Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is due to release later this year on October 25, but you can play it as early as next month during one of the Open Beta periods on any platform. When it releases it will feature the return of a single-player campaign, cooperative Spec Ops missions, and the largest, most diverse, most overhauled online multiplayer the franchise has seen in years.
What that doesn’t include, notably, is a battle royale mode. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 obviously featured the popular Blackout mode, but that hasn’t been discussed as making a return. Instead, it looks like Infinity Ward might be cooking up something separate for the Modern Warfare universe instead.
According to ComicBook.com, referencing typically reliable Call of Duty leaker TheLongSensation, the battle royale mode will actually be a downloadable “separate game” that is still “connected to the core game” rather than sold as part of the base package. Additionally, it’s expected to release in early 2020 on all three platforms — PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 — rather than this year.
The most exciting bit, though, is that this new mode will also be free, presumably, meaning players wouldn’t need to pay for it at all. If that also means owning the base game isn’t needed, then I can understand why IW is waiting to release it separately next year after the holiday sales flood.
This is just a rumor, mind, but it has a bit more weight to it than most. For starters, LongSensation has been reliable in the past. Additionally, Kotaku reported earlier this year that Call of Duty could start to receive free-to-play components. Furthermore, in a Game Informer interview earlier this year, when asked about battle royale, Infinity Ward’s studio art director, Joel Emslie, said, “We’ll have to wait and see” and went on to say, “I personally like that game mode.”
Curious choice of words if it isn’t coming!
