Modern Warfare 4 Beta Adds a Playable Campaign Mission, a Call of Duty First

The Modern Warfare 4 beta will include a playable mission from the single-player campaign, something no Call of Duty test has offered before. Activision confirmed the plan today, along with the two-weekend schedule: an early access phase from 21 to 25 August on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, and an open phase from 28 August to 1 September that adds Nintendo Switch 2 and drops the pre-order requirement.

What the Modern Warfare 4 beta actually includes

The campaign mission is called Entrenched, and it is the headline change. Betas in this series have historically been multiplayer-only marketing exercises; handing players a slice of the story weeks before release is new territory for the franchise, and it means the beta doubles as a demo.

The campaign itself follows Private Park, a South Korean soldier pulled into a full-scale invasion, with Captain Price returning as an operator working outside the chain of command. The announced settings run from trench fighting in Korea to close-quarters combat in New York, a chase sequence in Paris and an SAS night raid in Mumbai.

On the multiplayer side, the announced map pool covers Rooftops, Silkworm, Transit 213, Cachette, Lithium, Kill Block and Combat Outpost, with Ground War running on the larger Imjin Farmland and Wolves Stadium layouts. The mode list spans Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Search & Destroy, Inflation, Hijack and Combat Outpost.

• Weekend one (21–25 August) — Entrenched plus the core 6v6 map and mode rotation, for players who have pre-ordered.
• Weekend two (28 August–1 September) — everything from weekend one, opened to all players, with extra maps and modes layered on.
• Warzone — the new Resurgence map Zodiac is part of the second weekend, not the first.
• DMZ — not in either weekend. The Hajin exclusion zone waits until launch.

Which platforms get it, and when

This is the detail worth reading twice, because the two phases are not the same on every machine. The early access weekend is limited to PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Nintendo Switch 2 owners are not in that first window at all — Switch 2 joins on 28 August, when the beta opens to everyone.

Access to weekend one is tied to a digital pre-order, with a small number of alternative routes reported, including Discord Nitro membership and prizes tied to the Call of Duty: NEXT broadcast that kicks the beta off on 21 August. Weekend two is free, though console players will still need an active online subscription on PlayStation and Xbox to get into multiplayer.

Why a campaign mission in a beta is unusual

Betas are load tests as much as previews, and single-player content does not stress matchmaking servers the way multiplayer does. Including Entrenched reads less like a technical need and more like a response to the last few years of criticism about Call of Duty campaigns being short, rushed or judged only after the money has changed hands. Letting people play a mission before they buy is a fairly direct answer to that.

It also gives Switch 2 owners a first look at how the campaign runs on the least powerful of the four platforms — although only in the second weekend, which leaves less time to react to what they find.

Release date and what to do before 21 August

Modern Warfare 4 launches on 23 October 2026 across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC. Activision has not published beta download sizes or preload timing at the time of writing, and recent Call of Duty releases have been large enough that clearing space in advance is sensible — our note on the 61.5GB Oblivion Remastered download on Switch 2 is a useful reminder of how quickly a console fills up.

If you are deciding whether the early access weekend is worth a pre-order, the honest answer is that waiting a week costs you the campaign mission early and nothing else permanent. That is the same calculation that came up with the Gears of War: E-Day open beta, which also gated its first weekend before opening the doors.

Beta progression carrying into the full game has not been confirmed either way, so treat any level or unlock you earn as temporary until Activision says otherwise. For everything else landing between now and October, our rundown of the most anticipated games of 2026 tracks the dates, and if you plan to play on a phone or tablet screen instead, the Android games with full gamepad support list covers what your controller already works with.