This article was produced based on an early playtest of The Division 2: Echoes of Central Park on PC provided by Ubisoft. It was a limited selection of the finished content and has been published specifically without content that could be deemed a spoiler. Nobody at Ubisoft had any input nor saw the content of this article prior to publication.

Central Park is a dark and terrifying location

The premise behind Echoes of Central Park is that once again Division Agents are responding to a distress call. We've been deployed across much of New York City since the start of the first game, but Central Park has always been out of bounds.

I always assumed it would have been used as a mass grave for all the casualties of the Green Poison, and on that front, I seem to have been correct. But there's something else going on in there. Something mysterious and terrifying.

You get a little teaser of it during the introduction mission (and don't worry, this entire article will be spoiler free).

It also adds a narrator for the first time, rather than just other members of The Division or from the settlements in your ear. It feels like it's going to play out like some kind of horror story, and it's built very much in that way.

You don't know what you'll be facing at the end, but again, there are teasers to get the brain matter working during your introduction.

But it seems pretty clear that whatever we're building up to fight against is unlike any other foe we've faced yet in any of The Division series.

Lots of familiarity, but some new mechanics to get to grips with

I've played two of the main missions in the Echoes of Central Park DLC and while I'm not allowed to talk about much of the specifics, I can generalize.

On one hand, everything still feels familiar. The same enemy factions are present, and they're still as irritating as ever (looking at you, Black Tusk and your stupid drones) but the core gameplay loop doesn't seem to be changing too much. There is still a new endgame experience that I haven't seen, too.

What I have enjoyed is that during these missions, there are some new challenges. Considering I was playing on Story difficulty, some of the bosses were far more difficult than I expected. Though it should also be said I was playing with a character provided by Ubisoft, not my own, with maximum stats and a stash of gear built to shred. When I play through again, it might be less stressful.

But there are some mechanics to the boss fights beyond just "this is a seriously tanky enemy" that you need to get your head around. They feel like proper boss fights, which is good. While melting high-level enemies is fun, I want something that's going to test my credentials as a good Division Agent.

You also now, for the first time, have the opportunity to use AI teammates. Your companions have their own respective skillsets that you can also improve upon, but they're also there to deploy alongside you in combat.

Matchmaking has always been pretty good in The Division, and there's rarely been a time when I haven't been able to find a squad to take on more difficult content. But having a little NPC backup certainly doesn't hurt. And I think in Echoes of Central Park we're going to need it.

Echoes of Central Park really does feel like The Division at its very best

I can't pass a full judgment yet, because, like everyone else, I haven't seen the whole thing, and I haven't taken this new darker path to its conclusion.

But what I have played has left me in no doubt that this looks like being the best expansion to The Division 2 to date. It feels familiar enough not to try and reinvent the wheel, but it's going down a different path to the narrative up to this point.

I love that you feel like a superhero saving what's left of humanity as an Agent of The Division. But I love even more that Echoes of Central Park makes you feel vulnerable. Something is going on that we haven't experienced before. It's going to be tough, and it's going to be terrifying.

That hooks you from the first moment, and since I played, I've been racking my brains trying to come up with an idea of what's actually going on. I've got nowhere. But I cannot wait until it releases and I can see where this new, darker story is taking us.

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GameSir controllers have been getting quite a bit of attention of late, including the Tarantula 8K. Much of it is unfounded claims of "cheating" when, in truth, a GameSir controller can be customized in much the same way as many competing pro-grade controllers.

But that's not the topic of discussion for today. The focus is firmly on the GameSir Tarantula 8K, a controller that packs the same sort of spec sheet as more established brands with a far more attractive price.

That's not an exaggeration, either. At $70 right now, the GameSir Tarantula 8K is priced in the same ballpark as Microsoft's limited-edition Xbox 25 controller and runs rings around it. There are caveats; for one, this isn't for console, it's a PC controller, and it's wired. But honestly, I opened the box not knowing what to expect, and it didn't take long to be impressed. The GameSir Tarantula 8K is one of the best controllers I've ever used.

GameSir Tarantula 8K specs

A PlayStation-esque design packed with the latest tech

Gamers who outright don't like the side-by-side analog stick design will for sure be disappointed to see it here. But try to look beyond that, because it's not the defining feature. The overall form factor is very reminiscent of a Sony DualShock, but I think it works well. Especially for smaller hands such as my own.

For the basics, it ticks all the right boxes. The rear buttons are exactly in the right spot, everything is reachable without ever feeling like you're stretching, and all the main controls feel glorious. I also love that those rear buttons can be locked, so if you physically don't want them to press, they won't. You have support for multiple profiles on the controller, but if you quickly want to disable the rear buttons, you can.

The face buttons have mouse switches beneath them so you get a positive response and a satisfying click. The triggers, too, when the stops are engaged, are also mouse switches. This type of tech isn't new to me; I've been using Razer's controllers that take a similar approach. But, again, this is an affordable controller.

There are also a frankly absurd number of customizable buttons on the Tarantula 8K. Besides the two on the back, there are four on the face of the controller and an additional two extra bumper controls, as well as the black part that says "GameSir".

These are in addition to the dedicated start, menu, and capture buttons and the GameSir logo button, which will launch the Xbox Game Bar quick switcher to jump in and out of games and launchers quickly.

Then we get to the sticks (there's no time to catch your breath). As you'd hope on a pro-grade controller, the sticks are TMR, so stick drift is no concern, and they're good. They're smooth, and the stock thumbcaps are nice. I typically go for a concave design, which these are not, but they feel like a hybrid. The edges are textured and raised above a convex surface, and I think it's my new favorite design.

As the name implies, too, the Tarantula 8K supports 8,000 Hz polling, with options to restrict it to 250 Hz, 1,000 Hz, and 4,000 Hz. An 8,000 Hz polling rate is still overkill (at least I think), but it's there. Generally I'm running at 4,000 Hz in Call of Duty (which still seems to be all I play), and overall I've not noticed any difference. But importantly, it feels every bit as fast and responsive as my Razer Wolverine V3 Pro 8K, which is about the best controller I've ever used. High praise for the Tarantula 8K.

Testing that 8,000 Hz claim also bears fruit using the Gamepadla Polling tool to test. It has no problem hitting or getting very close to that magic number connected to a USB 3.2 port on my motherboard.

