MW4 Beta: How to Get Early Access and What You Can Play

The Modern Warfare 4 Early Access Beta opens on Friday 21 August at 11:00 a.m. PT, and pre-load is already live on every platform that supports it. If you have pre-ordered, you can be downloading right now.

Here is every route in, what each of the two weekends actually contains, and the one thing in this beta that Call of Duty has never done before.

When does the MW4 beta start?

There are two weekends, and they have different rules and different start times.

Weekend One ends at 10:00 a.m. PT on 25 August. Weekend Two ends at 10:00 a.m. PT on 1 September.

Before the beta opens there is Call of Duty: NEXT, a two-hour broadcast starting at 9:00 a.m. PT on 21 August. The full game launches on 23 October 2026, with Campaign early access on 16 October for digital pre-orders.

How do you get early access to the MW4 beta?

Two ways, and only two: pre-order the game, or redeem a beta code. Anything else you have read about getting into Weekend One is one of those two in disguise.

Pre-order or pre-purchase the game. Either the Standard Edition or the Vault Edition, on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, PC via Battle.net, Xbox on PC, or Steam. If you bought a digital edition you need nothing else — access is attached to your account. If you pre-ordered a physical copy, your beta code is printed on the retail receipt or sent by email.

Redeem a beta code. Activision says codes are distributed “through various promotions prior to the Beta”, and you do not need to have pre-ordered to use one.

Can you play the MW4 beta without pre-ordering?

Yes — but for Weekend One you need a code, and for Weekend Two you need nothing at all.

The Open Beta from 28 August is free to everyone, on all platforms, with no pre-order and no code. That weekend also adds Nintendo Switch 2, which is not part of Early Access.

For Weekend One without a pre-order, the widely reported route is a Discord Nitro code. Nitro subscribers can claim an MW4 early access code from the Nitro Home tab, under Nitro Rewards. Two caveats worth knowing before you spend anything:

• It requires full Nitro at $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year. The cheaper Nitro Basic tier does not qualify.
• This promotion is not published on callofduty.com or on discord.com — it appears inside the Discord app. Multiple outlets report it consistently and Activision confirms codes exist via promotions, but check the Nitro Home tab yourself rather than taking anyone’s word for it.

At $9.99 against roughly $70 for a pre-order, it is by some distance the cheapest legitimate way into Weekend One.

How do you pre-load the MW4 beta?

Pre-load is live now on all five platforms. You install once and the same build covers both weekends — updates and progression carry over, so there is nothing to download again on 28 August.

One step people skip: sign in with your Activision Account before you play. Beta rewards are tied to that profile, and that is what carries them into the full game.

What can you play in Weekend One?

Five 6v6 maps, six modes, a new arena, a training course — and a Campaign mission.

The Campaign mission is the genuinely new thing. “Entrenched” is the first Campaign mission ever playable in a Call of Duty beta. You fight alongside friendly infantry and armour in a large-scale assault to stop a strategically vital nuclear power station falling into enemy hands.

Six Core 6v6 modes: Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Search and Destroy, and the new Inflation, where every elimination builds your fortune and simultaneously makes you a more valuable target.

Kill Block is a new arena that reconfigures every two rounds into a fresh Combo of three interconnected “Slabs”, each Combo bringing a randomised shared loadout. Gunfight runs there in classic 3v3 and a new 10v10 variant exclusive to Kill Block. Win by eliminating the other team or capturing the Overtime Flag.

The Mobility Course is a dedicated training facility for the game’s expanded movement system — guided tutorials first, then timed courses you can return to and improve on.

On the loadout side, Weekend One gives you:

Three more weapons are reachable through specific default loadouts or the Campaign mission, which takes the beta’s total to 22. Gunsmith returns, alongside two new systems: Apex Attachments, unlocked by fully levelling a supported weapon and applied without using an attachment slot, and Gunny, which recommends builds from attachments you already own.

What maps are in the MW4 beta?

Five in Weekend One: Rooftops, Silkworm, Transit 213, Cachette and Lotus. They are deliberately varied — no two share an engagement range, and only one of them is set in the United States.

Activision says more maps arrive later in the beta and again at launch.

What is new in Weekend Two?

The level cap lifts from 20 to 30, Warzone Resurgence arrives on a new map called Zodiac, Ground War is added, and Nintendo Switch 2 joins the platform list. Weekend Two is the bigger of the two weekends by content, and it is the free one.

• What the higher cap unlocks: the remaining five multiplayer weapons, two more Tacticals, three more Lethals, two more Field Upgrades, two more Killstreaks and three more Perks.
• Zodiac is the DRC Advanced Systems drone assembly headquarters — offices, rooftops, tunnels and shoreline. You deploy with Warzone-tailored default loadouts, teammates redeploy while you survive, and completing Contracts shortens their return timers.
• Ground War: Combat Outpost arrives at the same time.
• Switch 2 players get the beta here or not at all; the platform is not part of Early Access.

What rewards can you earn in the MW4 beta?

Eight rewards on a level ladder, running from Level 4 to Level 30 and earnable only during the beta. They are usable immediately once unlocked and carry into the full game at launch — the ladder ends with a weapon blueprint at Level 30.

Because Weekend One caps at Level 20, the first five are as far as anyone gets that weekend. The last three need Weekend Two, which is the free one — so the most valuable reward in the beta is behind the weekend that costs nothing.

There is more outside the ladder: three emblems, three calling cards, a spray and three loading screens are available by default, the Mobility Course Challenge gives a Clockwork Charm, and Combat Record rewards include a weapon blueprint Activision is still keeping classified.

Twitch Drops run on top of all of it, if you link your Activision and Twitch accounts:

What does the beta not include?

Weekend One has no Warzone and no Ground War. Both are Weekend Two only, so if Warzone is the reason you are interested, Early Access buys you nothing you cannot get free a week later.

Switch 2 owners cannot play Early Access at all, pre-order or not. That platform joins on 28 August.

It is not the full game. More maps, modes, weapons, Killstreaks, Perks and Operators arrive at launch on 23 October, and Activision has published a fuller breakdown of the beta on 21 August that goes past what was available when this was written.

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