Modern Warfare 4 is sending us to North Korea, but its new bullet tech is perhaps its best bit

Infinity Ward dumped a metric ton of Modern Warfare 4 on me. In a secret briefing, I was given everything from a release date to campaign details, multiplayer improvements, and a lot more I can’t talk about right now. I’d say I can barely move, but since it’s adding a bunch of new movement tech to the FPS game as well, I’ll probably be fine. Here’s what you need to know.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4’s release date is October 23, 2026. It will be available on PC, current-gen Xbox consoles, and Playstation 5, with a Switch 2 version also in the pipeline. Infinity Ward has thrown the old console generation straight in the bin; let’s hope it pays off.

The long-running series is, this year, taking the rest of the grunts and I to a brand new location: the Korean Peninsula. South Korea, mostly, with a splash of North for good measure. Modern Warfare 4’s campaign mode delves into the ‘what if’ again – what if North Korea decided to attack its neighbour, and how would a fairly fresh recruit deal with such an event?

The whole gang appears to be present and correct, except for Soap, obviously. We’ve got a bit of interpersonal-drama-with-knives between Price and Ghost, and then there are a few more friendly faces in Paris. The real draw here, though, is South Korea; a mixed squad of American and South Korean privates has to navigate a surprise attack on home soil, sorting through the mess and trying to find a way forward.

Call of Duty has yet to visit either North Korea or South Korea, except for a mission in Advanced Warfare, but we don’t talk about that. Looks like we’re getting the full tour here, though, and when we mix in the Price exploits and whatever’s happening in Paris, Modern Warfare 4 is yet again cementing itself as the globetrotting holiday for those with itchy trigger fingers.

The multiplayer section of Call of Duty has always garnered the most attention of the yearly package, and for good reason; how do you make significant changes to what is essentially the same game? A lick of paint and some new maps don’t cut it anymore, so the news that MW4 is tinkering with the core of what Call of Duty is comes as a pleasant surprise.

Infinity Ward is obsessed with player feel. That almost unexplainable vibe you get from just existing in their world. This year, it’s having a bloody good go at not only quantifying that vibe but improving on it. Weapon bloom is a big factor, apparently, and for those who don’t know what bloom is, I can almost guarantee you’ve been annoyed by it before. I know I have.

Weapon bloom is essentially the randomization of bullet spread, most notably during hipfire. FPS games will usually take a cone in front of the player and completely randomize where each bullet goes within that circle, regardless of where the barrel of the gun is pointing. Infinity Ward has stripped this tech down and rebuilt it, with bullets acting more naturally and, ultimately, hipfire being more responsive and satisfying.

It might not sound like much, but incremental gains are what push these types of games forward, and if this new technology – Ballistic Authority – works, we’ll be seeing it everywhere, I guarantee it.

It can sometimes be difficult to get excited about a yearly release, but I have some genuine buzz for Modern Warfare 4. The suite of maps looks vibrant and distinct, the campaign story is compelling, and the under-the-hood tinkering to weapon feel for multiplayer could be a game-changer. Plus, there’s that stuff I can’t quite talk about yet. Bright times ahead for CoD, I reckon.