As when I tested the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro 8K, it's advisable if you have a desktop PC to connect it directly to the motherboard if you're chasing the highest performance. The USB ports on the front of my PC case may say they're USB 3.2, but once again, the controller doesn't report quite the same polling rates connected to these.

A word on the weight, too. It's very light at just 180 g, and that's largely down to an absence of any haptics or rumble motors. If you want vibrations, you have no option at all, but the benefit is that it's an extremely lightweight controller.

As it's targeted at competitive players that typically won't have vibration turned on anyway, I don't see this as a drawback, but if you also dabble in, say, racing games, be aware you won't have any feedback.

Plenty of customization through an easy-to-use app

The software is where the recent talk of "built-in cheats" started coming from, and I've addressed that already in a post. There was a feature originally that interfered with rotational aim assist in Apex Legends, and that has since been removed. And yes, you can get really in the weeds, customize your curves, and extract every last drop of performance from this controller.

But for us average players, it's just nice to have these features, to have customizable profiles, and things we can tweak in an app that doesn't take a degree in computing to understand.

The app is where you set up your customized keybindings; you can tweak how you want the triggers to respond, the lighting, all that jazz. Additionally, if, somehow, there aren't enough buttons on the Tarantula 8K for you, you can use the Shift Layer to add even more.

Importantly, you don't need the app. Once you've set everything up, you can save it to the controller and then use the M button on the rear in conjunction with a direction on the right stick to cycle between your profiles. If you don't want to change anything, you don't ever have to open it once; it'll work right out of the box.

But without using the app, you'll be locked to a 250 Hz polling rate, and you won't be able to update the firmware. So it's worth getting, but it doesn't sit there running in the background or anything. Open it up, make your changes, close it, and go play your games. That simple.

Is there anything not to like about the GameSir Tarantula 8K

The Tarantula 8K is worthy of high praise, but there are still a couple of bits that I'm not so keen on. The first is the grip, because it's not very grippy. It's ever so slightly textured plastic, and it's just enough to get grubby the more you use it, but it doesn't actually feel like it really helps me grip the controller better.

The same applies to the triggers and bumpers. There's the slightest texture, and I don't dislike it, but it also seems like it just gets grubby over providing any real benefit in use.

The extra bumper buttons are also very close to the traditional bumpers. As in close enough to just avoid touching. If you don't want to use these, then you won't see a problem, but for the purposes of testing, I remapped the X button (reload in Call of Duty).

It's a button I typically map to the rear, but since there are only two buttons to use here, I tried the extra right-hand bumper instead. And when I tell you that I've accidentally thrown a grenade instead of reloading my weapon on several occasions, you'll understand why I think they're a little close together.

It's just too easy to press one over the other in the heat of gameplay. Likewise, when I want to throw a grenade, I have on occasion reloaded my weapon instead.

I'd also like an option that isn't orange to choose from for the color. But that's just personal preference.

The GameSir Tarantula 8K puts the industry on notice

When you look at the package GameSir has put together here for $70 it's pretty mindblowing and should put the industry on notice. I'm particularly looking at Xbox here, too, because the standard Xbox controller still sells for a price that is now no longer acceptable for the hardware inside it.

It's inexcusable in 2026 not to at least have Hall Effect sticks in a time when a company like GameSir is pushing out a fully capable professional-grade controller with 8,000 Hz, TMR sticks, mouse switches, and all this goodness, and Xbox is still phoning it in with ancient tech.

I've used GameSir controllers over the years, and the G7 SE was my most recent, and I very much enjoyed it. Once again it was a budget price controller with not-budget specs. The Tarantula 8K is the same story. Right now, there's really nothing more I could expect inside a high-end controller, yet this one is priced like a budget model.

If you're on Xbox, there is a dedicated version of the Tarantula, albeit not exactly the same, and it tops out at 1,000 Hz on PC. Additionally, if you prefer the Xbox-style layout but still want an 8K-capable controller, GameSir has the G7 Pro for you.

GameSir deserves a seat at the table with the likes of Razer and Scuf. The Tarantula 8K is that good, and you should absolutely buy one if you're looking for a competitive controller for PC.

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Xbox players have long wanted an answer to PlayStation's Platinum Trophy, something to chase that rewards achievement hunters for getting them all.

We're finally getting that, and thanks to some poking around in the latest version of the Xbox app on Windows 11, we've got some new information to go on.

For one, the badge and the sound that plays when it unlocks have now been seen (and heard) for the first time.

I think it looks pretty good. I mean, it's just a little icon, after all, but I think the design is certainly a little fancier than PlayStation's equivalent, which is just a trophy.

Xbox hasn't publicly detailed anything as yet around the Mythic Achievement and its requirements, but it was always assumed we'd be getting something that rewards for completing all the achievements attached to a game.

The folks at XCT.live have been poking around inside the bits of the app we mere mortals never see and appear to have extracted some key bits of information on how the new Mythic Achievement will work. Crucially, it doesn't look to be a fully 100% requirement, isolating any achievements linked to DLC outside of the Mythic unlock process:

"The Xbox app works out Mythic from a group of achievements that it calls BaseGame. The unlock toast says “Unlocked all N achievements in the original game”. The game page has a “Required for Mythic achievement” filter, and it labels every achievement outside the group as “Add-on”. DLC achievements are not in the BaseGame group, so they do not count. The app counts achievements, not Gamerscore. It is not a “100% Gamerscore” reward."

Code in the app indicates that it is not a 100% Gamerscore requirement, either. It counts achievements within the BaseGame group, not the associated Gamerscore. So it sounds like if you start a game that had more achievements added over time, you'll still be able to get the Mythic Achievement by hitting all the original ones, not having to get all of the new ones as well.

Hopefully it's also retroactively applied to games that you've already completed the requirements for. Either way, it looks like it's beginning to gather steam, and hopefully we'll see it for ourselves sooner rather than later.

What's the first game you'll be trying to get the Mythic Achievement for? It's got to be here in time for GTA 6, hasn't it?

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The echo chamber on the internet would have you believe that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was a horrible game. After many hundreds of hours playing, I don't agree with that, at least not entirely. Like most games, it has its good points and its bad points.

But as we're approaching yet another yearly cycle with Modern Warfare 4 arriving next month, once again it's time for opinions to be voiced around how the franchise should become "good" again.

For many, it's a return to the glory days of multiplayer. There are those who believe that Warzone should be completely split off as its own thing, too, and not tied to the yearly release. And plenty more besides.

