Open Beta

0:00 The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 beta ran over two weekends in 2026: the Early Access Beta from Aug 21, 11:00 AM PT to Aug 25, 10:00 AM PT, for pre-orders and beta code holders, and the Open Beta from Aug 28, 10:00 AM PT to Sep 1, 10:00 AM PT, free for everyone on every platform, Nintendo Switch 2 included. Activision called it "the biggest Call of Duty Beta yet": besides multiplayer it included, for the first time in a Call of Duty beta, a full campaign mission (Entrenched) and Warzone Resurgence on the new Zodiac map. Beta levels did not carry over, but its cosmetic rewards did, and its feedback changed the launch game: a slower time to kill, Tactical Sprint moved onto a perk, and every killstreak one kill dearer. The beta is over; the full game launched on Oct 23, 2026. The clip is Activision's first look at Entrenched, soldiers in a snowy trench line, ending on "Pre-order and get beta early access".

Quick facts

Sources: Call of Duty (Aug 19, 2026), Call of Duty (Aug 20, 2026), Call of Duty (Aug 21, 2026), Notebookcheck (Aug 24, 2026).

Dates and who could play

0:00 Activision announced the beta dates on Jul 20, 2026 and opened Weekend One straight after the Call of Duty: NEXT broadcast on Aug 21 at 9:00 AM PT. Weekend One was for pre-orders of any edition and for players with a Beta Code, on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, PS5, Steam and Battle.net; physical pre-orders found their code on the receipt. Weekend Two was open to everyone with no pre-order or code, on all of those platforms and Switch 2. The clip is the Weekend One trailer, which ends on "Pre-order and get beta early access", this Friday, Aug 21 to Aug 25.

Sources: Call of Duty (Aug 19, 2026), Call of Duty (Aug 20, 2026), Call of Duty (Aug 26, 2026).

The beta was a separate install from the main Call of Duty install: "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Beta" on each store, "Call of Duty: MW4 Beta" in Battle.net's Game Version menu, and its own Steam app, 4783780. On Xbox on PC the pre-load fetched only a small part, and the bulk downloaded from Aug 21 at 7 AM PT. On PC, TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot were already required, and Battle.net debuted Shader Preloading (Call of Duty, Aug 19, 2026).

The Switch 2 open beta

Weekend Two was the first Call of Duty open beta on a Nintendo system. Switch 2 players could pre-load from Aug 26 at 9:00 AM PT and play multiplayer, Entrenched and Zodiac Resurgence, with an Activision account, Nintendo Switch Online and an internet connection, and every Switch 2 player could use the Vault Edition's Operator Packs and Signature Weapons free during it. Kotaku found multiplayer aiming for 60 fps, mostly hitting it docked but rarely passing 45 fps handheld, with Entrenched capped at 30 fps, and called the image blurry on a TV. See Nintendo Switch 2 Version.

Maps and modes in the beta

Six Core 6v6 maps were played. Rooftops, Silkworm and Transit 213 opened Weekend One, Cachette arrived on Aug 22 and Lotus on Aug 23, and Lithium joined for the Open Beta on Aug 28. All six are in the launch game; see Multiplayer Maps.

Source: Call of Duty (Aug 21, 2026).

The modes were Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Search and Destroy and the new Inflation, plus the new Hijack from Weekend Two (Call of Duty, Aug 21, 2026). Kill Block played 10v10 Gunfight from day one and 3v3 Gunfight from Aug 23, reshuffling into a new "Combo" of three Slabs every two rounds with a shared random loadout, and ran 6v6 Gunfight for the last days, Aug 30 to Sep 1 (beta notes). Ground War appeared as Combat Outpost from Aug 29, 24v24 on Imjin Farmlands and Wolves Stadium; at launch it is 32v32 and the first map is spelled Imjin Farmland. A Mobility Course taught the movement system; it became Proving Grounds at launch.

0:02 Weekend Two added Warzone Resurgence for 44 players on Zodiac, the DRC Advanced Systems drone assembly headquarters, with default AR, SMG, LMG and Sniper loadouts. Zodiac returns as a Warzone map in Season 1; see Warzone Integration. The clip flies over Zodiac and ends on the Open Beta card, Aug 28 to Sep 1, "Play free this weekend".

Weapons and loadouts

The beta had 22 weapons in nine classes: the assault rifles Han 86, M4, Hyeon Burst, Kastov 762, Patriot XMR and Axion; the SMGs ISO Nightshade, PPSh-41, X-58 Nyx and Wz. 55 Striga; the Rezi 12 shotgun; the FiNN LMG and Type 73; the MAR-9 and Oris 8.6 marksman rifles; the KG-7 Vulcan and Signal .50 snipers; three pistols; the PILA launcher; and the Combat Knife (Call of Duty, Aug 21, 2026). The beta guide spelled one pistol "Karit P68"; at launch it is the Krait P68. There were also 21 Operators, 9 Tacticals, 11 Lethals, 11 Field Upgrades, 18 Perks in Pick 3 and 17 Killstreaks (8 in Weekend One), with Create a Class at Level 4 (Call of Duty, Aug 20, 2026). See Weapons.

Beta rewards

Source: Call of Duty (Aug 21, 2026). The level cap was 20 in Weekend One and 30 in Weekend Two, so the Level 23 to 30 rewards needed the Open Beta. Activision's posts disagree on which gun "Beta Forged" is for: the Aug 19 post names the ISO Nightshade, the Aug 20 and Aug 21 posts the Han 86.

