Modern Warfare 3 is finally official - Call of Duty is staying right where it is, with a direct continuation of the action from 2022’sModern Warfare 2.
It had been rumoured that MW2 would get two years of support, but we’re getting MW3 instead, completing a second trilogy of Modern Warfare games. Find out all the key details you need to know, right here.
COD Modern Warfare 3 release date
Modern Warfare 3 will be released on10 November 2023, as announced in early August.
Each year, the annual Call of Duty’s precise release date is a closely-guarded secret until it’s officially announced, and that was no different this time around.
COD Modern Warfare 3 pre-orders
Pre-orders are now open for MW3 - you can secure your copy now. That might not get you a discount, but it’s your key to the earliest access to its upcoming betas, as well as pre-load ahead of release.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)
Get your pre-orders in now for the next COD phenomenon.
COD Modern Warfare 3 betas
It’s become an annual ritual for COD to hold closed and open betas to fine-tune its multiplayer modes, and this year is no different. Pre-ordering gets you access on the weekends you’ll see below, with PlayStation players already having had an extra weekend to try things out.
You’ll be able to unlock rewards and in-game items for completing challenges in the limited time that the beta is available. We’ve been playing it a whole bunch andyou can check out our impressions right here.
COD Modern Warfare 3 platforms
We now know the full range of platforms that MW3 will appear on, and it’s unsurprisingly the same roster that welcomed MW2 a year earlier.
This means it will be playable on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC.
COD Modern Warfare 3 trailers
We got our first major trailer for Modern Warfare 3 in mid-August, heralded by a reveal event in Warzone. It’s an extended look at the campaign, without many glimpses of multiplayer.
This was swiftly followed up at Gamescom 2023 in the form of a 9-minute campaign gameplay showcase, which you can watch below.
It gives us a tense and careful infiltration of the same prison in Verdansk that millions might recognise from the first version of Warzone.
Prior to these trailers, all we had was the incredibly brief trailer that announced the game’s name and release date.
COD Modern Warfare 3 story and gameplay
On the story front, Modern Warfare 2’s tale of global espionage and terrorism has continued through the release of four episodic Raids that have complemented its post-launch seasonal content drops.
Those are now finished, and while they don’t make for the most intense story revelations, they do bring back at least one major character from 2019’s Modern Warfare, and further confirm the nature of the big baddie we’ll be taking on in Modern Warfare 3 - Makarov.
This is the first time in ages that we’ll have a direct story sequel to play without any intervening games from other sub-series like Black Ops, which should be nice.
On the gameplay side, it’s now been confirmed that we’ll be able to carry over all of our Operators, skins, gun unlocks and progression from Modern Warfare 2 into MW3, as was first hinted at by the official poll below.
This is very welcome to save any duplicated unlock requirements but is also an acknowledgement of the fact that a lot of the weaponry and operators we’ll have access to in multiplayer will be the same as in MW2.
That similarity should mean a smooth transition forWarzone, too, which is likely to get an all-new map (probably situated in the fictional Las Almas area) but otherwise maintain the same gameplay options and feel.
Modern Warfare 3 Zombies
Activision has now confirmed that Modern Warfare 3 will bring a fully-fledged Zombies mode with it, a first for the Modern Warfare sub-series.
There are some big changes to the formula. For one thing, it’ll be on one big open-world map with multiple squads of players at the same time (a little likeDMZcurrently).
Like DMZ, there will be an extraction mechanic encouraging you to get the heck out of the map when things start to overwhelm you, and we’ll apparently fight some of the biggest enemies in COD history.
The game mode is being created by Treyarch, further cementing the way modern COD games are now made by a handful of discrete studios at the same time.
COD Modern Warfare 3 title
It has now been officially confirmed that 2023’s Call of Duty is actually Modern Warfare 3, after weeks of rumours to that effect.
Way back before the release of Modern Warfare 2, reports indicated that Activision was considering a break with tradition - that it would give the game two years of full support with just a paid expansion after 12 months, not a new game entirely.
That’s now been overwritten, though, and we’ll instead be getting a full game instead, in the form of Moden Warfare 3.