But on the Warzone front, I agree, and a video I watched by dkdynamite on YouTube takes this idea and applies it to Zombies. There are so many different experiences under Call of Duty these days, but I'm not so sure this approach of making one game to suit everyone is working.

I think it's time that parties from Microsoft/Xbox and Activision get their respective heads together and think long and hard about what the road ahead looks like. I think that road should be a break up of Call of Duty.

Break up Call of Duty? What do you mean?

The traditional core of Call of Duty is the campaign and the multiplayer. As the years have passed, though, Zombies has grown to be a huge part of the game's audience, and of course, there's Warzone. The free-to-play battle royale mode that I personally think has infected too much of the main game.

Using Black Ops 7 as an example, there has been a ridiculous amount of content to play. Beyond the core campaign and multiplayer, there's an extensive Zombies mode, there's Endgame, and there have been limited-time modes and special events across all three, and Warzone is there on the side with its own batch of content.

There are players who will dive into each mode, but it's impossible to do so fully in a year. For many of us, the camo grind and calling card challenges draw us in long enough to complete them, and then we'll go back to our preferred mode.

Zombies players are the best example right now, because after five consecutive Call of Duty releases with Zombies (of some form), Modern Warfare 4 is arriving without. So what's attracting those players to Modern Warfare 4 for the next year? Aside from the campaign, there's a grand total of zero content (at least confirmed for now) of a PvE nature in Modern Warfare 4. DMZ has PvP, with no sign so far of a dedicated PvE mode.

This is why I think it's time to stop the cycle and start breaking apart the various aspects of Call of Duty. Does that mean a standalone Zombies game that runs alongside but is separated from a yearly release or multiple yearly releases? Does that mean Warzone is just Warzone and does its own thing? DMZ getting more than a year of live support and continuing into 2028 or beyond?

Yes to all. I sure wish Black Ops 7 Endgame was getting a second year.

Trying to please everyone pleases no one

Sure, it would require a significant shift and some reorganization, but Call of Duty is owned by Microsoft, one of the biggest companies on the planet.

But the current yearly cycle isn't pleasing anyone. Warzone players are peeved that every year their game gets changed based on whatever that year's main release is. Zombies players now have nothing new until at least next year, or 2028, when Treyarch returns. Multiplayer fans are constantly aggravated by something.

There are so many plates spinning.

There's no way that the yearly release cycle will end, no matter how many of us think it should. The money has to keep rolling in. But I argue that happy players are players who spend money on a game, whatever form that takes.

Call of Duty is big enough that it could be a collection of games, not just one. Give us a new multiplayer every year and a new campaign. But how about a standalone PvE game based on Zombies that lives for multiple years alongside it?

The problem is I feel, and I'm sure I'm not alone, that the cycle and every game is built with the top priority being monetization, not getting people to play and enjoy playing. We saw it with the price increase to Game Pass post-Black Ops 6 and when that didn't work out, the subsequent removal of Call of Duty from being a day-one Game Pass release.

The revenue took a dive because people were jumping in on Game Pass, not paying $80 whether they played it for a week or a year, on top of any additional microtransactions. So it's off Game Pass.

Would it not be better to have more dedicated experiences for players to enjoy for longer? Give teams a focus, time to breathe, and time to work their magic and focus on making and supporting games that players want to play, rather than keep tolerating.

Older Call of Duty games prove this could work

People will stick around. They will keep playing older Call of Duty games. I recently tried Modern Warfare 3 Zombies for the first time in my life, and it's still stacked with players.

Black Ops Cold War is now on Game Pass, which has brought a lot of us back in, but there are plenty who never stopped.

Lest we forget the recent Black Ops and Black Ops 2 ports on PS5. How popular they have been despite their issues.

The point is that a good experience lasts, and players will stick around playing it. So instead of getting to a point where everyone's tired of the current game and goes back to the older ones, how about we just build longer-lasting experiences to begin with? I think part of why the older games still hold up is because we don't really appreciate them until they're in the rearview mirror and we have more time to take it all in.

Don't expect Warzone players to play multiplayer or Zombies. Don't expect either of those two types of players to want to play Warzone. Hell, if casual mode didn't exist, I wouldn't have done the mastery camo. Even then it was 65 hours of misery because I just don't like Warzone. But give each type of player their own bespoke experience.

Give each mode the space, and importantly, the time, to breathe. From the creation to post-launch support.

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Alongside the new, and honestly quite epic-looking, campaign trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 that was released during the Xbox Tokyo Game Show presentation, we have some comments on the future of one of Microsoft's crown jewels.

Underneath the X post publishing the trailer on the official Call of Duty account, Modern Warfare 4 players are invited to "witness the epic conclusion".

The latest game does indeed follow Modern Warfare 3 and the storyline first introduced when the franchise was rebooted back in 2019, and all signs point to this being the final entry in a now quadrilogy.

You could read into this however you wish. It's obviously bringing the current series to a close, but does Modern Warfare still have a future as a franchise?

What we do at least know is that Call of Duty 2027 is being made by Sledgehammer Games, and we're anticipating a new sub-series, the first in six years by that point from Sledgehammer last introducing the newness that was Vanguard.

I think now is the time to draw the curtain on both Modern Warfare and Black Ops, in all honesty. Since 2019 we've had four Modern Warfare games, three Black Ops games, and Vanguard.

The complaints will never go away, though, whatever Call of Duty does. But I genuinely think that Modern Warfare and Black Ops fatigue, even if subconscious, is partly at fault. By October 23, these two series will have resulted in 14 of the 23 total Call of Duty games we've had.

Business-wise, it's easy to see why. The likes of Ghosts, Advanced Warfare, and Infinite Warfare weren't as well received, nor were WW2 or Vanguard. But I'm convinced now that we've played more than enough Modern Warfare and Black Ops for a while. Unless the original Black Ops games are to get remakes, I don't think we need to see it again for some time after back-to-back years.

And that's the other thing. The last five years have seen back-to-back Modern Warfare titles, then back-to-back Black Ops titles, before going back to Modern Warfare again. They're clearly the most successful by a number of metrics, but it isn't going to last forever.

I do think there's an element of rose-tinted glasses, too. Modern Warfare (2019) is looked upon very highly, but we also need to remember that it, and Warzone that came in the same year, was around at a time we were all locked indoors with nothing to do. Personally, I didn't take to the all-new Modern Warfare coming after Black Ops 4 and ended up having some time away from playing Call of Duty entirely.

