No pre-order required
Activision and Nintendo have announced that an open beta for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will take place next month from 28th August to 1st September 2026.
Pre-orders will also kick off from 26th August 2026, though it’s been clarified that you won’t need to secure your purchase to take part in the beta. All you’ll need is an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription and, naturally, a Nintendo Account. Beta Early Access has also been confirmed for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, but Switch 2 will not be included in this.
Specific timing for the beta will be announced at a later date, while details around what the beta will actually entail will likely also be announced soon. We’re going to hazard a guess, however, and predict that it’ll focus on Modern Warfare 4’s multiplayer mode, with Activision looking to test the servers, check for any nasty bugs and glitches, and make sure everything’s balanced correctly.
Modern Warfare 4 is the first game in the series to hit a Nintendo system in quite some time, and comes as a result of Microsoft’s outright acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Microsoft entered into a 10-year commitment with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms, with Modern Warfare 4 arriving day and date with other consoles on 23rd October 2026.
Needless to say, we’ll be eager to see how it all runs on the Switch 2. Nintendo’s console has proven to be exceptionally capable since its launch in 2025, playing host to graphically-intensive games like Cyberpunk 2077, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows with relative ease. Smooth frame rate will be critical for Call of Duty, however, so you can be sure we’ll be there on 28th August to test it out with the rest of you.
