Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is the direct sequel to the record-breaking Call of Duty: Modern Warfare ll. Players will experience a rich and immersive campaign with unprecedented player choice, picking up directly after Modern Warfare ll, all-new open world Zombies set on the largest Call of Duty Zombies map ever, and one of the greatest collections of Modern Warfare multiplayer maps ever assembled – both fan favorites and all new ones.

Get ready for an all-new Campaign that continues the story immediately following the events of Modern Warfare II. Lead developer Sledgehammer Games, in partnership with Infinity Ward is set to deliver a full Campaign of action-packed operations ranging from signature, cinematic experiences to free-form Open Combat Missions, resulting in more player choice than ever before.

Expect a world-class Multiplayer experience celebrating the Modern Warfare series’ greatest legacies; all 16 launch maps from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) have been modernized with new modes and gameplay features and will be available at launch to get everyone started, while over 12 all-new core 6v6 maps will fuel post-launch live seasons.

For the first time, team up with other squads to survive and fight massive hordes of the undead in the largest Call of Duty Zombies map ever. Modern Warfare Zombies (MWZ) tells a new Zombies story from developer Treyarch, with missions, core Zombies features, and a host of secrets to discover.

In the direct sequel to Modern Warfare II, Captain Price, and Task Force 141 face off against the ultimate threat. The ultranationalist Vladimir Makarov is extending his grasp across the world, causing Task Force 141 to fight like never before.

Combat means making decisions; using different Loadouts and planning different paths through every operation across an involved and thrilling Campaign. In addition to the signature, cinematic Call of Duty missions, Modern Warfare III introduces Open Combat Missions, with even greater emphasis on player choice. Naturally, you’ll have the use of all the weapons, equipment, and tactics present in an action-packed Modern Warfare single-player experience, but for some of your engagements, it is completely up to you to decide on an appropriate course of action.

Open Combat Missions (OCMs) are an exciting innovation to the Call of Duty Campaign. Not only do these complement the cinematic missions you’ve come to expect, but they also provide you with numerous additional choices regarding your methods of mission completion. For example, if you prefer to use stealth techniques, you may wish to undertake an OCM with a lights-out approach, using night-vision goggles and suppressed weapons and complete your objectives without your adversaries knowing you were even there. However, if loud explosions and reckless abandon are part of your repertoire, strap extra armor plates onto your torso and hit those targets head-on!

Feel free to take advantage of any operable vehicles within your area of operations. You’re able to experiment with and leverage tactical and lethal equipment. You have the flexibility to maneuver across the sizable landscape of a mission’s AO and approach objectives from multiple angles. You can truly play how you want to play, and Open Combat Missions will support it.

Today's Call of Duty update reveals more details about the Mission structure, your Equipment and Zombies Field Upgrades, Acquisitions and Schematics, Acts, Tiers, Rewards and what to find during your deployments to the Urzikstan Exclusion Zone.

Modern Warfare Zombies: Launch Content Overview

Welcome to Operation Deadbolt. Your main tasks — aside from surviving hordes of Zombies and the machinations of the PMC group Terminus Outcomes — are threefold:

• Operation Deadbolt: Explore an open world and search for valuable Acquisitions and Schematics.
• A World of Opportunity: Complete Contracts to earn Essence, collect Acquisitions, and clear Missions to discover what is really happening in the Exclusion Zone.
• Secure and Extract: You also need to learn when the situation on the ground becomes advantageous as well as untenable. Immerse yourself and work with other players to complete the more difficult mission objectives, and extract before you’re overwhelmed.

MWZ: Zombies Lobby

The Modern Warfare Zombies Lobby features the same Global Panel access, but the Main Menu is significantly different.

• The Main Menu across the top (Lobby, Gear, Strike Team, Customize, Battle Pass, Store) is meant to prepare you for your next mission to survive the undead hordes.
• The Match and Progress information along the bottom of the screen allows you to launch into your next match, and quickly ascertain how much of the Zombies Story Missions you’ve completed.

MWZ: Readying Up for a Mission

Strike Team Operators

Recruit any unlocked Operator for your Strike Team. Each recruited Operator will have their own “On-Soldier” Gear. All Operators you’ve unlocked from both Modern Warfare II and Modern Warfare III are available, and two Operators — Ripper and Scorch — are unlocked after you complete specific challenges within Zombies.

Each Strike Team Operator can be chosen and comes with five different customizable Equipment Slots. The Gear you find during missions is saved here, and includes Killstreaks, Armor, Gas Masks, and Medical items.