Treyarch has already teased that the studio is ready to make "something new and something that nobody's ever experienced before" when it comes back around to its turn for Call of Duty in a couple of years.

I will close, though, by saying that I have (mostly) enjoyed Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, and the latter I don't think is deserving of a lot of the negativity thrown its way. But it is time for something new, something that isn't Black Ops or Modern Warfare, and frankly, something that doesn't feel like it's built entirely to provide a platform for Warzone.

What that looks like only time will tell, but if Microsoft wants to keep its golden goose going strong, it needs to take some risks. I'm already of the mind that not putting Modern Warfare 4 on Game Pass is going to affect its player count, especially given GTA 6 launches less than a month later. I guess we'll see what happens.

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I am chuckling a little at this, because among all the discourse around physical media of late, I feel like Rockstar Games just threw out an almighty troll.

GTA 6 will, of course, only be available digitally. Even if you buy it from a third-party retailer, you're only getting a download code inside the case. You can put it in your collection with your other physical games, but there's nothing inside.

Today, though, Rockstar has announced there is some physical media coming for fans and collectors. Except, no, it hasn't done a massive U-turn. But you can buy a copy of the GTA 6 soundtrack to listen to and keep forever.

I'm not belittling the fact that the GTA 6 soundtrack is getting a physical release. I love that it is. GTA games usually have outstanding soundtracks thanks to the variety of radio stations you can listen to. And my love of physical media doesn't just cover games.

Better still, you'll be able to get it on both CD and vinyl, with two versions of the latter including a significantly more expensive limited edition release. This one seems to have some exclusive artwork, as well as "transparent magenta discs filled with blue liquid."

That should look pretty trippy as it goes around on your turntable.

It's hard not to see a troll in this, though, too. GTA 6 is going to be one of the biggest game launches in the history of game launches, and merchandise of all kinds will be part of that.

But given the stance regarding digital vs physical for the game, the irony isn't lost that the same doesn't apply to the soundtrack. Even if it existing is a good thing.

Some of the artists and tracks teased so far include:

• Yung Lean - That's It (feat. Future & Metro Boomin)
• Travis Scott - RHYNO (prod. by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo)
• CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso, PinkPantheress, Fred again.., & Etienne de Crécy - Sexy Magic
• Morgan Wallen - Last Thing You Need
• Rauw Alejandro - Macacoa 2000
• Keith Richards - Bright Lights, Big City

If you want a copy of your own, you can pre-order it now on Rockstar's new dedicated store, with shipping expected on November 20. Will you be picking one up?

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It's that time of year again where a new Call of Duty is on the horizon and the existing game has been played so much that older titles in the franchise get wheeled out for a dose of nostalgia and a change of pace.

With an Xbox Game Pass subscription, that's even easier. In my case, I've been checking out a couple of previous Call of Duty games I originally skipped for various reasons. The first being Black Ops Cold War, the latest to join Game Pass, and now, Modern Warfare 3.

Except, in a change of pace, I haven't touched multiplayer, nor the campaign, not yet, anyway. My YouTube feed was filling up with folks playing Modern Warfare 3 Zombies (also referred to as MWZ), and it looked very much like my jam. So I installed it and jumped right in.

How have I not played this before? Zombies purists may look upon this take on the franchise very differently, but I'm the furthest thing from that. Traditionally I love open-world games, looter shooters, and experiences with a big sandbox to explore and find things to do with rewards to chase. It's why I love The Division 2 so much.

I'm hooked. Instantly hooked. A good chunk of my time in Black Ops 7 has been spent in the Endgame mode, with its lighter take on an extraction shooter proving to be a lot of fun. MWZ is also a PvE-exclusive extraction shooter; it came a couple of years before Black Ops 7, and I think it's actually better.

MWZ feels less daunting as a newcomer over more classic Call of Duty Zombies experiences

Don't get me wrong, I totally get why people love Zombies. All told, I should be one of them. PvE gameplay is always my preference, and the whole idea of the easter egg quests, the continued storyline that's crossed multiple games, and the replay value ticks the right kind of boxes.

But I've never really played the mode for whatever reason, and the round-based gameplay does feel a little daunting to me. The way the difficulty keeps ramping up is a good challenge to have, but I can also see how it could be off-putting to newcomers and more casual players.

Like Black Ops 7 Endgame, MWZ lets you play entirely at your own pace. Eventually you'll need to go into the higher-tier threat level zones, but you decide when. While you're getting to grips with the mode, as I have been doing, you can just run around in tier 1.

Getting used to the map, the gameplay, doing the Act 1 missions, and raising your Containment Level to make life simpler when you do decide to take on the more difficult parts.

What I also really like as a new player is that thanks to the scale of the Urzikstan map over a more traditional round-based Zombies map, it's easier to get out of trouble. The trap I always fall into any time I try Zombies is getting boxed in, and it's game over. MWZ has the added bonus that even without a Self Revive equipped, other players in your match can pick you back up, even if they're not in your squad.

It's not easy, but it does feel more approachable. And if you ever played Warzone on Urzikstan, you'll already feel at home on the map.

MWZ also has a series of story missions to progress through that you don't have to figure out for yourself like a traditional easter egg. There still are easter eggs to complete if you wish, but there's a more linear story you can also follow in the different Acts, with smaller side missions to progress through before hitting the final story mission.

I don't think it's "hand-holding," but I do appreciate being pointed in the right direction without needing to follow a YouTube video.

I love the loot system in Modern Warfare 3 Zombies

As a looter-shooter kind of guy at heart, I really like the way that your gear is handled in MWZ. In traditional round-based Zombies, you can build a loadout, but you're starting from scratch every game.

In MWZ, if you've managed to extract with the right gear, you can use it right away to juice yourself up for more difficult content right out of the chopper.

I've barely scratched the surface so far, but already I've built up a stash of Aetherium Crystals to avoid needing to use the Pack-a-Punch machine (and save my points for something else) as well as getting my hands on the schematics for some of the perks.

The cooldown on using the Schematics adds an element of planning to the equation, but already as a total noob I can drop in with a couple of useful perks, as well as any I managed to extract from a previous run.

As a not-very-good Zombies player, one of the things I always seem to struggle with the most is managing my points with how many different things you have to use them for. MWZ doesn't rely as heavily on them when you get rolling and build up a good stash.

