When does Modern Warfare 4 DMZ early access start? Oct 20 unlock and Oct 23 launch times, explained

If you digitally preordered or prepurchased Modern Warfare 4, DMZ Early Access is Tuesday, October 20, Pacific Time. That is Activision’s editions page, and it is the same Tuesday the official Call of Duty blog has been printing. The clock on that Tuesday is a separate question, and the answer changed after PC Gamer’s October 16 writeup.

Who gets DMZ on Tuesday

Any digital edition — Standard or Vault — on a supported platform. Activision’s wording is “Early Access to all of DMZ,” not a playlist sample. Physical editions are not in that digital-preorder bucket. Campaign Early Access already opened Friday, October 16 (PT). Those two windows are not the same day. Activision’s footnote says start dates differ, actual play time is subject to outages and time-zone differences, and platform availability can change.

The Tuesday clock

Activision’s editions page and the October 9 Call of Duty DMZ blog both stop at “Tuesday, October 20 (PT).” They do not print a hour. PC Gamer’s October 16 launch-times piece said there had not been any official info about the DMZ early access release time, and that some sources predicted 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST.

The next day, October 17, the official Call of Duty Updates account posted that a required update would be available on all platforms by 9am PT Monday, October 19, and that “DMZ Early Access will go live globally at 10 AM PT on Tuesday, October 20” for digital preorders and prepurchases. That post is after PC Gamer’s “not officially confirmed” line. We have not found a matching hour on support.activision.com or callofduty.com as of this check. If you are holding the editions page as gospel, the hour is still only on that Updates post.

October 23 launch

Worldwide launch is October 23, 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Battle.net, Steam, Xbox on PC), and Nintendo Switch 2. It is not on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. PC Gamer reports the full game unlocks at midnight local time wherever you are. We did not find that midnight-local line on Activision’s editions page. Multiplayer ships with that Friday launch, not with the October 16 campaign window.

Preload and reported download sizes

Dot Esports, publishing October 14, says Activision confirmed preload on all supported platforms starting Wednesday, October 14 at 9pm PT / 11pm CT / Thursday, October 15 at 12am ET / 5am BST. That window is already behind us. During setup you can choose whether to install the current Warzone alongside MW4; Dot Esports notes the MW4 Warzone integration is not in until Season 1, so picking Warzone now installs the live version.

Reported download sizes, from Dot Esports compiling platform trackers — not an Activision support article. Treat them as estimates that can move with packs and patches:

• PlayStation 5: 117 GB (excluding DMZ Pack 02), per PlayStation Size on X as cited by Dot Esports.
• Xbox Series X|S: around 194.32 GB, per Twisted Voxel as cited by Dot Esports.
• PC Battle.net: 124 GB (around 60 GB for new CoD HQ), per DETONATED as cited by Dot Esports.
• PC Steam: 115–120 GB, based on the official MW4 PC requirements page as cited by Dot Esports.
• Nintendo Switch 2: 77.3–84.9 GB, per Timesaver.gg as cited by Dot Esports.