Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is already showing strong pre-sales performance on Steam, surpassing the numbers of last year's Black Ops 7 by a considerable margin. Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics reported that Modern Warfare 4 has sold nearly 400,000 copies on Valve's platform, generating an estimated $21 million in revenue from Steam pre-orders alone. In comparison, Black Ops 7 had sold approximately 200,000 copies on Steam by its launch.
This early success for Modern Warfare 4 comes with two months remaining until its official release. The game's recent beta also saw impressive engagement on Steam, peaking at over 115,000 concurrent players during its early access period. This figure is higher than the peak of approximately 100,000 concurrent users achieved by Black Ops 7, even after its general release.
The strong performance of Modern Warfare 4 relative to Black Ops 7 is not entirely unexpected, as the latter title experienced commercial disappointment, marked by its lowest series sales ranking in the US since 2008. Modern Warfare 4's anticipated stronger outright sales on PC may be partly attributed to its absence from PC Game Pass, a subscription service that included Black Ops 7.
Beyond PC, Modern Warfare 4 is also expected to influence sales of current-generation consoles. As the first Call of Duty title since 2013's Ghosts to omit PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions, its launch, alongside Grand Theft Auto 6, is predicted to encourage players to upgrade from last-gen hardware. Elliott noted that the increasing cost of new consoles, driven by factors such as tariffs and market demands, could present a significant expense for consumers. In response, Microsoft has suggested options like purchasing used consoles or utilizing Buy Now, Pay Later services to manage these costs.
Modern Warfare 4 is slated for release on October 23, with Grand Theft Auto 6 following on November 19. The next beta for Modern Warfare 4 is scheduled to run from August 28 to September 1 and will be an open beta accessible to all players on any platform, including Nintendo Switch 2, without requiring a pre-order.