But also as a looter-shooter fan, I love that in MWZ you actually have a loot chase. There's a ton of stuff to acquire, and thanks to RNG, plenty of reasons to keep replaying, chasing the items. It's a different experience from the traditional Call of Duty grind, where the focus is on Camos and Calling Card challenges.

It's also pretty fantastic that you can literally start at level 1 and get your hands on weapons that, in multiplayer, you wouldn't get access to until you unlock them at their relevant levels. I'm running around with a WSP Swarm right now (and have already done some of its Camo challenges) that I still haven't reached the right level for.

Living proof PvE content in Call of Duty is worth having

While I have enjoyed Black Ops 7 in Endgame, dipping into MWZ immediately made me think of the upcoming DMZ mode in Modern Warfare 4.

There is no Zombies this year, be it round-based or an MWZ-type experience. There's nothing. The continual focus of Call of Duty is on its bread and butter: multiplayer and Warzone.

Zombies has always proved that PvE has a place in Call of Duty, and Endgame was a decent experiment with Black Ops 7, too. But DMZ in Modern Warfare 4 is planned as a PvPvE experience, always throwing in the chance that other real-world players will spoil your fun.

And let's face it, this is Call of Duty; it will absolutely fill up with sweats that have no mission beyond wiping out as many players as possible.

We're seeing the thirst for purely PvE play elsewhere, too. Bungie is adding a PvE-only mode to its own extraction shooter, Marathon. There's plenty of us out there that want to enjoy these types of experiences without wanting to be on edge constantly waiting for a PvP demon who exists just to ruin your day.

It's why in my 1,000 or so hours in The Division 2, probably 6 of those have been spent in the Dark Zone. If I want PvP, I play multiplayer.

So I hope that it's at least a consideration down the line to add a PvE mode to DMZ in Modern Warfare 4. It's the mode I'm pinning most of my hopes on, but if it ends up turning into Warzone lite, it'll get dropped.

It's a typically 'me' thing to do discovering games years later that I actually really enjoy, and that's the same here. I haven't touched Modern Warfare 3's campaign or multiplayer modes at all. Only Zombies.

Being on Xbox Game Pass makes it easy enough to try. Even if you're not into Zombies, it's worth giving a go if you skipped it in the past and you like open-world looter-type games.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War recently joined Xbox Game Pass, and as such, there's an influx of folks who haven't played before. That goes for me, too, having played only a small amount back in 2020 on the PS4.

If you're on console, it's mostly OK. But on PC there are some issues, one of which is a problem with textures not rendering properly. Sometimes it'll look blocky, others the sky won't render in at all, and when it happens, it looks like you're playing a PS1 game. Horrible.

It turns out this has been an issue pretty much always on PC, and given it's a six-year-old game, it's unlikely to get a patch to fix it. General consensus is that it suffers from a memory leak, and while I would expect Microsoft to make sure new arrivals on Game Pass aren't broken, let's face it, it's not happening.

It affects all game modes, so even if you only jump into the Campaign and Zombies, you're going to see it eventually.

Many attribute the issue to AMD graphics, but I've seen it on NVIDIA, too, and no amount of trying different drivers makes a difference. There is no fix, but there are some workarounds you can employ that can help it happen less often. You may not need all of them, but some of these have worked for me.

1. Reduce your settings to medium and don't use the high resolution textures

It's an older game, and it doesn't look as crisp as Black Ops 7 or the upcoming Modern Warfare 4. It's best to just accept this, and even though you may well be able to run it maxed out (I certainly can on an RTX 5090), dropping the settings is one way to help reduce the texture issue. Create less strain on the system.

The other thing to do is to make sure you're not trying to use the HD texture pack. In my experience it doesn't make that much difference, anyway. But having this enabled prompted texture issues in every single game for me; turning it off and going down to medium, it rarely happens now.

The HD texture pack can't be removed if you're playing on Game Pass (and is part of the reason the game is so ridiculously large in size), so just make sure you're not using it.

2. Tweak your targeted VRAM usage

In the graphics settings you have an option to tell the game what target to aim for regarding VRAM usage.

One step you can take to try and help with texture issues is dropping this down, especially if you don't have mountains of it to spare. I appreciate that while I'm using 32GB VRAM, most aren't, and it's a more precious commodity.

For most, 80% should be good. It's not a magic fix, but it's worth trying anyway.

3. Turn off upscaling

For me, it was the combination of turning off DLSS along with dropping the settings to medium that had the most impact. I didn't realise DLSS was even enabled at first, but I've had the least texture issues since turning it off.

It also means you have to turn off any ray tracing effects, which is fine; you don't need that anyway.

Black Ops Cold War isn't the most demanding game out there; after all, it is from 2020. If you have a GPU from the last decade, you should be fine without relying on upscaling.

If it does start to chug a little, you can play with the render resolution to try and overcome it. But turning off the upscaler seems to have been an important step for me, at least on NVIDIA.

I spent a good amount of time trying to see if anyone had a fix for the texture issues in Black Ops Cold War, and there's also talk out there regarding page files and other configuration changes that I didn't feel comfortable messing with unless it was a last resort.

Fortunately, the combination of dropping the graphics settings and turning off the upscaling has mitigated it to the point that where it once happened multiple times an hour, I can now play for multiple hours at a time and not see it happen once.

It's also worth making sure you're not using your GPU for anything else while playing. If you're watching video content on the side, make sure you turn off hardware acceleration (in Chrome and Edge this can be done in the flags), or just don't have anything else open to be safe.

It'd be nice for Microsoft/Activision to get a patch out since the game just got added to Game Pass and a bunch of people are experiencing it for the first time. The ancient version of Modern Warfare 2 on PC just got patched to fix exploits, so you never know. I think they have a duty of care to make sure games being offered are in a good place.

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Additionally, we know that Warzone will be shutting down on Xbox One and PS4 when the final Black Ops 7 season ends, as those platforms won't be getting Modern Warfare 4 or its Warzone integration.

So it stands to reason that the Warzone Modern Warfare 4 update will come as that season ends. Season 06 began on September 17, and based on the timer on the Battle Pass it looks to expire on November 4.

Note, this is all speculation right now. But we can see when the final Black Ops 7 season is going to end, but we won't know for sure until Activision confirms a date for the start of Season 1 in Modern Warfare 4.

We did get an early look at the Modern Warfare 4 update to Warzone in the recent open beta, which showcased the new Zodiac Resurgence map.

