Update August 14, 3.45 pm ET: Activision has since put out a further update reminding PC players that they will need to have TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot enabled on their PCs to play the Modern Warfare 4 beta. This is the current requirement for Black Ops 7, so it isn't new, but it's a reminder if you haven't been playing this year that without it you can't take part.

Mark your calendars, Call of Duty fans, because Infinity Ward and Activision have revealed the content of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's upcoming beta tests, set to commence over the following weekends.

These beta tests will feature sneak peeks at the game's multiplayer modes, the Battle Royal-like Warzone mode, and an exclusive single-player campaign mission.

Here are the full details on these beta tests and when you can expect to play them.

The first early access beta test will run from August 21, 2026, to August 25, 2026, for those who pre-ordered the game on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Xbox on PC, Steam, and Battle.net.

Its content will include an exclusive campaign mission called "Entrenched", several multiplayer maps, and several multiplayer game modes like Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Inflation, Search & Destroy, 10v10 & 3v3, and Mobility Course.

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On a side note, the first beta test begins on the same day as Activision's Call of Duty Next event on August 21, 2026, which will showcase various gameplay aspects of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, such as 6v6 PVP, the first look at Zodiac, Kill Block gameplay, and much more while giving away free beta codes to players who tune in to the event.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's second beta test will run from August 28, 2026, to September 1, 2026, and it will be open to the general public to play on the Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Xbox on PC, Steam, Battle.net, and Nintendo Switch 2 versions of the game.

It will include all the content of the first beta test, with the addition of the Warzone game mode, a new Warzone map, and several new Ground War maps.

So, if you need to get some practice with your aim and are hungry to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 before the full version launches on October 23, 2026, for all the aforementioned platforms, these beta tests will be the perfect time to do it.

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It's that time in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's seasonal rotation for a Reloaded refresh, and once again the big deal for many is Zombies.

Black Ops 7 Zombies is reaching its narrative conclusion as the Rex Infernus map is open for business when Season 05 Reloaded goes live on August 20 at 9am Pacific.

"As reality stands on the cusp of destruction, the crew face their ultimate challenge. Cleanse the Shadowsmith places of power, find the Warden’s inner sanctum, and put an end to his loathsome existence."

As ever, completing the main quest will bring forth your rewards. If you get it done before Directed Mode launches, you'll get a unique Calling Card that will become unavailable when it does.

Other rewards include the "Bloodthorn" Wonder Weapon skin, calling cards, and 10,000 XP. Collect all the Intel to get another Calling Card and 10,000 XP.

Widow's Wine is also back, complete with new major and minor augments to research, and a new GobbleGum, "Fully Packed," will upgrade your weapon to Pack-a-Punch level 3. So that's definitely going to come in handy.

Two new Ultra-Rarity weapons are being added to the mystery box, too, with the TR2 marksman rifle and the Olympia shotgun joining the ranks of Zombies-based gambling.

It's bittersweet for Zombies players, as this is it. The last new full map content that we're going to see for some time. Modern Warfare 4 doesn't have a Zombies mode, so for now, that's all she wrote.

Naturally Season 05 Reloaded covers all aspects of the game, not just Zombies. The PvE extraction Endgame is about to reach the end of its free-to-play run, as it'll return to being a Black Ops 7-owned (and Game Pass) exclusive when Season 05 comes to a close.

During that time, though, the Burn Run Assignment will continue to appear across Avalon. Keep tabs on your map for the skull icon for a little Forza racing in Call of Duty action. The maximum combat rating you need for any of these is only 45, too, so they're pretty accessible.

Multiplayer will see a new pinball-themed Turbo Tilt map based on Nuketown history, complete with interactive bumpers and ramps. Freerun: Descent is getting a new course, and Cranked Moshpit is back if you like a bit of that.

As for Warzone, Loaded Resurgence will be coming back for another go around. It does also get some new gameplay features, though, with the Quickdrop Kit, which reduces redeploy time in Resurgence, and a Special Delivery Drone you can shoot down in all modes to earn yourself some weapon camos.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Season 05 Reloaded goes live on August 20 at 9am Pacific.