Rucksacks

Fill your Rucksack with essential Acquisitions that you find on the battlefield or craft via valuable Schematics. Initially there are up to five open slots on the Small Rucksack. After your first mission, providing you’ve found either Acquisitions or Schematics, you can add such items to the Rucksack.

Loadouts

Choose two Primaries, or a Primary and Secondary Weapon, to take along with a Lethal, Tactical, and Field Upgrade. You have:

• Primary and Secondary Weapons: All MWII and MWIII weapons are available to use in Zombies. Any that are "XP Recommended" are denoted by the small fire icon, and grant you more XP if used.
• Insured Slots: These are weapons you’ve leveled up, added attachments to, and come from the weapon pool of over 100 MWII and MWIII weapons. If you fail to exfil with an Insured Weapon, it only becomes available again after a Cooldown period. You have up to three Insured Slots, and two of them are unlocked after completing Zombies missions.
• Contraband Stashes: These are weapons you’ve found and exfilled with and are permanently lost if left behind during a mission. Keeping a stash of up to 20 of these weapons, which may or may not have attachments added to them, is helpful when augmenting your Loadout.
• Tactical and Lethal Equipment: A selection of Multiplayer Tactical and Lethal Equipment can be equipped as part of your Loadout.
  • Tacticals: Stun Grenade, Smoke Grenade, Scatter Mine, Decoy Grenade, Shock Stick, Stim, or Experimental Gas Grenade.
  • Lethals: Frag Grenade, Claymore, Throwing Knife, Thermite, Proximity Mine, Drill Charge, Sticky Grenade, C4, Molotov Cocktail, Breacher Drone

Zombies Field Upgrades

Field Upgrades in MWZ are completely different from the equipment available to Multiplayer Operators. There are six Field Upgrades, five of which are unlocked as you progress through your Military Player Ranks:

• Energy Mine (Medium Recharge): Spawn an explosive, dealing massive damage to enemies who set it off.
• Frenzied Guard (Slow Recharge): Repair armor to full and force all enemies in the area to target you for 10 seconds. Enemy kills repair armor during this time.
• Healing Aura (Slow Recharge): Heal all players immediately (and in last stand).
• Frost Blast (Medium Recharge): Damage enemies with the initial blast and slow those that enter the area of effect.
• Aether Shroud (Medium Recharge): Become invisible to zombies.
• Tesla Storm (Slow Recharge): For 10 seconds, lightning connects to other players, stunning and damaging normal enemies.

Adding to Your Attacks: Acquisitions and Schematics

Once you return from your first few successful missions, you’re able to place Acquisitions into your Rucksack for use during subsequent outings. You can also start to craft your own Acquisitions at the Schematic Crafting location (in the Lobby), between drops.

Acquisitions: These are single-use items that can give you an advantage on the battlefield. Acquisitions you find and exfil with in your Rucksack can be added to your Acquisition Stash, within your Rucksack Menu.

Schematics: These are highly sought-after plans that permanently allow you to craft Acquisitions that you can add to your Rucksack. Schematics have a cooldown period, after which they can be brought into the Exclusion Zone.

The following types of Acquisitions can be found and used, or crafted if the Schematics are located, and all have a Rarity value associated with them (denoting how difficult they are to find and the level of improvements they bring to the weapon or item they affect):

Aetherium

The Dark Aether element is used in conjunction with crafting Schematics to bolster your weaponry:

• Raw and Refined Aetherium Crystals: These are used to upgrade your Pack-a-Punch weapon to Levels I and II, respectively.
• Uncommon, Rare, Epic Aether Tools: These upgrade your currently held weapon to a rarer form. The rarer the form, the more impressive damage the weapon inflicts.

Perk-a-Colas

The Vest, Gloves, Boots and Gear Perk system is not available in Zombies. Instead, receive a permanent boost (throughout a Mission, unless you fully die) to various in-game attributes by finding (or crafting) a Perk-a-Cola:

• Deadshot Daiquiri: ADS (aiming down sight) moves to enemy critical location. Removes scope sway.
• Death Perception: Obscured enemies, chests, resources, and item drops are more easily spotted.
• Elemental Pop: Every bullet you fire has a small chance to apply a random Ammo Mod effect.
• Jugger-Nog: Increases maximum health.
• PHD Flopper: Diving to prone triggers an explosion. The explosion increases the higher you fall. Immunity from fall damage while diving. Immunity from area-of-effect damage from weapons you are using.
• Quick Revive: Reduce the health regeneration delay time by 50%. Reduce the time it takes to revive an ally by 50%.
• Speed Cola: Drink to reload and replate armor faster.
• Stamin-Up: Increases run and sprint speed.
• Tombstone Soda: On death, you create a tombstone stash at that location, containing your backpack inventory in the next game.

