Everything You Need To Know

It’s that time of year again. This year’s Call Of Duty beta weekends are about to kick off. The first weekend is a closed beta, so be sure to keep reading to find out how to get early access. The second weekend is an open beta and will also feature the new Warzone map. Let’s dive right in.

What Time Does The MW4 Early Access Closed Beta Start And End?

This year, the big Call Of Duty: NEXT event is being hosted virtually, so streamers and content creators and journalists will be hopping into the game at 9am PT on Friday, August 21. You can watch your favorite streamers play, listen to devs from Infinity Ward talk about the game and all that fun stuff.

The Early Access beta kicks off immediately following the NEXT event at 11 am PT / 2 pm ET. Here’s what that translates to in your timezone:

North America

• Pacific (Los Angeles) — 11:00 AM, Fri
• Mountain (Denver) — 12:00 PM, Fri
• Central (Chicago) — 1:00 PM, Fri
• Eastern (New York) — 2:00 PM, Fri

South America

• Brazil (São Paulo) — 3:00 PM, Fri
• Argentina (Buenos Aires) — 3:00 PM, Fri

Europe

• UK (London) — 7:00 PM, Fri
• Central Europe (Berlin, Paris, Madrid) — 8:00 PM, Fri
• Eastern Europe (Athens, Helsinki) — 9:00 PM, Fri
• Moscow — 9:00 PM, Fri

Middle East / Africa

• Lagos — 7:00 PM, Fri
• Johannesburg — 8:00 PM, Fri
• Dubai — 10:00 PM, Fri

Asia-Pacific

• India (IST) — 11:30 PM, Fri
• Singapore / Hong Kong / Manila — 2:00 AM, Sat
• Japan / Korea — 3:00 AM, Sat
• Sydney (AEST) — 4:00 AM, Sat
• Auckland (NZST) — 6:00 AM, Sat

The closed beta runs until Tuesday, August 25 at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET.

The open beta kicks off the following weekend at 10 am PT / 1pm ET on Friday, August 28 and runs through Tuesday, September 1 at 10 am.

How Do I Get Access To The MW4 Closed Beta?

The easiest way to get into the Early Access weekend portion of the MW4 beta is to pre-order the game. You’ll get a code delivered ahead of time. You can also watch the NEXT event as streamers will be giving away codes, and you can even head over to my YouTube channel where I’m giving away a bunch of Early Access codes as well.

What Platforms Is MW4 Releasing On?

This year’s game is launching on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch 2. The Xbox One and PS4 will no longer be supported in the main game or Warzone. Hopefully that translates into a better-looking – and better-playing – FPS.

How And When Can I Download The MW4 Beta?

The MW4 beta is not going to be part of the Call Of Duty app on any platform, so you’ll need to search for Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 (you might have to add “beta” to the search depending on your platform) separately whether on Steam, Battle.net, or the Xbox and PlayStation stores. The Nintendo Switch 2 will be part of the open beta, but not this first weekend. The beta will be available to pre-load on Switch 2 on August 26. Once you find the game, install it so that it pre-loads Thursday evening. That way you can get right into the action on Friday morning.

One neat thing for PC players: There will now be shader preloading, so shaders will actually compile before you launch the game. The devs are also promising fewer updates that require a restart, which is a nice touch.

What Content Will Be Available During The MW4 Early Access Beta?

While we are getting access to the new Zodiac Resurgence map in Warzone during the second beta weekend, the Early Access beta is all about Multiplayer with just a dash of the single-player campaign.

Multiplayer Maps (Weekend 1)

• Rooftops
• Silkworm
• Transit 213
• Cachette
• Lotus
• Kill Block (a map that changes every time you play it)

Lotus gets swapped out for Lithium in the second weekend, so only Early Access players get a chance to play on that map ahead of launch.

Modes include Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Inflation, Search & Destroy, Kill Block, 10v10 and 3v3 Gunfight, and the Mobility Course. There’s also a new Inflation mode that remains classified. I’m pretty stoked to see S&D in a beta.

The Campaign mission “Entrenched” is also going to be available during the beta, which I believe is a first for Call of Duty betas. I’m genuinely excited to play that and get a taste of the campaign – especially after the bad taste Black Ops 7’s campaign left in my mouth.

The large-scale Ground War mode Combat Outpost will launch with maps Imjin Farmland and Wolves Stadium in Weekend 2. The Zodiac Warzone Resurgence map also drops with the open beta. Hijack and Combat Outpost modes also come to normal multiplayer that weekend.

Modern Warfare 4 Beta Rewards

As always, some cosmetics and other goodies await beta players this year as you work your way up through Level 20 in the first weekend and 30 in the second.

• During Weekend One, the first five of the Rewards, up to “Dread Tiger” Operator Skin for Reece, can be unlocked, as the maximum Player Level you can progress to is Level 20.
• During Weekend Two, all eight of the Rewards, up to and including the “Beta Forged” Weapon Blueprint for the ISO Nightshade SMG, can be unlocked. The maximum Player Level you can progress to is increased to Level 30.

These rewards will not be available to earn after the Modern Warfare 4 Beta concludes. All Beta Rewards that you unlock will be available in the full game when it releases on October 23.

Beta Rewards

• Level 4: “Through the Paces” Legendary Emblem
• Level 8: “First Served” Weapon Charm
• Level 12: “Meonjeo” Legendary Weapon Sticker
• Level 16: “Last Charge” Legendary Calling Card
• Level 20: “Dread Tiger” Operator Skin – Reece
• Level 23: “Field Tested” Epic Spray
• Level 26: “Beta Rights” Epic Loading Screen
• Level 30: “Beta Forged” ISO Nightshade Weapon Blueprint

Additional Rewards

There’s even more to unlock throughout the Modern Warfare 4 Beta. Keep an eye out for additional cosmetic rewards earned through a variety of activities, including:

• Default Items (immediately available): 3 Emblems, 3 Calling Cards, 1 Spray, and 3 Loading Screens.
• [CLASSIFIED] Challenge Reward: [CLASSIFIED] Charm.
• Combat Record Rewards: [CLASSIFIED] Weapon Blueprint, Emblem, and Charm.
• [CLASSIFIED] Challenge Reward: [CLASSIFIED].

Call of Duty: NEXT Twitch Drops

You can also earn rewards just for watching the Call Of Duty: NEXT event.

• “Gas Ready” Emblem (for watching 15 minutes)
• “Rapple Repel” Calling Card (for watching 30 minutes)
• “Ghost Helmet” Charm (for watching 45 minutes)