Modern Warfare 4 Season 1 Starts November 6: Maps, DMZ X01 and Warzone

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Season 1 starts at midnight Eastern Time on Friday, November 6, 2026 — 05:00 UTC, or 9 p.m. Pacific Time on November 5. Activision’s October 28 announcement confirms three multiplayer maps at launch, a new DMZ location called X01, fresh Battle Pass weapons and the integration of Modern Warfare 4 with Call of Duty: Warzone.

The important distinction is what players get on November 6 versus what arrives later in the season. Ministry and Overflow are not day-one maps, and Activision has reserved the full Warzone briefing for November 2.

Season 1 launch time and content at a glance

The clock comes directly from the publisher, not an estimate based on earlier Call of Duty seasons. November 6 is the announced date for this update across the supported platforms; it does not establish identical storefront offers or purchase terms in every country.

Backstab, Canyon and Shoot House: the day-one multiplayer maps

Backstab is a new medium-sized 6v6 map built around a snowbound, damaged town. Its streets offer longer sightlines, but the open buildings and blasted walls create routes for close-range fights and flanks. Activision identifies rooftops and upper floors as important vantage points.

Canyon is also new and medium-sized. It trades urban cover for a sun-baked rocky landscape, with a river, cliff path, cave and raised mesa. Moving between those features without exposing yourself across open ground is the map’s defining tactical problem in the publisher’s description.

Shoot House returns in a reimagined North Korean setting with light snowfall. Its familiar three-lane structure remains, but the new terrain and Modern Warfare 4 movement systems are part of the redesign.

Grind and Drop Zone join the multiplayer mode selection. Grind revolves around collecting eliminated players’ tags and depositing them at a bank; Drop Zone has teams contest a moving location to earn periodic killstreak supply drops. The featured Kill Block: Crash layout keeps the three modular sections fixed between rounds rather than rotating them.

Not everything on the roadmap appears on day one. Ministry, set around an embassy during a summit, and Overflow, around a factory and farmland, are identified as mid-season maps. Counter Attack, a mode about attacking opposing communications stations while defending your own, is also a later addition.

What changes in DMZ with X01?

The new X01 Black Site is an underground weapons facility beneath Hajin. Activision describes a network of production areas and corridors with shifting hazards and routes that become harder to escape as the site closes down.

Squads will have new DMZ Orders, stronger threats and additional equipment to consider, plus missions that involve collecting supplies or meeting objectives before extracting. The key point for returning players is that X01 adds a new playable environment and a set of extraction conditions, rather than merely renaming a location already in DMZ.

The official Season 1 post has the more detailed map and mission descriptions; it has not announced every future balance change in a single finalized set of patch notes.

What is coming to Warzone?

Warzone is getting two maps, Hajin and Zodiac, while Verdansk and Rebirth Island remain part of the announced lineup. Activision says the Season 1 update fully integrates Modern Warfare 4 and brings new modes and gameplay features.

However, the publisher is explicitly holding the complete Warzone roadmap until November 2, 2026. It would be premature to turn the current summary into a complete list of mode rules, playlist timings or map rotations. Those details should be updated when the separate announcement arrives, not filled in by guesswork.

Battle Pass weapons, rewards and the paid tier

Two base weapons headline the launch Battle Pass: the Cronen Osprey assault rifle and the CSG-35 submachine gun. Activision describes the latter as a particularly fast-firing close-range option. The JAK 12 and ZLR Talonhawk are scheduled for later seasonal events, not the November 6 opening day.

The Battle Pass uses a linear 100-tier track. Its optional premium version adds rewards and a catch-up mechanism that can move a player to the reward matching the current season day, up to day 50. Activision lists 1,100 COD Points for the premium pass and 2,400 COD Points for the Battle Pass Bundle. Those are in-game currency amounts, not universal local-currency prices.

Season 1 is described by Activision on PlayStation Blog as a free content update. That does not make the paid Modern Warfare 4 Multiplayer and DMZ modes free to non-owners. Warzone is the separately free-to-play game, and the premium Battle Pass remains optional. For the separate question of buying the base game versus getting it through a subscription, see our Modern Warfare 4 Game Pass explanation.

Quick answers

When exactly does Season 1 start? Activision says 00:00 Eastern Time on November 6, equivalent to 05:00 UTC. On the US Pacific coast, that is 21:00 on November 5.

Are all announced maps playable on launch day? No. Backstab, Canyon and Shoot House are launch maps. Ministry and Overflow are planned for mid-season.

Does Warzone get Hajin and Zodiac? Yes, both are named in Activision’s Season 1 overview. The separate full Warzone breakdown is due November 2.

Are the new weapons all available immediately? No. Cronen Osprey and CSG-35 are the launch Battle Pass weapons; JAK 12 and ZLR Talonhawk are described as later additions.

For background on how the game’s handling and map systems changed before release, read our beta patch-note guide. Our campaign trailer breakdown covers the story separately, without mistaking multiplayer or DMZ details for campaign reveals.