Serving as the sixteenth overall installment in the Call of Duty series, as well as a reboot of the Modern Warfare sub-series,[1][2][3] it was released on October 25, 2019, for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One.

For the campaign, they took influence from real-life conflicts, such as the Syrian Civil War, 2012 Benghazi attack, Raid of Osama Bin Laden's compound and terrorist incidents that have occurred in London.

Modern Warfare's single-player campaign focuses on realism and features tactically based moral choices whereupon the player is evaluated and assigned a score at the end of each level.

On some occasions, players have to quickly ascertain whether NPCs are a threat or not, such as a civilian woman who is believed to be reaching for a gun, but then simply grabs her baby from a crib.

[6] Tactical decisions are included, such as the player using a sniper rifle in a large environment to approach objectives in a non-linear order, and choosing to shoot out lights in favor of using night-vision goggles during breaching and clearing.

[5] Modern Warfare's multiplayer has been revised from its predecessors to allow for a more tactical gameplay style, including a focus on map exploration, door breaching, and a Hardcore "Realism" mode that removes the HUD.

Following feedback from the multiplayer beta test, Infinity Ward re-implemented the mini-map but removed the appearance of red dots representing enemy players, except for when the UAV killstreak is used.

The three protagonists work together, alongside SAS Captain John Price (Barry Sloane) and CIA Station Chief Kate Laswell (Rya Kihlstedt).

Other allies include U.S. Marine Corps General Lyons (Debra Wilson), Colonel Norris (Nick Boraine), and Demon Dogs leader Sergeant Marcus Griggs (LaMonica Garrett/Demetrius Grosse);[b] Farah's elder brother Hadir (Aidan Bristow); "Nikolai" (Stefan Kapičić), head of a Russian PMC acquainted with Price; and Yegor Novak (Alex Feldman), a Ukrainian fixer working for Nikolai.

Throughout the story, the operators come into conflict with Al-Qatala, now led by Khaled Al-Asad following the demise of Sulaman during the campaign, working with Russian terrorist and arms dealer Victor Zakhaev (Dimitry Rozental).

The seasonal story introduces several new allies in both Coalition and Allegiance factions, including former CIA agent Mara (Carla Tassara), Spetsnaz operator Nikto (Gideon Emery), Task Force 141 recruits Simon "Ghost" Riley (Jeff Leach) and John "Soap" MacTavish (Neil Ellice), and Shadow Company mercenaries Marcus "Lerch" Ortega (Fred Tatasciore) and Rozlin "Roze" Helms (Jamie Gray Hyder).

In October 2019, during a covert operation in Verdansk, Kastovia to recover shipments of chemical weapons headed for Urzikstan, CIA SAC/SOG agent Alex is intercepted by unknown hostiles who kill the Marine Raiders accompanying him, and escape with the gas.

Alex's handler, CIA Station Chief Kate Laswell, requests the assistance of British SAS Captain John Price in recovering the chemicals and de-escalating the situation with Russia.

In an attempt to drive off the Russians, Hadir sets off the chemicals in the area, killing all of Barkov's men and Al-Qatala militants, with Farah and Alex barely surviving.

When he refuses to comply with interrogation, Price kidnaps his family and threatens them, forcing Rahar to reveal that Hadir plans to attack Barkov at his estate in Baurci.

Following the initial operations in Verdansk, both the Coalition and Allegiance continue to dispatch their respective agents on missions to various hot zones where Al-Qatala forces have been sighted.

After intercepting a phone call between Al-Asad and Zakhaev, the Armistice leaders learn that Al-Qatala has been shipping armaments to various bunkers located throughout Verdansk, from experimental weapon prototypes to nuclear warheads.

"[27] Studio art director Joel Emslie described the game's narrative as "much more grown-up [and] mature", designed to elicit a more intimate and emotional response from players through a depiction of conflict based on contemporary events, such as terror attacks in London and the Syrian Civil War, rather than the original trilogy's reliance on bombastic set pieces.

Campaign gameplay director Jacob Minkoff expressed his desire for video games to go further in exploring otherwise traditionally taboo topics in the medium, noting that television series and films such as Homeland, American Sniper, and Sicario told "relatable, realistic, relevant, and provocative stories that really touch people.

[34] For the first time in the franchise history, Modern Warfare does not include the previous downloadable content model of paid map packs and season passes.

[6][32][37] former Escapist Magazine affiliate Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw described the gameplay demonstration as "fifteen minutes of cold intense ruthless killing"[38] and IGN felt it was the most divisive game of the event.

Recalling the past successes of video games as a medium to provide social commentary on war and conflict, such as Spec Ops: The Line, This War of Mine, and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Emma Kent of Eurogamer criticized a level in which the player apparently controls a child soldier, which she felt inappropriately merged sensitive subject matter and over-dramatized violence into a boss fight, creating "a Frankensteinian, dissonant mess."

A prominent theory posits that this is because the Russian media had been critical of the game's campaign's reportedly favorable portrayal of the White Helmets, a volunteer organisation that operates in parts of opposition-controlled and Turkish-occupied Syria.

[60] On December 18, 2019, Activision confirmed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare had earned over $1 billion in revenue, and by September 2020 the game had sold over 30 million units.

[citation needed] In a statement to IGN, former U.S. Marine John Phipps criticized the game for failing to realistically portray the effects of the substance, saying "I find Modern Warfare's use as a killstreak reward a nearsighted glorification of what myself and others consider to be a violation of the laws of armed conflict.

Contrary to their overall goals towards realism in its campaign, the multiplayer mode in CoD doesn't depict the effect White Phosphorus (WP) has on the human body in any kind of realistic way.

[48] The game's user score on Metacritic became the subject of review bombing by those who were angered by the campaign's depiction of the Russian military and accused developers Infinity Ward of being Russophobic.

[88] Criticism by players focused on a certain level in the campaign, in which it is revealed that Russian forces previously carried out an attack on an area dubbed the "highway of death", killing many civilians who had been departing a town that was under siege.

[87] In addition, they highlighted how in the game's cooperative Special Ops mode, which acts as a sequel to the campaign's story, the playable character and their group eventually ally with Russian forces for one of the missions.

Infinity Ward studio art director Joel Emslie took blame for the character's appearance, stating that "what I was going for artistically was [...] we’re always trying to work for a cinematic experience.