DMZ

15:24 DMZ is the extraction mode of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4: you drop into the exclusion zone of Hajin alone or with up to two squadmates, loot, take on missions, fight AI soldiers and other players, and keep what you found only if you reach an exfil alive. Activision's first DMZ deep dive (Oct 5, 2026) calls it a persistent PvPvE extraction mode, and its tagline in the announcement (May 28, 2026) is "Loot, fight, negotiate, betray, and extract with whatever you can carry." It is the game's third mode beside the campaign and Multiplayer, and it takes the place a Zombies mode holds in other Call of Duty games (see Zombies). This page explains the whole mode and links to the detailed pages on each part.

Quick facts

Sources: Call of Duty, Oct 5, 2026, Call of Duty, Oct 9, 2026, Call of Duty progression blog, GameSpot, Insider Gaming, Steam.

What DMZ is

1:03 In the story of the mode you are "a shadow CIA asset" sent behind enemy lines to secure the weapons and technology left behind after the Modern Warfare 4 campaign, before they fall into enemy hands, according to Activision's June reveal of DMZ (Jun 6, 2026). Infinity Ward says the mode grew out of the original DMZ beta that ran with Modern Warfare 2 in 2022, and calls the new version "a deeper, more cohesive, and more persistent combat experience". It runs on the same foundation as Multiplayer: the same movement, with pipe climbing and mantling, and the same gunplay (see Movement and Gunplay).

Studio Multiplayer Creative Director Joe Cecot told Xbox Wire (Jun 7, 2026) that DMZ is "an action extraction shooter", and that the biggest change from the 2022 beta is persistence: an inventory that stays between matches and a base you upgrade, neither of which the beta had.

DMZ is no longer free. It used to sit beside Warzone as a free mode; in Modern Warfare 4 it is part of the paid game, as Insider Gaming (Oct 21, 2026) and Pocket Tactics ("No, Modern Warfare 4 DMZ is not free to play") both state. The Standard Edition costs $69.99 on Steam (Oct 25, 2026), and the game is not on Game Pass "until Holiday 2027". Editions and prices are on Editions and Pre-order Bonuses.

Hajin

Hajin is the DMZ map: a contested exclusion zone "nestled within a tri-point region bordering Russia and the Korean peninsula", which Activision's June post calls "one of the largest and most ambitious Call of Duty environments ever built". It has 13 major points of interest and "over 60 named locations": rural, military North Korean ground in the west, and a modern South Korean city with a damaged nuclear reactor in the east. GameSpot's review calls it "the largest map ever created for Call of Duty". The weather changes from run to run, with downpours and fog banks that cut visibility. Three of its areas, Imjin Farmland, Wolves Stadium and Forest, are also the Ground War maps of Multiplayer.

Squads, lobbies and the timer

You can deploy alone or in a squad. Squad Fill puts you in a deployment "with two other allied players", and you can switch it off at the Deploy station to play solo, per the FOB deep dive (Oct 9, 2026) and Insider Gaming. Activision has not published a lobby size; GameSpot (Oct 20, 2026) and Insider Gaming (Oct 21, 2026) report up to 60 players in squads of three.

GameSpot and GamingBible both report a match of 30 minutes before a deadly irradiated gas closes in, then a 10-minute final timer to reach an exfil. The official deep dive describes the same from the HUD: "Time Remaining" shows when the radiation storm will get worse, and as it does you must get out or be caught where you cannot survive.

Other squads are not always enemies. The Ping Wheel can request a Truce or join another squad, and proximity chat now fades with distance, has direction and echoes off the surroundings, per the Oct 5 deep dive.

Deploying: missions, operations and Free Roam

18:12 The Deploy menu offers three kinds of deployment: Story Missions, Dynamic Operations and Free Roam.

• Story Missions are the mode's campaign: "There is a power vacuum in Hajin. Follow orders, unmask the new threat, and destroy their operations across the DMZ." They can be replayed and pay extra at completion milestones. See DMZ Story Missions.
• Dynamic Operations are multi-step objectives made fresh each match, from destroying weapons programs to rescues and assaults, each paying DMZ XP, DMZ Cash and a Supply Drop. See DMZ Bounties and Dynamic Ops.
• Free Roam has no mission; Activision recommends it for looting crafting ingredients and hunting Wanted players.

How you arrive depends on what you pay. A ground infil on foot is free; for Dynamic Operations and Free Roam you can buy an air-dropped vehicle or a helicopter, up to a Cargo Plane for 100,000 DMZ Cash, the only option that lets you pick your exact drop point. Smaller jobs, called Side Ops, wait across the map: activating UAV Towers, capturing SAM Sites, climbing radio towers to locate a Lieutenant, repairing trucks and recovering lost Supply Drops.