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The next premium Call of Duty release, Infinity Ward's upcoming Modern Warfare 4, is just a few months away from hitting consoles and PCs, and it's finally time for players to get a good look at the upcoming first-person shooter's multiplayer gameplay.

As it has with previous Call of Duty launches, Activision will show off Modern Warfare 4's multiplayer in detail during this year's Call of Duty NEXT showcase. COD NEXT is a fan-favorite event where many of the top Call of Duty players — from popular streamers to esports pros — go live to broadcast gameplay, dev commentary, and more across YouTube and Twitch.

Here's everything you need to know so you don't miss out on COD NEXT 2026.

When and where to watch Call of Duty NEXT 2026

Call of Duty NEXT 2026 is set to go live on August 21 at 9 AM PT/12 PM ET. Players can tune in to the official Call of Duty channels to catch the live stream. Those who have preordered or have otherwise received an early access beta code can hop into the Modern Warfare 4 beta via the Call of Duty HQ immediately following the broadcast.

The Early Access Beta for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is only for players on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Xbox on PC, Steam, and Battle.net. Modern Warfare 4 will not release on last-gen consoles, but it will be available on the Nintendo Switch 2 for the first time. Switch fans will have to wait until the open beta on August 28 to try out multiplayer.

What to expect from Call of Duty NEXT 2026

Official Call of Duty NEXT details remain scarce, even as the event draws nearer. Activision and Infinity Ward have been oddly tight-lipped on what players can expect to see during the showcase, but there have been some vague clues that the experience may be a bit different this year.

In previous years, Activision would pool together popular streamers, sports professionals, and more to show off gameplay. However, Xbox and Activision previously partnered with Fanatics Fest in July to spotlight the upcoming Kill Block map. Many of the popular streamers who typically participate in Call of Duty NEXT were present at the Fanatics Fest event for hands-on gameplay.

In an official blog post, the Call of Duty team calls COD NEXT 2026 a "global event featuring live gameplay, an in-depth briefing on the lineup of content coming to Modern Warfare 4's Multiplayer, developer insights, and new reveals ahead of the Beta."

The description is a bit vague, but the phrase "global event" has led many to speculate that this year's COD NEXT event will not feature the in-person gameplay event that has been a staple for the showcase. For the first time ever, the beta for this year's Call of Duty title will go live immediately following the COD NEXT broadcast — a welcome move that just might help the hype generated by the NEXT showcase carry over into the beta experience.

That move, however, may ultimately make it unfeasible to bring big-name gamers who might not want to miss streaming the beta during its early access period to an in-person event.

Infinity Ward has confirmed that it will showcase multiplayer during COD NEXT 2026, but the team has been surprisingly mum on Modern Warfare 4's third mode since the initial DMZ reveal. DMZ is not expected to be playable during the two beta weekends for Modern Warfare 4.

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Xbox and Activision have broken with tradition and partnered with Fanatics Fest to show off one of the most innovative new maps heading to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 when it launches this October.

Multiplayer map reveals are typically reserved for the annual Call of Duty NEXT event, but a date for the celebration of all things Call of Duty has yet to be confirmed for 2026. Rather than waiting until closer to launch, Infinity Ward will give the public their first look at the new map, "Kill Block", during Fanatics Fest in New York City from July 16-19.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will be playable for those who have purchased tickets to Fanatics Fest at the Javits Center in NYC, and a panel featuring Kevin Durant, Inde Navarrette, Infinity Ward Studio Co-Head Mark Grigsby, and Tyler Bahl will take the stage for an exclusive panel on Call of Duty in Culture on Saturday, July 18.

The original concept behind Kill Block was dreamed up by Multiplayer Creative Director Geoff Smith, who was inspired by the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid. The stadium is designed to have multiple arena floorings set on a rotating slab, allowing it to shift from a football stadium to a concert venue and back again while maintaining the various fields.

