Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)

For the fourth main game in the series, see Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
North American "Standard Edition" artwork, featuring John Price.
Developer(s)	Infinity Ward Raven Software (assisted) Sledgehammer Games (assisted) Beenox (PC, with assistance from Blizzard Entertainment) High Moon Studios
Publisher(s)	Activision
Designer(s)	Taylor Kurosaki Jacob Minkoff
Engine	In-house engine by Infinity Ward and Infinity Ward Poland
Release Date	October 25th, 2019
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Campaign Multiplayer Special Ops
Ratings	ACB: MA15+ ESRB: Mature 17+
Platforms	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One
Media	Blu-Ray Disc, Digital Download
System requirements	OS: Windows 7 64-Bit (SP1) or later Processor: Intel Core i5 2500k or AMD equivalent Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 2GB / GTX 1650 4GB or AMD Radeon HD 7950 DirectX: Version 12.0 Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

"Prepare to go dark, Modern Warfare® is back! The stakes have never been higher as players take on the role of lethal Tier One operators in a heart-racing saga that will affect the global balance of power. Developed by the studio that started it all, Infinity Ward delivers an epic reimagining of the iconic Modern Warfare series from the ground up."

— Official description

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Windows. It is a reboot of the original Modern Warfare trilogy. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is the sixteenth game in the Call of Duty franchise, the fourth game in the Modern Warfare series and Infinity Ward's second to be developed in a three-year development cycle. Announced on May 30, 2019, the game was released on October 25, 2019.

Development

Upon returning to the Modern Warfare series, Infinity Ward set out to create a game ripped straight from the real world terrorism that exists in modern-day 2019. A week before the game's reveal, Studio Narrative Director Taylor Kurosaki and Single-Player Director Jacob Minkoff explained this new game as a more mature, authentic and relevant Call of Duty game that's not a superhero caricature, but instead, a down-to-earth representation of the realities of being a soldier to the journalists. "It's taking scenarios that are "ripped from the headlines." Among the stated goals for the game's campaign: "Create an emotional connection through the realities of war," and "Push the boundaries of the medium."

In an interview with GameSpot, Kurosaki was asked what re-imagining the story of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to be relevant in the world today means to him and what are some of the key inspirations. Kurosaki responded "Sure, well. The original game was ripped from the headlines. But, it was ripped from the headlines of 2007 and now, here we are 12 years later and the world further changed. I would say that compared to 2007, Operation Iraqi Freedom or whatever it was, that was a kind of traditional warfare. Those were guys in tanks, fighting other guys in tanks and Jeeps and this side wore this uniform and this other side wore a different uniform and this side flew this flag and the other side flew the other flag.

Today, modern warfare means that the war isn't just over there. That the war is everywhere. It's in our own backyards. It's in places that can suddenly become a battlefield at a moment's notice. It's about enemies who don't wear uniforms. It's about civilian collateral damage kind of being, unfortunately, part of the equation. When we set out to make this game, we asked ourselves a very literal question. We just said, 'What do the words, modern warfare mean in 2019?' Not what does the game name mean, but those words as just words: Modern warfare and for us, it meant that a busy city center could be the site of a terrorist attack. That a residential compound could be the safe house of a terror cell, that commandos have to go into and eliminate the cell. It means that it's not the only sort of John Wayne-style American G.I.s, but it's also local militias and freedom fighters. Where families are hit by airstrikes and people have to pick the pieces up by picking arms up and fighting for their own independence. That, to us, was the definition of modern warfare and if we didn't have all of those elements in this game, we wouldn't be doing justice to that name."

Campaign

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a reboot of the Modern Warfare subseries that takes characters and themes from the original series and presents them in a modern light. Captain Price returns in this game's campaign.

Modern Warfare is said to deliver an emotionally charged and intense campaign that shines a light on the changing nature of modern war. Fight alongside a diverse cast of international special forces, freedom fighters and Arab soldiers by working within the grey area of their rules of engagement in a number of heart-pounding covert operations set throughout iconic European cities and into the volatile expanses of the Middle East.