Enemies, threat and bosses

11:04 Hajin's AI belongs to "a secretive North Korean faction", in four tiers from unarmored grunts to faceless armored soldiers, with drone swarms, robot dogs underground, helicopter patrols and road convoys. Every area has a Threat Level from Low to Extreme; fighting raises it and sends heavier troops and helicopters, while stealth, breaking contact and moving to rural ground bring it down. A Stealth Meter turns white, yellow, then orange as an enemy is about to spot you.

7:05 There are two kinds of boss. Lieutenants are named operatives with their own loadouts and locked rooms, who drop a Dog Tag Case worth extracting; Commanders roam Hajin all the time: the Colossus, a "seven-foot tall, heavily armored soldier" with a minigun, the Deathstalker drone and a North Korean battle tank, per the FOB deep dive. Their locations are on Hajin.

Loot, exfil and what you lose

9:14 Everything you carry is at risk. Anything in your Backpack that is not in a Secure Slot is lost if you fail to exfil, and an Operator who dies goes Missing in Action until you pay DMZ Cash to recover them, per the Oct 9 deep dive. DMZ XP is never lost: it counts even when you die.

To leave, you go to an exfil site marked by green smoke, call the helicopter and hold the area until it lands. A Flare calls an exfil to you, and a Fulton balloon lifts you out; both make noise other squads can use, and the Oct 5 deep dive warns that flares are "extremely loud and visible from great distances". Step-by-step advice is on DMZ Beginner's Guide.

The Forward Operating Base and progression

0:05 Between deployments you stand in the Forward Operating Base, a third-person hub that grows "from a foothold to a fully operational base with over a dozen different Stations": a shared Stash, a 3D Printer for crafting, a Vendor, a Gunsmith, a Boss Board, a Firing Range and more. You run up to three Active Duty Operators, each with a persistent Backpack, loadout and Trait Tree, and the DMZ Level climbs from 1 to 70 with rewards at every level, from the 3D Printer at Level 2 to a Legendary SERE Kit at 70. All of it is on DMZ Progression and Forward Operating Base. The clip is the official DMZ Progression trailer, with the FOB, a Trait Tree, Operator selection, the Stash, the Gunsmith and the 3D Printer.

Weapon XP, attachments and camos are shared with Multiplayer: progress in one counts in the other, and DMZ XP also raises your Multiplayer level, though Multiplayer and Warzone XP never raise the DMZ Level, per Activision's progression blog (Oct 19, 2026). DMZ has three Mastery Camos of its own (Chiral, Ripple Tide and Helio); see Camos.

Bounties and player fights

0:23 Killing a human Operator puts a Bounty on your head at once, and after four kills across deployments you become Wanted, with your rough position shown to nearby players. You can pay the Bounty off at a Bounty Station, or another player can claim it by killing you and extracting with your Dog Tag. The Bounty Leaderboard at the FOB lists the top 50 Most Wanted and the top 50 Bounty Hunters each week. See DMZ Bounties and Dynamic Ops. The clip is the official DMZ Bounty Systems trailer: a player kill flashes "Bounty Increased" and "Wanted", and it ends on the Bounty Hunters leaderboard.

Early access and launch

DMZ Early Access opened on Oct 20, 2026, at 10 AM PT per Insider Gaming, for everyone who had digitally pre-ordered the Standard or Vault Edition, on every platform including Nintendo Switch 2, according to the FOB deep dive. Weapon XP, attachments and camos earned in early access carried into the full launch on Oct 23, 2026. Infinity Ward wrote in its Oct 21 notes: "DMZ Early Access is underway! The excitement surrounding DMZ has been amazing to see". The fixes since are on Patch Notes, and early access in general is on Early Access.

Nintendo Switch 2

DMZ is in the Nintendo Switch 2 version too: DMZ Early Access listed Switch 2 among its platforms, and Infinity Ward's patch notes carry Switch 2 fixes for DMZ (a missing prompt in the Chemical Denial operation at NuriGO Mall, fixed Oct 20). Online play, DMZ included, needs Nintendo Switch Online, per Activision's Switch 2 post (Aug 26, 2026), and cross-play covers every platform. See Nintendo Switch 2 Version.

