Modern Warfare 4 Early Access Hits 91% on Steam, Call of Duty's Best Since 2010

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's campaign early access went live on 16 October, as Xbox Wire announced, and the first Steam verdict is unusually warm. At 06:34 UTC on 18 October, its Steam page counted 2,004 positive reviews out of 2,205, or 90.9%, which is the best share for any Call of Duty on Steam since Black Ops in 2010.

This piece is built on Steam's public review summaries, read in one pass for every Call of Duty with its own store page, plus Activision's launch details as published by Xbox Wire and reported by Pure Xbox, Windows Central and IGN. Nobody at AFK Journal has played the campaign; the opinions here belong to the players and critics cited.

Who can play Modern Warfare 4 right now?

Early access covers the campaign only and is limited to players who pre-ordered the Standard or Vault Edition digitally, according to Pure Xbox. Physical pre-orders unlock with the disc on launch day, as Windows Central explains. Xbox Wire has since dated DMZ early access for 20 October and the full release for 23 October, which it describes as a standalone launch.

How does 90.9% compare with other Call of Duty games on Steam?

Insider Gaming spotted the trend first on 17 October, when the game stood at 81.15% from roughly 900 reviews. The share has risen since, as more early-access players reached the end of the campaign. The table below ranks every Call of Duty with its own Steam store page by the same all-language figure.

The four games above Modern Warfare 4 all came out between 2007 and 2010. Everything released since then sits lower, including Black Ops III, the most-reviewed entry on Steam at 85.2%. The gap to last year's Black Ops 7 is more than 53 points.

Why the score could still move

The sample is small and self-selected: 2,205 reviews against Black Ops III's 234,876, all from people who paid in advance to play early, and all about the campaign. Multiplayer, the part of Call of Duty most players stay for, is not playable until 23 October. English-language reviews alone were slightly higher, at 91.9% of 853.

The comparison also has gaps. Modern Warfare II (2022), Modern Warfare III (2023) and Black Ops 6 have no separate score: their reviews are pooled in the Call of Duty HQ app, which stood at 58.6% of 785,046. Modern Warfare (2019), Cold War and Vanguard only reached Steam on 8 March 2023, years after launch, so their scores reflect late buyers.

What it means for players

If you buy Call of Duty for the story, the early signals agree: players on Steam are positive and IGN scored the campaign 8/10, with its reviewer saying it made them feel something for the series again. Spoilers are already circulating, which is a reason to play sooner or mute keywords.

If you buy it for multiplayer or DMZ, this score tells you little; wait for the first week of reviews after 23 October. The game is not on Game Pass at launch, so there is no cheap way to try it first. Our October 2026 release calendar lists what else lands the same week, and we will track the Steam figure on our Modern Warfare 4 hub once multiplayer goes live.