Ammo Mods

The weapon you are currently holding can be further augmented with an Ammo modification. For the exact effect each Mod brings to a battle, why not test them out in the Exclusion Zone once you find or craft them?

Ammo Mods: Brain Rot, Cryo Freeze, Dead Wire,   Napalm Burst, Shatter Blast

Wonder Weapons

Locate the necessary (and devilishly difficult to find) Schematics, and you’re able to craft some of the most arcane and powerful weaponry ever seen. The Wonder Weapons available at game launch are currently [REDACTED].

Missions Overview: Acts, Tiers, and Rewards

Begin to acclimate to the horrors of the Urzikstan Exclusion Zone and commence a multilayered storyline that focuses on a variety of Tiered Missions in three Acts. Not all missions are immediately accessible, and the mission you wish to complete (which may have one or multiple tasks) is highlighted. Mission completion rewards (including Acquisitions, cosmetic items, durable items, Double XP tokens) are also visible prior to infil.

• Complete tasks within a mission and receive unlocked missions and rewards.
• Complete missions within a Tier and receive unlocked missions and rewards.
• Complete all Tiers to finish an Act and receive unlocked missions and rewards.
• Complete all three Acts to receive a [REDACTED] and continue to uncover the mysteries plaguing the Exclusion Zone, prior the storyline continuation at Season 1.

Mission Parameters: The Essence of Zombies

You have freedom and flexibility to explore the Exclusion Zone throughout Urzikstan, and infilling allows you to complete a wide variety of activities as well as the specific mission tasks you assigned to yourself prior to the session start.

Aside from the specific mission tasks you are undertaking, each Zombies infil enables you to:

• Explore: Investigate the Low, Medium, and High Threat Zones. This can be done with a purpose, or you can simply remain in the relative safety of a Low Threat Zone as you learn how to deal with the variety of enemy threats. Weapon levelling is an excellent plan within the outer edge of the map.
• Complete Contracts: This allows you to earn Essence (the in-game currency, mainly gathered after zombie culling) and Acquisitions by completing contracts in the field for Operation Deadbolt.
• Upgrade to Progress: Spend Essence at machines across the map and upgrade your weapons and gear.
• Extract Acquisitions: Successful exfils allow you to keep Acquisitions to get a head start in the next deployment.

Within a deployment, your Tac-Map displays a variety of interesting game features, and some of the most important ones are detailed below so you can understand how to interact with them.

Buy Stations: Allows you to purchase a variety of helpful items, such as Killstreaks, Gas Masks, and other essentials, as well as sell any unwanted items you've collected.

Perk-a-Cola Machines: This allows you to purchase a beverage that increases your prowess in a variety of ways (see above).

Pack-a-Punch Machines: This upgrades your currently carried weapon (usually in the ammunition and damage departments), for a price.

Wall Buys: Outlines of weaponry can be found on the walls of various buildings throughout the Exclusion Zone. Interact and purchase the weapon, as needed.

Mystery Boxes: These offer an exciting randomly generated prize — likely a weapon of varying rarity and occasionally a Wonder Weapon!

Wonder Weapons: [REDACTED].

Nothing gets in, nothing gets out.

Modern Warfare III celebrates the 20th anniversary of Call of Duty with one of the greatest collections of Modern Warfare Multiplayer maps ever assembled.

Afghan. Derail. Estate. Favela. Karachi. Highrise. Invasion. Quarry. Rundown. Rust. Scrapyard. Skidrow. Sub Base. Terminal. Underpass. Wasteland.

All 16 launch maps from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) have been modernized, both graphically and with meticulous attention given to the authenticity and aspects of the maps that made them so popular. Veteran players love these Core 6v6 maps, and there’s no better time to introduce a generation of new players to experience the community’s favorite Modern Warfare content.

Prepare for seminal design to meet modern gameplay. This faithful modernization of the maps keeps their authenticity intact while infusing the latest tech, gameplay, modes, content, and more. Though you might have noticed elements of Terminal and Highrise during your time in Al Mazrah, the Modern Warfare III versions of these maps are built from scratch from the original 2009 designs.

In addition to brand-new modes like Cutthroat (a competitive 3v3v3 experience), a full range of fan-favorite and innovative gameplay features will be available at launch to get everyone started, like choosing to play Hardpoint and Kill Confirmed on Favela, modes that were never part of the original map offering, providing a refreshing multiplayer experience within these familiar environments.