The locations included London where a terrorist attack occurs at the start of the game and the fictional country of Urzikstan. The plot is linear. Multiple characters are playable, each with a different perspective on the conflicts at hand.

The plot is designed with a lot of references to the original trilogy, indicating that the action happened in a similar alternative universe. At the end of the campaign, Price formed a new Task Force 141 with many of the original members. It was revealed that Price and MacMillan in this universe also attempted an assassination on Imran Zakhaev in Pripyat and Kamarov owed Price a favor for Beirut again. Many in-jokes were preserved as well.

Achievements & Trophies

Template:CoD16 Achievements

Multiplayer

"The ultimate online playground."

— Description of Multiplayer.

Modern Warfare's multiplayer mode features signature Call of Duty fast-paced and grounded combat while it also introduces brand new game types and experiences from 2v2 Gunfight matches to 100+ players in Ground War. Ditching class-based combat from the previous titles, the game aims to accommodate all play styles by providing more customization options to the players, featuring deep weapon augmentation in the Gunsmith and replacing Specialists with Operators. Modern Warfare is also the first game in the franchise to feature crossplay across consoles and PC.

On September 17, 2019, Activision revealed that Post-launch gameplay content including new multiplayer maps, new multiplayer modes as well as new Special Ops missions will be released simultaneously across all platforms.

Gunsmith

Main article: Gunsmith

"Tune your arsenal to your playstyle at the Gunsmith, which houses the most weapon choices ever in a Call of Duty title."

— Description of the Gunsmith

The Gunsmith is a feature in Create-A-Class introduced to Modern Warfare. It allows the players to augment any weapon in a loadout with various customization options including up to 60 attachments to pick for each weapon.

Gunfight

Main article: Gunfight

"Small team, multi-round cage matches. First team to reach the round win limit wins."

— Description of Gunfight.

Gunfight is a new game mode introduced to Modern Warfare. Similar to the Face-Off mode from Modern Warfare 3, Gunfight puts the players into a 2v2 match on small maps specifically designed for the mode. Each player is given the same loadout every 2 rounds with perks and killstreaks disabled. The first team to win 6 rounds wins the match.

2v2 Alpha

The 2v2 Alpha featuring Gunfight, exclusive to the Playstation 4 was announced during Gamescom Opening Live on August 19, 2019. It began on August 23 with an early release a day prior. The Alpha is available for free to all PS4 users. Playstation Plus membership is not required.

Open Beta

The Playstation 4 Exclusive Open Beta was scheduled from September 14 to 16. The players who pre-ordered the game could gain early access to the Beta 2 days prior to the Open Beta on September 12.

The Open Beta for all platforms featuring cross-play functionality went from September 21 to 23. The Xbox One and PC players who pre-ordered the game gained early access to the Beta on September 19 while all PS4 players had access to the Beta.

Battle Pass

On October 17, 2019, it was announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare would do away with the standard micro transactional systems that were added into the prior games and would rather feature a two-state Battle Pass system similar to the prior "Operations" in the prior games, but feature a Premium Stream and a Free Stream of content. Within this new system, it is entirely possible to earn CODPoints through standard gameplay along with cosmetic items that do not affect gameplay.

Along with this, Any future weaponry added in will be entirely earned via gameplay and the "In-Game store" will only feature cosmetic items.

Special Ops

Main article: Special Ops

"Squad-up and play cooperatively in a collection of elite operations accessible to all skill levels."

— Official description.

The co-op mode Special Ops returns from the original Modern Warfare series as an extension of Modern Warfare's single-player campaign where the players join in the fight to stop and sever a global terror organization.

Survival Mode

Main article: Survival Mode

Survival mode from Modern Warfare 3 also returns as an additional mode of Spec Ops with 3 maps available at launch. The mode is only available on PlayStation 4 until October 1, 2020. Locking the survival mode of Special Ops behind a long exclusivity period sparked outrage among the community with many players canceling their pre-orders.

