Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4

Call of Duty releases on an annual cadence, and the important thing to understand about that cadence is that the marketing cycle is what determines the date, not the development cycle. Each title gets a set release date roughly a year ahead, announced alongside the previous game's final content season, and that date is rarely the date the game is finished.

The modern warfare branch of this series specifically has a history of shifting its whole setting and development lineage between entries, which is why a date on this page is worth reading as provisional until the publisher confirms the platform list. The setting is described as the Korean peninsula, and the franchise has moved between studios across the last several entries.

Content structure is where a modern Call of Duty date matters most. A launch day release ships a campaign, a multiplayer mode set, and a store, and then the live-service portion continues for a full year in quarterly seasons. Each season brings a map, a weapon pass, and a mode change. Store content lands too, usually four times a year, so a date can mean a campaign drop, a season, or a store rotation, and those are three different things.

When you see a date on this profile, the useful question is which of those three it refers to. The campaign is a one-time event that plays on a date. The season is a quarterly frame that the campaign is not. The store rotates on its own calendar within the season. The publisher's own roadmap page distinguishes them, and that page is the source worth reading before you plan an evening around a countdown.

Multiplatform support here also means the date usually covers all three console platforms at once, with PC availability dependent on a separate certification and performance pass.