Watching Call of Duty: NEXT on Twitch gave the "Gas Ready" emblem (15 minutes), "Rapple Repel" card (30) and "Ghost Helmet" charm (45), and beta streams gave three more Drops. Playing Weekend One also earned Black Ops 7 Season 05 Battle Pass progress (Call of Duty, Aug 21, 2026). The rewards unlocked in the full game; ranks and weapon unlocks did not carry over.

How the beta went

The beta's Steam app peaked at 115,145 players on Aug 21, 2026, SteamDB's measurement as Notebookcheck reported it, and fell under 38,000 later that weekend. Notebookcheck summed up the complaints as performance, aim assist, spawns too close to enemies, small maps and a time to kill that felt too short. Suspected generative-AI art in beta maps also drew criticism (Game Rant, Aug 23, 2026).

What changed after the beta

Infinity Ward said it "swung hard" on the time to kill after Weekend One, players preferred Weekend Two's at every skill level, and that time to kill is the launch game's (launch notes, Oct 21, 2026). The main changes, all from the beta patch notes:

• Time to kill: for Weekend Two every weapon was retuned to raise the time to kill slightly without changing health, and snipers' flinch received rose 28%.
• Movement (Aug 28): Tactical Sprint moved onto the Blood Rush perk and its speed fell 4%; slide distance fell 10% and slide speed 9%; stamina fell 8%; knife and pistol sprint speeds rose.
• Handling (Aug 29): ADS movement speed rose 6 to 10% and sprint speed 3 to 5% by class, and many weapons aimed faster, for example the ISO Nightshade from 190 to 175 ms and the Rezi 12 from 240 to 210 ms. Weapons with under 60 reserve rounds got an extra magazine.
• Killstreaks: every killstreak cost one more kill in Weekend Two, and that stayed for launch, so the UAV costs 5 kills (4 with Hardline). Several UAVs no longer combine into an Advanced UAV, the Attack Helicopter's health was cut 45%, and the Impact Warhead's warning radius shrank from 76 m to 25 m.
• Aim assist was reduced for Weekend Two, a global change that also reached Warzone, which Infinity Ward said was "not the exact tuning we want".
• Score limits: Team Deathmatch rose from 75 to 100 and Kill Confirmed from 65 to 75.

For launch Infinity Ward also made SMGs stronger at close to mid range and tempered one-hit-kill weapons (launch notes). See Movement and Gunplay, Killstreaks and Patch Notes.

Frequently asked questions

When was the Modern Warfare 4 beta? The Modern Warfare 4 beta ran from Aug 21 to 25, 2026 for pre-orders (Early Access) and from Aug 28 to Sep 1, 2026 for everyone (Open Beta).

Is the MW4 beta still on? No. The Modern Warfare 4 Open Beta ended on Sep 1, 2026 at 10:00 AM PT, and the full game launched on Oct 23, 2026.

Was the MW4 beta on Switch 2? Yes. The Modern Warfare 4 Open Beta weekend, Aug 28 to Sep 1, 2026, was on Nintendo Switch 2, the first Call of Duty open beta on a Nintendo system.

What were the MW4 beta rewards? The MW4 beta gave cosmetic rewards from Level 4 to Level 30, ending with the "Dread Tiger" Operator Skin at Level 20 and the "Beta Forged" Weapon Blueprint at Level 30, plus the "Clockwork" charm.

Did MW4 beta progress carry over? Only the cosmetic Beta Rewards carried into Modern Warfare 4; beta ranks and unlocks did not.

Which maps were in the MW4 beta? The Modern Warfare 4 beta had the Core maps Cachette, Lithium, Lotus, Rooftops, Silkworm and Transit 213, plus Kill Block, the Ground War maps Imjin Farmland and Wolves Stadium, and Zodiac for Warzone Resurgence.

What changed in MW4 after the beta? After the beta Modern Warfare 4 raised its time to kill, moved Tactical Sprint onto the Blood Rush perk, added one kill to every killstreak's cost and reduced aim assist.

Sources

• Modern Warfare 4: Open Beta Dates, Call of Duty: NEXT, Fanatics Fest Recap, and Serialized Weapon Camo Pre-Order Bonus, Call of Duty, Jul 20, 2026
• Call of Duty: NEXT and Modern Warfare 4 Beta: Early Intel, PC Specs, Pre-loading, and More, Call of Duty, Aug 19, 2026
• Call of Duty: NEXT and Modern Warfare 4 Early Access Beta: Weekend One Initial Intel, Call of Duty, Aug 20, 2026
• Modern Warfare 4 Open Beta: Everything You Need to Know, Call of Duty, Aug 21, 2026
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Hit with Backlash Over AI Art, Game Rant, Aug 23, 2026
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 beta Steam player count falls by 65% amid mixed reviews, Notebookcheck, Aug 24, 2026
• Pre-order Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on Nintendo Switch 2 beginning August 26, Call of Duty, Aug 26, 2026
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Beta Patch Notes, Infinity Ward, Sep 1, 2026
• Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Runs On Switch 2 And That's The Nicest Thing I Can Say About It, Kotaku, Sep 1, 2026
• Modern Warfare 4 Launch Patch Notes, Infinity Ward, Oct 21, 2026 (updated Oct 24, 2026)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 - Beta, Steam, read Oct 25, 2026
• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 Campaign First Look - Entrenched | Playable in the MW4 Beta, Call of Duty, Aug 14, 2026 (video)
• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 Beta Weekend One First Look, Call of Duty, Aug 17, 2026 (video)
• Zodiac New Call of Duty: Warzone Resurgence Map | Playable in Weekend 2 Modern Warfare 4 Beta, Call of Duty, Aug 25, 2026 (video)