Editions

Standard Edition

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare game
• Playable Captain price Blackout Character in Black Ops 4
• Custom In-Game Tactical Knife (Digital pre-order only)
• Prestige Token in Black Ops 4 (Digital pre-order only)
• XRK Weapons Pack (Digital pre-order only)

Operator Edition

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare game
• All Ghillied Up Operator Pack
• Crew Expendable Operator Pack
• War Pig Operator Pack
• Playable Captain Price Blackout Character in Black Ops 4
• Custom In-Game Tactical Knife
• Prestige Token in Black Ops 4
• XRK Weapons Pack

Operator Enhanced Edition

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare game
• 3000 CODPoints
• All Ghillied Up Operator Pack
• Crew Expendable Operator Pack
• War Pig Operator Pack
• Playable Captain Price Blackout Character in Black Ops 4
• Custom In-Game Tactical Knife
• Prestige Token in Black Ops 4
• XRK Weapons Pack

Precision Edition

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare game
• Steelbook
• KontrolFreek Modern Warfare branded Performance Thumbsticks
• KontrolFreek Modern Warfare branded Controller Skin
• All Ghillied Up Operator Pack
• Crew Expendable Operator Pack
• War Pig Operator Pack
• Playable Captain Price Blackout Character in Black Ops 4
• Custom In-Game Tactical Knife

Dark Edition

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare game
• Steelbook
• Night Vision Goggles
• Display Stand for Night Vision Goggles
• All Ghillied Up Operator Pack
• Crew Expendable Operator Pack
• War Pig Operator Pack
• Custom In-Game Tactical Knife
• Call of Duty Endowment Animated Calling Card (Included at participating retailers only)

Gallery

Promotional Images

Operator Edition Bonuses.

Operator Packs included in special editions.

Dark Edition Bonuses and the Night Vision Goggles.

Box Art

Standard Edition

Playstation 4

Xbox One

Microsoft Windows (PC)

Operator Edition

Operator Edition for Playstation 4

Operator Edition for Xbox One

Operator Edition for Microsoft Windows (PC)

Operator Enhanced Edition

Operator Enhanced Edition for Playstation 4

Operator Enhanced Edition for Xbox One

Operator Enhanced Edition for Microsoft Windows (PC)

Precision Edition

Precision Edition for Playstation 4

Precision Edition for Xbox One

Dark Edition

Dark Edition for Playstation 4

Dark Edition for Xbox One

Campaign

Multiplayer

Special Ops

Videos

Official Call of Duty® Modern Warfare® - Reveal Trailer

Call of Duty® Modern Warfare 4K Gunfight Gameplay

Call of Duty Modern Warfare - Multiplayer Premiere

Call of Duty® Modern Warfare® Multiplayer Reveal Trailer

Call of Duty® Modern Warfare® MP Gameplay Premiere Recap

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4K Multiplayer Gameplay

Call of Duty Modern Warfare Official GeForce RTX Ray Tracing Reveal Trailer

Call of Duty Modern Warfare - Gamescom 2019 2v2 Alpha Trailer PS4

Call of Duty® Modern Warfare® Multiplayer Beta Trailer

Call of Duty® Modern Warfare® Multiplayer Beta Trailer Weekend 2

Official Call of Duty® Modern Warfare® – Story Trailer

Call of Duty Modern Warfare - XRK Weapons Pack PS4

Call of Duty® Modern Warfare® Behind the Scenes Story Trailer

Official Call of Duty® Modern Warfare® - Becoming Captain Price

Official Call of Duty® Modern Warfare® - Launch Gameplay Trailer

Call of Duty® Modern Warfare® - Special Ops Trailer

Official Call of Duty® Modern Warfare® – PC Trailer

Reception

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare received "generally favorable" reviews on Metacritic getting a metascore of 81/100 on both PC & Xbox One and 80/100 on PS4. While on whatoplay.com, it receives an aggregate score (playscore) of 8.36 on PS4 ranks 3rd place on its "Top 10 PS4 FPS Games of All Time" list. It also gives playscore of 8.59 on Xbox One.