The 16 Core launch maps are further complemented with the addition of four huge environments ready at launch and containing a host of new play spaces. These are composed of three brand-new Battle Maps — large scale locations where Modern Warfare III’s Ground War and Invasion game modes will be fought — and a single, colossal War map, as Modern Warfare III marks the welcome return and evolution of the legendary War Mode that first debuted in 2017’s Call of Duty: WWII.

With Day One Multiplayer content featuring faithful modernizations of Modern Warfare’s fan-favorite maps, over 12 all-new core 6v6 maps will fuel post-launch live seasons.

Expect many customization advancements and new gameplay mechanics to further evolve the quintessential, fast-moving gameplay. Here are three innovations, with more to be revealed in the coming weeks:

Breach and clear with the new Tactical Stance feature, a perfect middle-ground between hip-fire and aiming down sights. When entering tight hallways and cramped rooms, toggle Tac-Stance on to improve weapon performance and win the fight. Here’s what to expect from Tac-Stance:

• The operator unshoulders the weapon and holds it in a canted firing position.
• You can toggle in and out of Tac-Stance dynamically while aiming down sights.
• Tac-Stance trades precise accuracy for improved mobility and handling.
• Some spread to your firing will occur, best described as a middle ground between full ADS and hipfire.
• It is designed to be used in aggressive, close-quarter combat situations.
• By default, you fire in Tac-Stance while Sliding.

Modern Warfare III brings new levels of customization to Create-a-Class. Get ready to build your Loadout based on cutting-edge military equipment, such as gloves, tactical vests, boots and more; allowing you to fine-tune more aspects of gameplay.

The evolution of the Gunsmith continues with the addition of After-Market Parts. This is a special set of customization options allowing you to focus on your preferred and specific playstyle. After-Market Parts enable you to construct unique weapon configurations or types such as customizing a machine gun into a bullpup configuration (with the firing grip in front of the breech rather than behind it), thus increasing mobility and handling without compromising on damage output.

After-Market Parts will also offer new progression paths, and challenges to unlock. We will be sharing more information on these innovations in the coming weeks.

The core mechanics of Modern Warfare III deliver a massive offering of classic features bringing exceptional freedom of choice, movement, and customization to gameplay.

Here are the Multiplayer features confirmed for Modern Warfare III Multiplayer, coming Day One:

• Map Voting returns, allowing players greater autonomy over their Multiplayer matches.
• Classic Minimap Behavior, with red dots indicating when an enemy is firing an unsuppressed weapon.
• All chosen Perks are available at the start of each match.
• The Covert Sneakers Perk allows for silent movement (assuming you’ve chosen the correct footwear).
• Core Multiplayer Health is increased to 150, lengthening the Time-to-Kill (TTK). Hardcore mode is not affected.

When maneuvering in Modern Warfare III Multiplayer, expect the following movement abilities in terms of your Operator’s general responsiveness:

• You can cancel Slide animations (i.e., “slide cancel”), but Slide Cancelling does not reset Tactical Sprint.
• You can cancel partial Reloads during an animation (i.e., “reload cancel”) to immediately return fire.
• Mantling is faster, and you can Mantle while Sprinting.
• You can fire during and immediately after Sliding.
• Tactical Sprint durations are increased (the exact duration depends on the weapon being used).
• Tactical Sprint recharges while Sprinting.

As discussed before, a vast amount of content and weapon progression from Modern Warfare II will come with you to Modern Warfare III. That means every Multiplayer weapon you currently have in your MWII arsenal, along with all the new weapons available in Modern Warfare III, will be accessible to use on Day One.

• The depth of choice here truly honors the player investment into Modern Warfare II.
• All MWII weapons, attachments, and unlocks will Carry Forward. There will be seamless functionality between new attachments and global Weapon Platforms.
• Any MWII attachments that were considered “universal” (such as some Muzzles) will be available to attach to MWIII weapons, where applicable.
• In certain cases, MWII weapons carried forward into MWIII will be able to utilize MWIII attachments that you unlock, where applicable.
• The number of Weapon Platforms (AKA “Receivers”) have been increased for some categories, reducing restrictions on weapon customization by allowing for core attachments to be added to your favorite MWII weapons.

For the first time, team up with other squads to survive and fight massive hordes of the undead in the largest Call of Duty Zombies map ever. Modern Warfare Zombies (MWZ) tells an involved and unearthly Dark Aether Zombies story set in the Modern Warfare universe. Expect to undertake missions across different regions that escalate in difficulty, with core Zombies features and a cavalcade of secrets to discover. Ready up for an open-world player versus enemy (PvE) extraction survival experience against some of the biggest enemies in Call of Duty history.

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare III is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC on Nov. 10, 2023.