Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is a 2023 first-person shooter game created by Sledgehammer Games and released by Activision. It is the twentieth game in the Call of Duty series and the third game in the restarted Modern Warfare sub-series, following Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022). The game was released on November 10, 2023, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Modern Warfare III keeps the realistic and modern setting of earlier games in the sub-series and continues the story. The story follows a group of special operations units from different countries as they search for Vladimir Makarov, a Russian extremist and terrorist who plans to start a third World War. The multiplayer mode includes sixteen remastered maps from 2009’s Modern Warfare 2, with at least twelve new maps planned for release after the game launches. A Zombies mode, developed by Treyarch (known for the Black Ops sub-series), is also included. This mode allows players to explore a large open world and fight enemies.
After completing work on Call of Duty: Vanguard (2021), Sledgehammer Games was asked by Activision to create an expansion pack for Modern Warfare II. This plan changed to making a full, standalone game in the Call of Duty series. In early-to-mid 2023, details about the game were leaked, and it was officially announced in August 2023. A showcase event and public beta were held in October. When the game was released, it received mixed reviews, with some criticism about its story. It became the second best-selling game of 2023 in the United States, after Hogwarts Legacy.
Gameplay
Modern Warfare III has gameplay similar to previous Call of Duty games. The single-player campaign includes both linear missions and open-world missions called "Open Combat Missions." In these missions, players can choose how to complete objectives, such as fighting directly or using stealth and ambush tactics. A map on-screen shows the area, including a tactical map that highlights objectives and locations of weapons, gear, and special equipment. Enemies in these missions will search for players if they lose sight of them and may call for help as their numbers decrease in battle.
In the multiplayer mode, players can use all sixteen maps from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009). Players can vote for maps during a matchmade lobby, a feature not available in some newer games. Player health has been increased, making it take longer for players to be defeated. A "red dot" minimap, which was missing in previous games, returns to show enemies on the radar when they fire weapons without a suppressor. Players can also cancel sliding animations. Classic game modes like "Kill Confirmed" and "Hardpoint" are back, along with a new mode called "Cutthroat," where three teams of three players compete. A 32v32 "Ground War" mode and a "War" mode, originally from Call of Duty: WWII (2017), are also available. The game uses artificial intelligence to monitor in-game conversations and report toxic behavior. At least twelve new 6v6 multiplayer maps will be added after the game launches, and popular maps from Modern Warfare II will be included each season.
The game includes an open-world player versus environment (PvE) Zombies mode created by Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games. This mode is similar to the DMZ mode in Call of Duty: Warzone, not the older round-based survival style. Up to 24 players can join as separate squads on a large map, which also serves as the new battle royale map for Warzone. Teams complete objectives, fight zombies, and AI-controlled enemies, collect loot, and sell items at buy stations or extract them through exfiltration. The map is divided into "zones" with different threat levels indicating difficulty. After 45 minutes of gameplay, an "Aether Storm" begins to spread across the map, giving players 15 minutes to extract their loot. Features from previous Zombies modes, such as weapon wallbuys, Perk-a-Cola drinks, and the Mystery Box, return. Players can extract "acquisitions," which are items that can be saved for later matches, or "schematics," which allow crafting items with a cooldown period. Story quests are also included to advance the game's narrative.
Plot
In November 2023, members of the Russian private military company Konni Group attacked the Zordaya Prison Complex in Verdansk, Kastovia. There, they freed their leader, Vladimir Makarov (Julian Kostov), an extremist who was sentenced to life in prison after being captured by SAS operatives John "Soap" MacTavish (Neil Ellice) and John Price (Barry Sloane) during a terrorist attack at the Verdansk Stadium in April 2019. Hours later, Konni attacked a port in Urzikstan, where the Urzikstan Liberation Force (ULF), led by Farah Karim (Claudia Doumit) and former CIA officer Alex Keller (Chad Michael Collins), was planning to obtain ballistic missiles from the American PMC Shadow Company and their leader, Phillip Graves (Warren Kole), who had faked his death after being confronted by Task Force 141 in Las Almas, Mexico. The missiles were stolen, but Farah managed to attach trackers to them.
After learning about Makarov’s escape from CIA Station Chief Kate Laswell (Rya Kihlstedt), Price led Task Force 141 to an abandoned nuclear power plant to stop Konni from retrieving nuclear material left behind after General Roman Barkov’s death. They discovered the plant instead held leftover chemical materials that Barkov had hidden, which Makarov planned to refine into a deadly chemical weapon. Konni escaped with the materials, detonating some to block 141’s efforts and nearly killing Price with the chemical gas released.
To learn Makarov’s plans, Laswell infiltrated the Arklov Military Base in Verdansk and met with Colonel Yuri Volkov (Raphael Corkhill), who provided a flash drive containing information about the chemical weapons Barkov had created. Laswell left with the information as the base was attacked with the stolen missiles. Meanwhile, Makarov destroyed a Kastovian airliner using a vest bomb placed on a former ULF fighter traveling on the plane. To avoid escalating tensions between the East and West, Farah and Alex removed evidence of ULF involvement at the crash site in Urzikstan before local authorities arrived, despite Konni’s attempts to stop them.
