Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III unveiled with first trailer

As promised, Activision showed off the next Call of Duty today after officially announcing it earlier this month. So now, we have the first trailer for Modern Warfare III — which is a different game than Modern Warfare 3 (2011) — along with some details.

The new game features a single-player campaign that, naturally, follows Modern Warfare II and introduces a new kind of mission called “open combat” that Activision describes as “a new innovation that empowers player decisions like never before.” Players can supposedly choose different play styles — like stealth versus going in guns blazing — and the missions are designed to complement the more crafted, linear story missions Call of Duty is known for.

While Call of Duty releases have been an annual tradition dating back to 2005, Modern Warfare III does break from tradition in the sense, as it’s a direct sequel to the one released a year prior. That means the game will pick up directly after 2022’s Modern Warfare II, which was developed by Infinity Ward. This year’s release is being handled by Sledgehammer Games.

“Our vision to deliver back-to-back Modern Warfare games has been years in the making,” Activision wrote in a blog post yesterday. “From the start of development across both Modern Warfare II and Modern Warfare III, Sledgehammer Games has worked closely with Infinity Ward to create a blockbuster sequel in the Modern Warfare series, featuring the return of iconic heroes and villains alike. Players will be able to grow closer to the characters, delve deeper into the storylines, and continue to build out progression and loadouts without interruption.”

As for multiplayer, the game will feature 16 maps at launch (with at least 12 coming after launch) and modes including “hardpoint” and “kill confirmed” as well as a new 3v3v3 mode called “cutthroat.” Most interesting, though, is that the multiplayer will be tightly connected to last year’s game.

For the first time in Call of Duty’s history, a vast amount of content from a previous Modern Warfare game will transfer — or “carry forward” — and be available in the next Modern Warfare title. All weapons and Operator content that has been previously unlocked or is currently available to players in Modern Warfare II, will carry forward between Modern Warfare II and Modern Warfare III.

And finally, there are the zombies. The undead mode returns here — this time, it’s developed by Call of Duty studio Treyarch — in what Activision says is its largest zombies map to date. It’s described as “an open world PvE extraction survival experience where core zombies features come together with new mechanics.”

The new game will launch on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC (via both Steam and Battle.net) on November 10th.