On October 21 we published a gap report: two days from launch, Modern Warfare 4 had 33 Operators, 33 weapons, a full Prestige ladder and a camo grind mapped to the challenge, and not one published multiplayer playlist. Later the same day Call of Duty put out the launch maps and modes blog and the launch patch notes. The gap is closed. This page is the correction, and the news in it is good.
Confirmed, and it supersedes our own reporting. Every fact here is stated on the official Call of Duty launch maps and modes blog and the launch patch notes, both published October 21. Our earlier page said, accurately at the time it went up, that no official page named a day one Search and Destroy or Hardcore playlist. That gap closed the same day. What is still missing is a Ranked Play date or ruleset, which neither document mentions.
What the mode list actually says
- Search and Destroy is day one Listed as a Core mode with a Hardcore variant. Two minutes per round, score limit of 6, party size 1 to 6, no respawns, win by planting, defusing, or wiping the other team.
- Hardcore has a written ruleset The blog states Hardcore rules as a limited HUD, friendly fire, and reduced health with no regeneration. That is the first time this cycle the rules have been published rather than implied.
- Hardcore is broad Hardcore variants are listed on Inflation, Hijack, Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed and Free-For-All as well as Search and Destroy.
- Shipment lands October 27 It is a post-launch 6v6 map, not a launch map, so the first weekend runs on the 12 Core maps plus the Ground War and Gunfight pools.
Why Hardcore SnD cares
A one-life team cannot plan around a mode it is not sure exists. For a week the official drops were generous about everything except the thing that decides whether launch night is a scrim block or a browse. Now the mode is named, the variant is named, and the round length and score limit are published, which is enough to build a night around.
- Six rounds, two minutes A first to six race on two minute rounds means a short match and a fast read. Expect to cycle maps quickly on launch night and judge a map pool in an evening rather than a week.
- Friendly fire is on Reduced health plus friendly fire means grenade discipline and lane calling matter from the first round. Teams coming off Core will lose rounds to their own frags before they lose them to the enemy.
- No regeneration Trades become permanent. A player who takes a single hit entering a site is effectively a different player for the rest of the round, which changes who takes first contact.
Where Hardcore does not go
Two round-based modes sit outside the Hardcore column. Collateral, the new buy-phase mode built on Search and Destroy bones, is listed as Core only, so the mode closest to a tactical shooter economy ships without a Hardcore variant. Gunfight is also Core only, and Kill Block runs 3v3 and 10v10 Gunfight at launch with 6v6 modes promised post-launch. That settles a question we have carried since July: there is no Hardcore Search and Destroy on Kill Block on day one, because there is no Search and Destroy on Kill Block on day one.
What is still not published
Ranked Play. Neither the maps and modes blog nor the launch patch notes names a Ranked Play date, a ruleset, or a mode set. For a competitive lane that is the last missing document, and until it exists the only official competitive structure in Modern Warfare 4 is the one you build yourself.
The mode exists, the rules are published, and the round is two minutes long. Everything after that is on you.