Beyond this we don't really know a whole lot about how Warzone will look in a Modern Warfare 4 world, but there's still some time left yet to fill in the blanks.

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Given that everyone will be starting Modern Warfare 4 from zero, now is a good time to stop using up any 2XP tokens you currently have on your account. They'll be far more beneficial giving you a boost in the new game if you're going to play it.

We don't yet know exactly what the Prestige system looks like in Modern Warfare 4, but there's going to be plenty of leveling to do, and those 2XP tokens will make life a lot speedier in the new game.

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Do I get to keep my old weapons, operators, and blueprints in Warzone when Modern Warfare 4 launches?

The exception to carry forward is Warzone, where traditionally older weapons, their attached blueprints, and unlocked camos are still usable in the battle royale modes. Likewise, previously unlocked operators and their skins can also be used.

It's highly unlikely that Black Ops 7 items would be removed given that it's the most current game at this point, so you can still go ahead and unlock battle pass rewards or spend COD Points and use those items in Warzone when it migrates to Modern Warfare 4.

There's no confirmed date for this yet, but the current best guess is mid-November, when we expect the final Black Ops 7 season to end.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on all platforms on Friday, October 23, 2026. Players who pre-order the game digitally on any platform will have early access to play the campaign a week prior on Friday, October 16.

Modern Warfare 4 will not be on Xbox Game Pass at launch. Based on Microsoft's previous statements, it's not expected to join Game Pass until October 2027 at the earliest.

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We've already had the Modern Warfare 4 beta weekends at the time of writing this post, so the next chance for anyone to play will be the early access period.

During this window, only the campaign will be playable. Anyone hoping to get a head start on the multiplayer camo grind will have to wait until the general release date.

The early access period does at least give players a chance to clear the campaign before full release. though, leaving the floor clear to jump right into multiplayer and DMZ.

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• Xbox Series X|S / Xbox on PC (supports Xbox Play Anywhere)
• PS5
• Steam
• Battle.net
• Nintendo

It's also worth a reminder that unlike Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, Modern Warfare 4 will not be on Xbox Game Pass at launch. The only way to play early is to pre-order. Modern Warfare 4 isn't currently expected in Game Pass until October 2027 at the earliest.

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Ah, social media, the place where misinformation can fly around at breakneck speed, all supported by "experts". The latest case? GameSir controllers.

This one has gathered so much steam that the company has chosen to respond or has used the opportunity to turn it into a brilliant marketing campaign. You be the judge.

Why all the hullabaloo? On a recent stream, Call of Duty pro players were heard discussing GameSir controllers and the idea of "GA-ing them" from the Modern Warfare 4 season of the Call of Duty League. Because of features that amount to "built-in cheats".

It seemed like a fairly obvious troll to me and to many others. These were guys on a stream just shooting the breeze, and it smells like a troll a mile off. Call of Duty pro-players are notorious for using a GA to avoid using most of the weapons in any Call of Duty during pro play in order to provide as level a playing field as possible.

But the idea of GA-ing a controller is ludicrous, but then the internet did its thing. You can see GameSir's statement posted to X below.

Anyone who has ever used a GameSir controller can tell you that it's farcical someone could suggest it comes with built-in cheats. There's no magic button that suddenly gives you no recoil in an FPS game. You still have to do that yourself. Believe me, I know. I'm still just as terrible.

That's not to say GameSir hasn't had some trouble in recent times. It removed a feature, the RC filter, because it was (unintentionally) always allowing rotational aim assist in Apex Legends and was banned from official competitions. But the company responded and took the feature away. It wasn't designed to 'cheat' but it was an unfortunate side effect.

GameSir has been responding on social media to some of these posts in a more casual manner, but it's the internet; people will keep talking. So there's an official response, and with it, I think, a genius marketing move.

I actually think that if some of the pro players put down their current controllers, in many cases a Scuf or a Razer — sometimes linked to sponsorship — and they tried a GameSir, they'd be surprised.

I'm currently trying out the Tarantula 8K, and I can confirm that it doesn't give you cheats. It gives you a lot of features to customize, but so do competing brands. The difference here is this controller is $80, and right now, I'm picking it up every time over my much more expensive Razer Wolverine V3 Pro 8K. A controller I reviewed and called an "unfair advantage".

A full review on that will be coming soon. But this is another example of not believing everything you see on the internet, especially if the source is "pRoGaMeR619" or "trust me bro." But if you get one of GameSir's latest controllers, you're getting an incredible package at the sort of price that should put the industry on notice.

Everyone's always looking for an edge. In gaming, you want the best hardware your budget allows for. Be it a higher frame rate, a fast mouse, keyboard, controller, the best display. It's not cheating. Is it cheating when a race car driver wants to be using the best equipment? Let's not be silly now.

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I almost entirely skipped 2020's Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. I'd pretty much done the same with 2019's Modern Warfare because at the time, I wasn't feeling the new look and feel after Black Ops 4.

I didn't actually get any kind of mojo back until the launch of Black Ops 6, helped in large part because of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision, and the arrival of Call of Duty into Xbox Game Pass.

The back catalog has gradually joined, too, and going forward, it'll only be a back catalog since the new games won't join for a year. While I do fear for how that decision (among other things) will affect Modern Warfare 4 and its player count, subscribers still have a smorgasboard of older games to enjoy.

Black Ops Cold War is the latest addition, having joined Xbox Game Pass this week as I write this. So I installed it, because I can, and I spent an evening playing it. What a breath of fresh air. Having just completed, finally, the gruelling Singularity Mastery Camo on Black Ops 7 in the sweatiest lobbies of all time, Black Ops Cold War feels so good.

Importantly, it feels fun. As much as I may have played the last two Call of Duty games, I can't always say it's been fun. Maybe it's the 'no pressure' environment of not actually trying to do anything. Not chasing unlocks, filling battle passes, or completing challenges to get the new items that I apparently need, but never use. It feels low commitment, and it feels absolutely fantastic.

The slower pace of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is perfect for more casual players

I'll admit, I don't hate the movement in Black Ops 6 or Black Ops 7, but it is pretty outrageous. The term "movement demon" is one us less sweaty players fear, and every lobby in the current game seems to have multiple.

