At a Glance

  • Modern Warfare 4 is the best-received Call of Duty in over a decade, per DualShockers.
  • Early Steam reviews sit at 93% positive.
  • That is the strongest series reception since the original Modern Warfare 2 in 2007.
  • So far only the campaign early access (open to digital pre-orders) has been widely reviewed.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is the 2026 mainline entry from Infinity Ward, and early sentiment is extraordinary. DualShockers reports the game is the best-received CoD in more than ten years.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 key art
Image: via the web.

The Numbers Behind the Hype

The headline figure is a 93% positive rating on Steam. That score currently reflects players who jumped in through the campaign early-access window — digital pre-orders on every platform unlocked the story on October 16, a full week before the October 23 full launch.

DualShockers frames the 93% as a height the series has not touched since the original Modern Warfare 2 launched in 2007. For a franchise that releases annually and frequently splits opinion, a decade-plus best is a genuine milestone.

Campaign-Only, For Now

An important caveat: these are campaign reviews. Multiplayer, the mode that usually defines a CoD’s reputation, has not yet opened to the broader player base. Early-access campaign players are a self-selecting, enthusiastic group, so the number will likely move once the full game lands and everyone piles in.

Still, a strong campaign first impression removes a common complaint — that recent entries arrive unfinished. If the multiplayer holds, Modern Warfare 4 could convert early goodwill into the rare universally-praised Call of Duty.

Where to Go Next

If you have not pre-ordered, our Modern Warfare 4 preload and unlock guide breaks down every date and platform. For the rest of the season’s releases, see the fall 2026 release calendar.

The Annual Franchise’s Reputation Problem

Call of Duty ships every year, and yearly shipping is its own reputational trap. Audiences expect competence and suspect fatigue in the same breath. The series has weathered genuine low points — Infinite Warfare famously became a punchline when its reveal trailer was review-bombed by fans who wanted a return to form — and genuine highs, most notably the 2019 Modern Warfare reboot that reset the tone and reminded people why the name mattered.

That pendulum is the context for any “best in a decade” claim. The bar is not just quality; it is the memory of disappointment. A 93% positive campaign rating lands harder because the franchise has spent years training fans to expect the worst.

Why Campaign-Only Numbers Mislead

The 93% reflects players who paid for early access to the campaign — a self-selecting, enthusiastic group that opted in before launch day. They are not a random sample. Enthusiasts who pre-order digital and dive into the story first are, almost by definition, predisposed to like what they came for.

Multiplayer, the mode that actually defines a Call of Duty’s legacy, has not opened to the broader base yet. Once it does, the score will move. That is not cynicism about the game; it is a reminder that a campaign-only verdict is a preview, not a final grade.

The Steam Verdict and Its Limits

Steam reviews are also a specifically PC signal. The franchise’s center of gravity is console, and the PC community that bothers to review is a narrower slice than the millions who will play on PlayStation and Xbox. A strong Steam showing is real and worth celebrating, but it is not the whole market’s verdict.

What a Strong Campaign Sets Up

If the multiplayer holds, Modern Warfare 4 could convert early goodwill into the rare universally-praised entry — the kind that resets expectations for the next annual installment. A great campaign removes the usual launch-week complaint that the story was an afterthought. Whether the live-service and multiplayer layers match is the question the full release will answer.

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