From concept to production, Kill Block eventually evolved into an adaptive training facility with a modular battleground that pieces together different slabs to create hundreds of unique map combinations. Designed to resemble a live-fire training environment, Kill Block is assembled from two end slabs with a central slab that pieces together map sections, both new and from iconic locations seen throughout Modern Warfare's rich history.

Infinity Ward shared an overview of how the engineering behind Kill Block works in a new blog post.

Engineering a dynamic map for Modern Warfare 4

While Call of Duty is a video game, the team at Infinity Ward takes great pride in the real-world inspiration beyond the pixels. It would be easy enough for the development team to shrug off the hows and whys of the mechanics powering Kill Block as "It's just a game" and hope that the players could suspend disbelief enough to enjoy themselves. But Infinity Ward doesn't work that way, and the team has taken the engineering behind Kill Block very seriously.

Kill Block, which is set within the West Bridge Advanced Military Training Facility, is flanked along the perimeter by eight concrete towers that house the electronics, motors, and pulley systems that make the dynamic arena function. The map is functionally the size of the popular Shoot House map from Modern Warfare past, though its continuously evolving layout keeps things fresh with each new round.

The map's three slabs sit upon a network of rail-mounted wheel assemblies, known as 'bogies', that travel along tracks embedded above and below the training area. The map changes at the end of each round of Gunfight. When the active slab decouples from the others, it is lowered to a storage chamber beneath the arena for safekeeping. The motor then selects the new Slab and winches it into position before raising it to the surface. How's that for combat evolved, Halo?

Each slab effectively takes up one third of Kill Block's play space, and each one is completely self-contained while maintaining all the necessary openings to flow seamlessly into each other. While each team spawns on their respective endpoint, movement across all three slabs in the combo is unrestrained (and encouraged.)

Some slabs add more than just new buildings, trees, or other obstacles. Some are also fitted with military-grade weather simulation systems — introducing snow flurries, fog, and other conditions that affect not just the look of the map but also weapons.

Kill Block's slabs are a new way to experience old favorites

Call of Duty as a franchise struggles to walk a tight line between feeding into the nostalgia of its long-time player base while allowing the developers the creative freedom to create fresh and new experiences that might lure new players in. One way the development teams have sought to bridge that gap is with remastered variants of once-popular multiplayer maps.

But leaning into an influx of remasters leaves players looking for something new out in the cold. After 5 different variants of Shipment and Shoothouse, both the fans and the players can find themselves struggling with the threat of Call of Duty fatigue. Kill Block is an interesting solution to that problem, introducing both the chaotic gunplay of a small map without leaning exclusively into the tried-and-true favorites.

Infinity Ward's multiplayer team has claimed that there are enough assets readily available for Kill Block to support up to 900 combos total, though at launch, players can expect roughly 500 to be live. The following slabs can be expected in the Kill Block rotation at launch, though some names may be changed:

• Ambush (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare): A central slab featuring a convoy-clogged main road with blown-out pre-fab buildings on either side, with plenty of sniping opportunities.
• Blacksite (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and III): An end slab featuring three prefabricated structures with open access between each of them. Players will find a mud and grass thoroughfare, a rusted van, an open cargo container, and stacked military gabions.
• Killhouse (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare): Gabions corner prefab walls with some small gaps for mantling, while a central kill box dots the middle of the map, and small scenic cover opportunities cover the edge of the end slab.
• ME-Town: A central slab featuring a kill box dirt courtyard surrounded by prefabricated structures in each corner. Lots of interior and roof space for sniper nests. The main building is turquoise and features plenty of opportunities for close-quarter combat in its tight rooms and scramble points.
• Snow Block: The fortifications of open cargo containers and concrete blocks offer unique overwatch opportunities to would-be snipers, but there's a limit to how much cover you can find on this end slab.
• Trench: This central slab is a literal no-man's land of sunken mud walls and pill boxes with sandbags, tires, and wooden trusses that feel like they're going to collapse in on your squad without a moment's notice. This is a fraught middle ground with minimal cover, but good sight lines.