While there's a satisfaction to flying, sliding, and wall bouncing around the map, it feels like hard work, and it's hard work to play against. Black Ops Cold War has a slower pace; there's no wall bouncing, no Omnimovement, just a run and fairly basic slide. Being an average player that can kinda sorta aim decently well, I feel like I can actually compete.

Positioning, map knowledge, and tactics feel like they have more of an impact in Black Ops Cold War compared to Black Ops 7. In the current game the movement and the pace make it so, if you're capable, you can just fly around and rely on this to get you out of trouble. Or to make trouble for the opponents.

I played a bunch of objective modes in Black Ops Cold War, and every match felt like where I positioned myself mattered. Breaking into hardpoints took a measured approach and actually aiming, rather than just bouncing around. Even Nuketown doesn't feel like a miserable experience, and that's saying a lot.

The weapons look and feel good, and the camo grind is a different type of challenge

The gunplay in Black Ops Cold War is obviously different from the two most recent Black Ops titles, and I think it's better. It's closer to how Modern Warfare feels, which, traditionally, I wasn't much of a fan of.

Maybe it's old age, but I like it better this way.

To say it's from 2020, the weapons look great and still hold up today. The sound also feels better, like you're firing an actual weapon. It's loud.

Going back to an older Call of Duty also highlights the difference in the camo grind to what we've had the last couple of years. I don't think I'm bothering, but compared to the all headshots, then specials, then multikill challenges we've had to do in order in Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, I think this is still a better way.

Once a weapon is leveled high enough, you can progress multiple categories at the same time. You can get those Bloodthirsty medals alongside the long shots, headshots, and general eliminations, for example. I just finished doing the three Bloodthirsty's per weapon 30 times in Black Ops 7, and it's exhausting. Working on it earlier seems like it'd be better.

The overall aesthetic is really nice, too. I love the 80's theme, and while graphically the textures on some maps do definitely look old, some others look really good.

The BIG problem: Black Ops Cold War will eat up your PC or Xbox storage

We're used to Call of Duty being a storage hog, but this is a game from 2020, detached from Warzone, and it's absolutely gigantic.

On Xbox you're looking at 158 GB (according to the store listing), and the "Windows Edition" on PC takes up a whopping 220 GB, including the high-res texture pack. A pack you seemingly on this version cannot play without.

That's more than the current Call of Duty launcher is taking up on my PC, and that at least also has Warzone installed. There's nothing we can do about it, and they're certainly not going to try and shrink down a six-year-old game, but you'll need a lot of space to be able to play it.

I'm at the point now where I think I'm mostly done with Black Ops 7. There's a couple of things I want to finish still, like the Endgame 100% since I've only got two challenges left, but a new game is coming soon.

While I'm feeling better about it after the beta than before, I'm still up in the air over whether it's going to be worth playing longer term.

But I haven't even touched the Campaign or Zombies in Black Ops Cold War yet, and I'm actively looking forward to playing the game again. Maybe this will be the Call of Duty to scratch the itch until Modern Warfare 4 comes out.

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If you're not a keen follower of the AI space, then the name Hugging Face may not mean anything to you. But the company has just been acquired by NVIDIA, which continues to reinforce its new identity as an AI company.

Announced today by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, Hugging Face will be joining the company in an acquisition priced at just under $13 billion.

Hugging Face is an open platform that has been likened to GitHub, except for local, open AI models that anyone can use. NVIDIA's plans are to keep Hugging Face the same as it is today but to scale. Because if you're not scaling AI these days, what are you even doing?

"Hugging Face will remain an open platform for the entire AI ecosystem. Developers will choose the models they want, the frameworks they want, the clouds and inference service providers they want and the computing platforms they want. NVIDIA compute will not be required to build on or deploy through Hugging Face.

Hugging Face will continue to support open source and open weight models from across the ecosystem, from every model builder. It will continue to support multi-cloud and multi-accelerator development and deployment, so builders can use the hardware and infrastructure that best fit their work."

Keeping personal opinions about AI aside, I'm certainly more in favor of real people being able to use AI models without having to rely on massive, un-evironmentally friendly data centers from the likes of Microsoft and OpenAI.

AI is very much here to stay, whether we choose to embrace it or not. But I'm definitely on the side of being able to use it however you want to use it and without feeding all your data to companies that don't necessarily deserve it.

NVIDIA is very much AI-first these days, though. Gone are the days we'd all look at its shiny new GPUs, and our only thoughts would be about gaming. It does make you ponder what the future holds for gamers, though.

I've got an RTX 5090, for example, and it's still overkill for gaming. But with 32GB of VRAM and a ton of compute horsepower, it's pretty damn good for local AI use. But is this where future products will be aligned first? Everything's getting more expensive, and AI is definitely to blame for a good chunk of it.

Alas, here we are. If you use Hugging Face currently, it doesn't sound like anything's going to change. But if you're a gaming customer of the company, as I am, I am starting to wonder how important we're going to be in the future.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is fast approaching now that the traditional yearly beta test is out of the way. Included for the first time this year was a look at the next iteration of Call of Duty: Warzone, the free-to-play battle royale that ties in with a current year's game.

It's bittersweet for folks still on an Xbox One or a PS4, though, because they weren't able to try out the new Zodiac map, and they're never going to, either.

Modern Warfare 4 will be the first Call of Duty title to drop support for Xbox One and PS4, and along with it, Warzone. The announcement was made back in June, but for now, the game is still playable.

That's going to change fairly soon, though. Here's what's already happened, what's going to happen, and crucially, when we think the final shutdown will happen.

Why is Call of Duty: Warzone on Xbox One and PS4 being shut down?

The simple answer is that Warzone is shutting down on Xbox One and PS4 because Modern Warfare 4 will not be on those platforms.

Despite Warzone being free-to-play without any requirement to own the latest Call of Duty game, crucially, it integrates with each year's new game.

As Modern Warfare 4 will be taking over from Black Ops 7, and it won't be supported on the last-gen consoles, Warzone will no longer be playable.

When do we think Call of Duty: Warzone is shutting down on Xbox One and PS4?

The official documentation states:

"Call of Duty: Warzone on PlayStation 4 and XBOX One will be available to play through the end of Season 06 for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7."

Activision hasn't given an exact date yet, but we can make an educated guess based on how the new games have rolled out in previous years.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will release on Friday, October 23, 2026. The assumption may be that this is when the Warzone shutdown will happen, but it's not that straightforward.

Traditionally, the Warzone integration doesn't go live when the new game launches. It follows on when Season 1 of said new game begins.