After the attacks, Price reluctantly accepted help from Graves and General Herschel Shepherd (Glenn Morshower), who had been hiding after being forced into exile, when they contacted Laswell. Using their intelligence, Soap and Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley (Samuel Roukin) located and interrogated Makarov’s financier, Milena Romanova (Tina Ivlev). Price and Sergeant Kyle "Gaz" Garrick (Elliot Knight) used Romanova’s information to track Konni operative Andrei Nolan (Nikolai Nikolaeff) in Saint Petersburg, leading them to intercept a convoy heading to a former Soviet prison in Siberia. Price discovered the convoy carried Shepherd, who had been captured by Makarov, and gave him an ultimatum: share all his intel on Makarov’s plans and testify before the U.S. Congress, or be left to freeze in Siberia. Shepherd agreed, revealing Makarov’s plan to destroy the Gora Dam in Verdansk to flood the city and kill its people.
While Soap and Ghost led a mission to stop Konni from destroying the Gora Dam, Farah, Alex, Price, and Kyle attacked a Konni base in Urzikstan, accepting help from Graves and Shadow Company. After resolving both threats, Shepherd and Graves returned to the United States to testify to Congress about their actions, though they later turned on each other during questioning. Meanwhile, Task Force 141 returned to London to continue hunting Makarov. Tracking a Konni contact, the group discovered Makarov had received a flash drive allowing him to control the UK’s train network and plan to destroy the Channel Tunnel. With backup from a counter-terrorism unit, Price led an assault to free hostages and stop Makarov. He and Soap found a dirty bomb in the tunnel and tried to disarm it, but were ambushed by Makarov. Soap stopped Makarov from killing Price by shooting him in the head before escaping with reinforcements from Ghost and Kyle, who helped Price defuse the bomb. Later, the trio scattered Soap’s ashes off a cliff in Scotland. In a mid-credits scene, Price killed Shepherd in his office.
In 2021, during a raid on a hotel in Zaravan, Urzikstan, arms dealer Victor Zakhaev (Dave B. Mitchell) and former New Zealand Defence Force operative Jack Fletcher (Luke Cook) recovered two vials containing "Aetherium," a substance from another dimension. As Zakhaev and Fletcher prepared to leave, they were intercepted by police, who killed most of their men. Zakhaev threw one of the vials at the officers before fleeing with Fletcher in an armored vehicle, causing a blast that stunned the police and turned the dead into zombies. Weeks later, as part of Operation Deadbolt—a CIA plan to contain the undead threat—Soap and a strike team were sent by Laswell and SSO Selma Greene (Debra Wilson) to secure the Zaravan exclusion zone. Joining them was Sergei Ravenov (Andrew Morgado), a former Spetsnaz captain who had worked with the CIA’s classified task force "Requiem" to stop previous zombie threats during the Cold War.
After establishing their base, Deadbolt received a message from Zakhaev’s scientist, Dr. Ava Jansen (Denise Hoey), who requested extraction from Zaravan. The strike team helped her return to Deadbolt HQ, where Jansen was interrogated by Greene, Soap, and Ravenov. Jansen claimed Zakhaev had weapons-grade Aetherium and was the only one who could stop him. Greene accepted Jansen’s help and assigned the strike team to build an Aetherium Neutralizer, a device capable of destabilizing Aetherium crystals. Though the first test on raw Aetherium was successful, Jansen noted Zakhaev had refined his Aetherium, requiring the Neutralizer to be upgraded. She suggested obtaining research from Oskar Strauss, a former leader of Requiem, to improve the device. The strike team attacked one of Zakhaev’s outposts in Zaravan and killed its commander, "Legacy" Baranov (Luis Bermudez), who possessed Strauss’s research.
With the upgraded Neutralizer ready, Deadbolt deployed to Zakhaev’s Aetherium refining plant and prepared to activate the device. They faced resistance from Zakhaev’s forces and a giant worm creature named Orcus. Jansen activated the Neutralizer, killing Orcus and destabilizing Zakhaev’s vial. A vortex appeared, pulling everything into it and forcing Zakhaev and Fletcher to retreat. The vortex lifted Jansen into the air, and an entity appeared before her, demanding entry. Jansen screamed and fainted before the vortex closed. Ravenov rushed to help her, and she opened her eyes with a brief dark purple glow. Later, Deadbolt drone pilot Lucas "Luke" Dobbs (Noshir Dalal) reported that while the Neutralizer’s initial use was successful, undead contacts began reappearing across Zaravan, along with an
Development
Modern Warfare III was created by Sledgehammer Games. It is the fifth main Call of Duty game the studio has made. Before this, Sledgehammer helped create Modern Warfare 3 in 2011 with Infinity Ward and developed Advanced Warfare in 2014, WWII in 2017, and Vanguard in 2021.