In addition to the confirmed Kill Block slabs, Infinity Ward also teased imagery showing off combos for the dynamic map featuring parts of Station, Shoot House, Woods, and Killhouse. Additional maps and supported modes for Kill Block are expected to be added to the game during Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's seasonal content drops post-launch.

Hands-on impressions of Kill Block

Members of the press and content creators alike were invited to Infinity Ward's studio for an early hands-on preview of Kill Block in action. During the preview, we were able to play matches of 10v10 Gunfight on Kill Block. The match would begin with the player teams each infilling on their respective end slabs with a loadout that had been randomly assembled by the game.

Gunfight is a round-based, one-life per player core mode, and the first interactions with Kill Block were surprisingly intimidating. There's an urge to explore the undeniably creative design of Kill Block and to understand all the machinations behind it. But doing so certainly puts you at risk of other players who aren't so interested in the aesthetics willing to pick you off as an easy target.

When you do get over the desire to ooh-and-aww over what Infinity Ward has managed to create out of Kill Block and decide to focus on the game, you'll find yourself quickly flung into intense combat against enemy players. As a long-time fan of small map playlists that throw you immediately into the line of danger, I was excited to feel that rush of instant action from Kill Block.

Infinity Ward's willingness to give fans of small maps something to sink their teeth into had interesting effects on the player base in Modern Warfare 2 (2022). There were considerable complaints on social media by players who felt the time between matches was too long in standard map playlists as players flocked to small map rotations in order to complete grindy camo challenges.

And yet, at the same time, there was a subset of players who love small maps so much they were even requesting Treyarch to introduce IW's beloved tiny map, Shipment, to the Black Ops series. (They didn't, but they did take a risk and go even smaller with the chaotic GRWM limited map during April Fools.)

Kill Block feels fresh and exciting and new, but it's serving multiple purposes for the split fan base that pines for nostalgic gameplay and laments continuous remasters simultaneously. Personally, Kill Block is one of my most anticipated new additions for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare launches on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Battle.net, Steam, PlayStation 5, and the Nintendo Switch 2 on October 23, 2026. Players who preorder the game will unlock early access to the Open Beta and up to one week of early access to the Modern Warfare 4 campaign starting on October 16. Modern Warfare 4 is the first Call of Duty title to skip last-gen consoles, and the game will also not be included in Xbox Game Pass subscriptions until Holiday 2027.

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The Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2 ports for the PS4 and PS5 were received to much hype and excitement. But guess what? They're a mess. Who possibly could have guessed?

Only everyone who's ever tried playing the backward compatible versions on Xbox consoles in recent memory. Collectively, it's an "I told you so," because we knew it would happen.

The only difference is that the 'shiny new' ports on PlayStation seem to be getting some kind of active support from Activision. Because Black Ops has had some of its playlists deactivated while "issues" are investigated.

The issues are simple: hackers. You think Black Ops 7 has a bad rep for hackers? Without modern anticheat technologies, the old games are like the Wild West.

It's taken absolutely no time at all for the new ports to be compromised, which really does show just how lazy they are. We're not just talking about wallhacks, either, though those are bad enough.

Players are being inundated with lobbies packed with players running exploits. Some are instantly max prestige, everything unlocked, ridiculous statistics, and perhaps worst of all for legitimate players, it's been reported a "negative XP" hack is dropping players back to level 1.

I love both of these games, but from the get-go, I saw nothing but a quick cash grab, cashing in on player nostalgia for the old games we loved so much, especially in a year when the new Call of Duty hasn't had the best reception. But they're not 'new,' are they? They're just the same old games we've been able to play on Xbox all along.

I saw a question on Reddit where, potentially linked to the recent hype, an Xbox player was asking if it was worth them buying Black Ops 2. At full price, the only answer is no. If you want to enjoy multiplayer, I'd also say the answer is no. If you can get a cheap disc to enjoy the campaign and Zombies? Sure.

But props at least to Activision for seemingly offering support on these ports. How long it'll last and how far they'll go, I guess we'll find out. But it's more than we've seen on Xbox with the existing versions in a long time.

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