Modern Warfare 4 earns some trust, but not your blind day-one wallet

Is a good campaign enough to make a Call of Duty launch trustworthy? Modern Warfare 4 fully launches today, October 23, 2026, with multiplayer and DMZ finally opening, and the early mood is better than this series has earned in years. That is exactly why we should be careful.

The early praise is real, but it measures the wrong half of the game

The signals so far are encouraging. Xboxygen's roundup reports an 8/10 from IGN and 7/10 from GameSpot, and describes the campaign as a strong return to form. Nintendo Life's review roundup likewise points to a consistently strong set of missions that juggles a bloated cast, with spectacular set pieces and strong performances.

On Steam, Pause Hardware reports 90% positive reviews after 1,812 ratings during the campaign early access that began October 16. SteamDB's own, more conservative formula put it at 85.78%, against 38.71% for Black Ops 7 and 45.75% for Black Ops 6.

That gap is striking, but read the fine print. Those reviewers preordered to play a week early, so they are probably the most loyal fans the franchise has. And they only played the campaign. Multiplayer and DMZ open today, and that is where Call of Duty is actually lived in for hundreds of hours.

Day-one trust should be earned by the mode you'll actually play

Most people don't buy Call of Duty only for the story. They buy it for matchmaking, netcode, balance and the grind. None of that has a verdict yet. The beta impressions we found were mixed: one preview called the combat very fast, sometimes too fast, and a Reddit commenter mentioned stutters during explosions. That's anecdotal, and we would not build a case on it, but it is the kind of thing launch patches exist to fix.

There is also a practical barrier on PC. According to the same Pause Hardware report, TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot are mandatory to launch the game. That could sour the post-launch reviews, and in our view it is a reason to check your machine before you pay, not after.

Switch 2 is the real curiosity, and a reason for caution

The Switch 2 version is the most interesting experiment. IGN's hands-on says it is not the disaster you'd expect, with smooth gameplay at 30fps at 4K while docked. A ResetEra thread notes heavy use of decimated animations, with most enemies and teammates animating at 30 FPS beyond a few feet. A Reddit user called it fine for a first Call of Duty on the platform, but said distant enemies are rough and the image is unstable even with DLSS.

Those are early, partly informal impressions, so treat them that way. Still, if you want 60 fps, nothing we've seen promises it, so we wouldn't count on it. Buy the Switch 2 version for portability, not for competitive sharpness.

Our verdict: buy the campaign mood, wait on the rest

The campaign reception suggests the team behind the game has regained some credibility, and we think that deserves credit. But credibility isn't a launch-day multiplayer guarantee, and recent Steam scores for the series show how fast goodwill can evaporate once online modes meet millions of players.

So our recommendation is simple. If you're a diehard who wants the story now, go ahead. If you mostly play online, give it a week or two and watch whether that Steam score holds after today's wider audience arrives. Patience costs you nothing here, and it may well buy you a better game.