When is the Modern Warfare 3 release date? There were rumors last year that Activision might be taking a break from its annual cycle of Call of Duty games, giving Sledgehammer Games more time to craft a sequel. Well, thankfully, it turns out that those rumors were false.
Modern Warfare 2 was originally intended to last two years, with Sledgehammer Games set to work on a ‘premium release’ expansion to continue the FPS game’s single-player campaign. This plan pivoted to a full-blown release, and now we know Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 will launch soon. MW3 is set to become one of the biggest upcoming games, so here’s everything we know about the MW3 release date, including the latest rumors and leaks.
When is the Modern Warfare 3 release date?
Activision has confirmed that the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 release date is Friday, November 10, 2023, on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and S, and Xbox One.
This release date came amidst rumors that there would be no full release this year, with the developer instead opting for a larger, more premium, expansion to Modern Warfare 2. We will, in fact, be getting an entirely new game.
The game, following on from MW1 & 2’s re-imagining of the series sees our squad turn their focus to the deadly, and ruthless, Makarov. Anyone who played the original games will know Makarov from the infamous ‘No Russian’ mission.
Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer beta
Modern Warfare 3 will hold two multiplayer betas. The first is a PS5 exclusive and begins on Friday, October 6, 2023, with the PC beta coming a week later on Friday, October 13, 2023.
Modern Warfare 3 trailers
The MW3 Makarov reveal trailer revealed that Makarov is returning as the villain while revealing the FPS game’s release date. If you can’t remember Makarov from the original trilogy, he was the guy who said, “Remember, no Russian” in MW2’s infamous mission.
The trailer mixes live-action footage with game footage to reveal Makarov being walked to his prison cell as Captain Price (Barry Sloane) narrates. The action-filled gameplay clips show off some of what we can expect from the new campaign, including more underwater levels and a clip of operatives scaling a fortress, presumably the prison, as Price confirms our next target is Makarov, now voiced and played by Julian Kostov.
A later gameplay trailer expands on the scenes shown in the Makarov trailer, accompanied by a chilling cover version of Blue Oyster Cult’s Don’t Fear the Reaper – though whether that’s Makarov or us that he’s coming for is presumably up to you. Familiar faces from the previous games are then revealed to be back, including Farah, Soap, Gaz, and Ghost, before a strong hint that the famous No Russian mission will be rebooted in some form, and the words come through as a text to someone’s phone.
Modern Warfare 3 campaign
During Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 22, 2023, the first footage of campaign gameplay was revealed, confirming that our first mission takes place in the Kostovian Sea as you scale and infiltrate the prison holding Makarov in Operation 627.
Open combat missions
Operation 627, the first mission in MW3, is a classic cinematic quest in which your movements and decisions are fairly linear, just like we’ve expected from Call of Duty games for some time. However, during Gamescom ONL, Sledghammer’s Dave Swenson announced all-new open combat missions, which will make up part of the Modern Warfare 2 campaign, mixed in with the more traditional COD gameplay style.
In open combat missions, you are more in control than ever, able to choose just how you want to act, and putting you in the shoes of Task Force 141 more than ever before. Rather than being told how to act by the game, you can choose to go in stealthily and complete the mission without ever engaging, or you can go in all guns blazing – literally. Use vehicles, lethals, tacticals, and more as you see fit. The biggest change in these open combat missions, though, is perhaps the option to use your favorite multiplayer killstreaks.
Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer modes
Aside from the aforementioned campaign, there are several multiplayer offerings. We’ll touch on zombies in a bit as that has some extra juicy information, but there are also a few confirmed competitive multiplayer modes:
- Cutthroat – a brand new mode for Modern Warfare 3.
- Ground War – a 20v20 match where players fight to capture waypoints to earn enough score to win.
- Invasion – a mix of player and AI-controlled soldiers fight in a 20v20 match to reach a target score, with player kills worth more points than AI kills.
- War Mode – a team of attackers must overwhelm a defense team in objective-based, narrative-driven gameplay.
Though we’ve had no confirmation of other modes appearing in MW3 so far, we usually get a trailer showcasing all the available multiplayer offerings in Call of Duty games just before the beta’s release, which this time around seems to be during Call of Duty Next.
Modern Warfare 3 zombies
The fan-favorite zombies mode takes place in the Modern Warfare universe for the first time, with a brand-new open-world zombies experience. In this new multiplayer mode, team up with multiple squads to defeat waves of zombies across the largest ever zombies map. Hopefully, there will be some cool easter eggs to unlock, as we’ve seen in previous zombies modes.
Modern Warfare 3 store items carry forward
The Call of Duty Twitter account referenced a rumor going around about MW2 store purchases. To get ahead of leaks, the devs decided to post about store purchases from MW2 carrying forward to the next game. This means you can continue to buy in-game items in Modern Warfare 2 without having to worry that they’re going to be phased out when people decide to drop MW2 entirely.
Modern Warfare 3 early access
If you pre-ordered the Modern Warfare 2 Vault Edition last year, players were given access to the campaign one week earlier. The same is true this time around, with players getting early access to the Modern Warfare 3 campaign with the Vault Edition of the game.
That’s all we know about the Modern Warfare 3 release date so far. Until you can finally get your hands on the direct Modern Warfare 2 sequel, why not take a look at some of the best PC games to find titles made by indie and AAA developers? We also have a list of the best battle royale games if you’re looking for something like Call of Duty: Warzone to play.