In the case of Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, Season 1 began 20 days post-launch of the game, and this is when Warzone was updated with the new game's integration. In the case of Modern Warfare III, it was actually almost a week longer.

We expect Season 06 to begin on September 17, given it's both a Thursday and the date the Season 05 battle pass expires. Unlike the jump from Black Ops 6 to Black Ops 7, where there was a month without a seasonal update, it looks like this year's transition will leave us with content right to the very end.

This year isn't an in-house transition like the past two Treyarch releases. Given how long the seasons in Black Ops 7 usually are, we could be looking at Season 06 ending after Modern Warfare 4 launches.

This means Xbox One and PS4 players could have until around November 12 to keep playing Warzone. But we'll know for sure once Season 06 begins when we can expect it to end.

But it wouldn't be crazy to assume that Black Ops 7, the Season 06 content, Battle Pass, and Warzone that is linked to it all could remain live this long. It would be about 20 days after the Modern Warfare 4 launch, too.

Can I still get Call of Duty: Warzone on Xbox One and PS4?

For now, you can only play Warzone on Xbox One or PS4 if you have previously added it to your library.

No new downloads are being offered on either console, but if you're a past player, you can still reinstall it and play until the shutdown date.

The store is also disabled now, despite showing up in the launcher. You're unable to spend anymore money or redeem COD Points.

What happens to all the stuff I've bought in Call of Duty: Warzone on Xbox One and PS4?

The in-game store has been closed for a while now, preventing players from spending real money via the Xbox One and PS4 versions.

But your purchases aren't disappearing. Because you have an Activision ID in order to play, all those purchases are tied to your account.

As such, if you log in on another platform at any time, you'll have everything there waiting for you.

I don't have an Xbox Series X|S, PS5, or gaming PC, so how can I keep playing Call of Duty: Warzone?

If you don't have more current hardware to move to or don't want to upgrade, you're all but out of options.

You do, however, have the ability to play Warzone via the cloud, either through Xbox Cloud Gaming or NVIDIA GeForce Now. The former, you can use on your Xbox One.

Is it the same experience? Not totally. The visuals and frame rate will certainly be an upgrade (especially on GeForce Now) but you do have to consider that you will have some additional latency concerns.

The game will be playing on a piece of hardware that's in someone else's building. While server latency in the game won't be too bad, you then have to stream the game to your own device. Cloud gaming has come a long way, though, and unless you're the absolute most competitive player, it might well be good enough.

The downside is that you're going to have to pay, even though NVIDIA does have a free tier. This one is limited to an hour's play, and you have no priority access, so if the servers are full, you'll be in a longer queue. And who wants to be chucked out in the final circle?

Likewise, you can't play Warzone via the cloud for free with Xbox Cloud Gaming, either. Ultimate gets you the best quality stream, but you can play via the cheaper Xbox Game Pass tiers, too.

So, that's where we're at. While Warzone has indeed been playable on Xbox One, it's hardly been the best experience. The Xbox One X still does OK, but being attached to the Xbox One generation it has to say goodbye, too.

But there's still probably a couple of months at least left to play from the time of writing this, so enjoy.

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As PC prices continue to rise, seeing a new release at $799 is a welcome sight, and that's where we're at with the new Samsung Galaxy Book6.

It's a decidedly mid-range laptop, but at a mid-range price, and it's not like you're really losing out on much, either.

That is, as long as you're not (for some reason) looking to have Copilot+ since the NPU on the included Intel chips doesn't meet the standard. But it's 2026, so there's still plenty of AI focus on tap, with Samsung's own tools.

Despite the more affordable price, the 14-inch Samsung Galaxy Book6 doesn't skimp on one key spec: Battery life. Samsung claims up to 25 hours, backed by 45W charging that can add 33% charge in half an hour if you do need a top-up.

But in real-world use you're looking at a laptop that will easily get you through a full day off the charger, be that for work or for school. Here's what we're looking at spec-wise:

I like that there's anti-glare, and I like that there's a decent array of ports, including a full-sized HDMI output. While the cheapest version will be the Intel Core 3, with the lowest RAM and storage on offer, there is at least an option at an attractive price, and for many, it'll be plenty.

After all, it turns out having 8GB of RAM on a Windows 11 PC is just fine for a lot of users.

Being a Samsung laptop, if you also use a Galaxy smartphone or tablet, you'll unlock some additional integration, such as second screen support and the ability to use a single keyboard and mouse across multiple devices.

Galaxy AI has a few neat features, too, despite the low-powered NPU on the Galaxy Book6, with some useful tools for images and note summarization.

It's also available in two colors, a dark gray and a "Violet Silver." The Galaxy Book6 isn't going to set performance records, but that's not who it's for. It's for someone who wants a good-quality laptop to do everyday, normal things, and for that, it doesn't look bad at all.

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Today was supposed to be an opportunity for "fans" to get a chance to pre-order the new, limited edition Xbox Series X25. Yet it's questionable as to how many genuine fans may have actually got their hands on one.

Reddit is filled with bad experiences, people talking about having a console in their cart and it was gone before they could check out. That stock evaporated in "milliseconds."

And yet almost instantly they were cropping up on eBay. The highest listing I saw was for a ridiculous THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS.

To its credit, eBay seems to be taking action and shutting these listings down, as three I've already seen have been ended due to the "item no longer being available", not "sold". It was never available in the first place, and frankly, handing over thousands on a promise of getting a thing in the future is the dumbest idea anyway.

Obviously this is a limited edition, with each console uniquely numbered, and was always going to be in hot demand. But while eBay might be taking listings down, more are popping up across the globe.

Scalpers are going to scalp. They're not going to cancel their order, and they're going to try somehow to move it on for a premium price. It's the Pokémon card fiasco all over again.

My advice is clear: Do not buy a console from a scalper. In fact, if you can't get one directly from a retailer, don't buy one unless you actually see it and can pick it up with your bare hands. These people have no morals; don't hand over your money and trust that you'll actually even get the thing.

I was never going to try and get one myself, as I don't have a spare $899 to throw at a console I already have in a different body. But scalpers really make me angry. It's a constant battle in trading card collecting, especially. There's reselling and then there's just existing to rip people off by using your bots to scoop up stock from legitimate buyers.

Anyway, rant over. If you did manage to secure an Xbox Series X25 let us know in the comments. Unless you're a scalper.

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