After finishing Vanguard, Sledgehammer started working on a sequel to Advanced Warfare. However, Activision decided to stop that project before it progressed far. Instead, Activision asked Sledgehammer to create an expansion pack for Modern Warfare II (2022). According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, the expansion was planned to include a short single-player story set in Mexico and new multiplayer content.
By Summer 2022, Activision changed plans again. They asked Sledgehammer to make a full sequel to Modern Warfare II, featuring a new version of the enemy character Vladimir Makarov from the original trilogy. This decision gave the studio about sixteen months to develop the game, similar to the time they had for Vanguard. Treyarch, the studio behind the Black Ops series, was also asked to create a Zombies mode for Modern Warfare III, making it the first Call of Duty game in the Modern Warfare series to include this mode.
In another report, some Sledgehammer developers said they were not informed early about the decision to make the project a full game, which led to long work hours. Some developers also expressed frustration with Infinity Ward executives, who made changes to the project during development. Aaron Halon, the head of Sledgehammer Games, denied these claims, saying the game’s plans began long before finishing the previous game and that Modern Warfare III was a project they worked on for many years.
Before the game was officially announced, much of its content was leaked. On July 17, 2023, details like the "red dot" minimap, War mode, and new perks were shared from an early version of the game. On July 24, 2023, the game’s key art was leaked in a Monster Energy promotion, showing Captain Price behind the Modern Warfare III logo. Around this time, new weapons were also discovered through data mining. Activision confirmed the key art leak and responded by removing unauthorized copies and making sarcastic comments on social media.
Walter Mair composed the music for Modern Warfare III. He took over after Sarah Schachner left the project due to difficulties working with Infinity Ward’s audio director. Mair previously worked on Call of Duty: Mobile. The game also includes a Zombies mode score by Jack Wall, who often works with Treyarch on Black Ops games. Additional music was created by Steve Ouimette, who worked on the soundtrack for Modern Warfare II season 2.
The soundtrack for Modern Warfare III was released online on the same day the game launched, November 10, 2023. Rapper 21 Savage also released a song called "Call Me Revenge" with singer d4vd to promote the game.
Marketing and release
On August 7, 2023, a short video was posted online, which confirmed the game’s name. Around this time, Activision created a phone number and shared it on social media. After participants agreed to some rules, the phone number began sending secret messages, such as “we need someone like you, with experience in Al Mazrah.” This phone number gave strange answers when people sent messages like “zombies” or names of maps from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (for example, “Rust”). A day later, on August 8, Activision announced that characters, weapons, and cosmetic items from Modern Warfare II would be available in Modern Warfare III. A blog post explained the details of this feature.
On August 17, a full introduction of the game happened during a Call of Duty: Warzone event. The event ended with a full-length trailer. Pre-orders opened, allowing players to begin playing the campaign up to a week before the official release and to access new character skins and a multiplayer open beta.
Modern Warfare III was released on November 10, 2023, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Like Modern Warfare II, the campaign was available to all digital pre-orders starting November 2. In July 2024, Modern Warfare III became available to Xbox Game Pass subscribers. In October 2024, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members could stream the game using Xbox Cloud Gaming.
As with previous Call of Duty games, Modern Warfare III includes free seasonal updates with an in-game store selling cosmetic item bundles through microtransactions.
Similar to past Call of Duty season updates, Activision collaborates with media franchises to include celebrities and licensed characters in multiplayer and Zombies modes. New additions include: Paul Atreides and Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen from the movie Dune: Part Two; A-Train and Firecracker from Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys TV series; Rick Grimes, Michonne, and Daryl Dixon from AMC’s The Walking Dead TV series; the comedy duo Cheech & Chong; basketball player Devin Booker; WWE wrestlers Rhea Ripley, Cody Rhodes, and Rey Mysterio; Eric Draven/The Crow from the movie The Crow (2024); Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise; Art the Clown from the Terrifier movie series; and Sam from the movie Trick ’r Treat (2007). Additional themed cosmetic packs were released to promote the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, the movie Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, the Gundam franchise, the Fallout franchise, and the movie Smile 2 (2024).
Reception
The pre-release reviews of Modern Warfare III's campaign were negative. Critics said the campaign felt shallow, short, and rushed. IGN gave the campaign a 4/10, stating it mixed parts of the Warzone mode into missions that did not work well.
When the game officially released, critics gave it "mixed or average reviews," according to Metacritic. Only 13% of critics on OpenCritic recommended the game. It is the lowest-rated mainline Call of Duty game on Metacritic.
Bleacher Report called the campaign "disappointing" but noted the technical details were "top notch." The Guardian and Windows Central each gave the game a 4 out of 5 star rating. They praised the multiplayer part, with Windows Central saying it "combined old maps with modern gameplay well."
In the United Kingdom and the United States, Modern Warfare III was the top-selling game in November 2023. However, sales were about 38% lower than Modern Warfare II's sales during its first three weeks. Modern Warfare III was the second best-selling game of 2023 in the United States, after Hogwarts Legacy. In Japan, the PlayStation 5 version of Modern Warfare III was the fourth best-selling retail game in its first week, with 22,132 physical copies sold.