What comes next

Activision promised in June to send "further DMZ intel arriving in the weeks and months ahead", and Season 1 starts on Nov 6, 2026, per Activision's roadmap as reported by Insider Gaming. With it, Hajin also becomes a Warzone Battle Royale map (see Warzone Integration). The fog-filled Russian Border north of the Hajin River cannot be entered at launch; Dexerto reports that a third, Russian area will open in Season 2, which Activision has not stated in writing as of Oct 25, 2026. Infinity Ward's patch notes add that Weekly Challenges will not come in Season 1 because the studio is putting its effort into Events, the first of which began on launch day. More is on Season 1 and Roadmap.

Frequently asked questions

What is DMZ in Modern Warfare 4? DMZ is Modern Warfare 4's PvPvE extraction mode set in the Hajin Exclusion Zone. You loot, complete missions and fight AI and rival players, and keep your gear only if you exfil alive.

Is MW4 DMZ free to play? No. DMZ is part of the paid Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 game, unlike Warzone; the Standard Edition costs $69.99 on Steam.

Can you play DMZ solo in Modern Warfare 4? Yes. Turn off Squad Fill at the FOB's Deploy station before you search, and MW4 DMZ sends you in alone.

How many players are in an MW4 DMZ match? Activision has not published a figure. GameSpot and Insider Gaming report up to 60 players in squads of up to three in Modern Warfare 4's DMZ.

How long is a DMZ match in Modern Warfare 4? GameSpot and GamingBible report 30 minutes before the radiation closes in, then a 10-minute final timer to reach an exfil in MW4 DMZ.

What happens if you die in MW4 DMZ? You lose everything in your Backpack except items in Secure Slots, and your Operator goes Missing in Action until you pay DMZ Cash to recover them. The DMZ XP you earned in that Modern Warfare 4 deployment still counts.

Does DMZ progress count for Multiplayer in MW4? Yes. Weapon XP, attachments and camos are shared, and DMZ XP also counts toward the Multiplayer levels 1 to 55 in Modern Warfare 4, but Multiplayer XP does not raise the DMZ Level.

Is DMZ on Nintendo Switch 2? Yes. Modern Warfare 4's DMZ was part of early access on Switch 2 and needs Nintendo Switch Online to play.

Sources

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Releases on October 23, 2026, Call of Duty, May 28, 2026
• Modern Warfare 4 DMZ: Explore the Hajin Exclusion Zone, Call of Duty, Jun 6, 2026
• DMZ - New Intel on Call of Duty's Extraction Shooter Experience, Xbox Wire, Jun 7, 2026
• Pre-order Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on Nintendo Switch 2 beginning August 26, Call of Duty, Aug 26, 2026
• Modern Warfare 4 DMZ - everything you need to know, Pocket Tactics, Oct 4, 2026
• DMZ Deep Dive, Part 1: Tour of Duty - Hajin Environments and Threats, Full Intel Guide, Call of Duty, Oct 5, 2026
• Hajin map in Modern Warfare 4 DMZ and Warzone revealed: All POIs, Dexerto, Oct 5, 2026
• DMZ Deep Dive, Part 2: How to Play - Forward Operating Base (FOB) Full Intel Guide, Call of Duty, Oct 9, 2026
• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 Season 1 launch date announced, Insider Gaming, Oct 14, 2026
• Modern Warfare 4 Launches October 23 as a Standalone Release, Call of Duty, Oct 15, 2026
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Review, GameSpot, Oct 16, 2026 (updated Oct 23, 2026)
• Ready for Launch: Modern Warfare 4 Progression and Prestige, Call of Duty, Oct 19, 2026
• Modern Warfare 4 DMZ early access start time, Insider Gaming, Oct 19, 2026
• Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 DMZ Tips, GameSpot, Oct 20, 2026
• MW4 DMZ guide, Insider Gaming, Oct 21, 2026
• Modern Warfare 4 DMZ: how many players, Insider Gaming, Oct 21, 2026
• Can you play Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 DMZ solo, Insider Gaming, Oct 21, 2026
• Modern Warfare 4 DMZ: 8 essential tips to survive Hajin and escape with better loot, GamingBible, Oct 22, 2026
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Launch Patch Notes, Infinity Ward, Oct 24, 2026
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on Steam (store data), Steam, Oct 25, 2026
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 | DMZ Worldbuilder Trailer, Call of Duty, Oct 4, 2026 (video)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 | DMZ Progression, Call of Duty, Oct 7, 2026 (video)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 | DMZ Bounty Systems, Call of Duty, Oct 8, 2026 (video)
• DMZ First Look | COD POD Ep. 11 w/ Infinity Ward | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, Call of Duty, Jun 7, 2026 (video)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 - DMZ Beginner's Guide, IGN, Oct 20, 2026 (video)