Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Beat Black Ops 7 Without Multiplayer. Here’s the Catch.

Jeu : Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 | Développeur : Infinity Ward | Éditeur : Activision | Plateformes : PC (Steam, Battle.net, Xbox PC), PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2 | Date de sortie : October 23, 2026 (campaign early access October 16, DMZ early access October 20) | Prix : $69.99 (Vault Edition $99.99)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is out now, with multiplayer joining the campaign and DMZ on October 23. The game arrives with real momentum, since Call of Duty on Steam passed 108,500 concurrent players during campaign early access. That figure already beats Black Ops 7’s entire launch, although it comes with important caveats.

A Story Mode That Outdrew Last Year’s Launch

CharlieINTEL first flagged the peak on October 17, citing SteamDB data, and TheGamer compared it with earlier entries. Black Ops 7 topped out at roughly 100,000 Steam players across its whole launch window. In other words, pre-order buyers playing a single-player campaign outdrew the previous game’s multiplayer debut.

DMZ early access followed on October 20, and multiplayer opened to everyone with the full launch. A higher peak could follow over the launch weekend. So far, though, no new confirmed figure has surfaced.

Why 108,500 Isn’t the Whole Picture

SteamDB tracks the shared Call of Duty app, which also contains Warzone and older premium entries. As a result, the 108,500 figure is not a clean count of Modern Warfare 4 players alone.

Game Pass also shapes the comparison. Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7 both launched on the service, which pulled some PC players away from Steam. By contrast, Modern Warfare 4 skips Game Pass at launch, so more PC buyers likely went straight to Steam.

The beta adds another wrinkle. According to TweakTown, the August beta peaked at 115,145 players before sliding to about 28,730 within 24 hours. Players also left Mixed reviews then, criticizing aim assist, small maps, and time-to-kill.

Still Far From the 300,000 Club

For perspective, recent launches set a much higher bar. Black Ops 6 pushed the shared app to 306,460 players in October 2024, as Game World Observer reported. The same report listed earlier peaks:

• Modern Warfare II (2022): about 263,000 concurrent players at launch. Warzone 2.0 later set the series record above 491,000.
• Modern Warfare III (2023): about 190,700 players. Its campaign also drew harsh reviews, including a 4/10 from IGN.
• Black Ops 7 (2025): around 100,000 players, with a Steam user rating stuck below 40 percent.

How Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Is Reviewing So Far

Steam players have been unusually kind. DualShockers reported a 93 percent positive rating during early access, the series’ best on Steam in well over a decade. However, those reviews come from pre-order buyers, who skew toward committed fans.

Critics are cooler, and most full verdicts remain in progress. The PC critic reviews on Metacritic mostly score the campaign alone, often in the 70 to 80 range. GameSpot gave the story 7/10, praising its pacing but criticizing brief boss fights and a lack of new ideas.

The campaign follows a North Korean invasion of the Korean Peninsula, with Captain Price fighting his own war. It closes the rebooted saga and marks Infinity Ward’s first Call of Duty since 2022.

Multiplayer Gets Its Turn

Multiplayer launches with 12 core 6v6 maps, plus a returning Gunfight mode with its own map pool. Infinity Ward also rebuilt the gunplay around a new weapon-handling system that removes bloom.

Platform reach is wider this time, too. Digital Legends built the Switch 2 version natively, while Beenox optimized the PC release. Notably, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 does not join Game Pass at launch, so subscribers must buy it outright.

Campaign Won, Multiplayer Next

Beating Black Ops 7 with a story mode alone is a real signal, especially without day-one Game Pass. Still, the shared app and the beta’s steep drop show how quickly Call of Duty momentum can fade. If multiplayer fixes the beta’s flaws, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 could reverse the series’ slide on Steam.