Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Season 1 starts November 6 with new Warzone maps

Season 1 of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and Warzone goes live at midnight ET on November 6 (9 PM PT on November 5) on Steam, Activision announced. On November 5, the publisher followed up with a post on the season's Battle Pass system, the BlackCell premium tier and new store bundles.

Modern Warfare 4 itself released on October 23, according to GameSpot. On Steam, the Call of Duty app, which bundles Modern Warfare 4, Black Ops 7 and Warzone, ranked sixth by current players with 117,036 people online and a daily peak of 133,958.

What Season 1 adds

Activision's October 28 post lists Backstab, Canyon and a reimagined Shoot House for Multiplayer at launch, with Ministry and Overflow following at mid-season. Grind, Drop Zone and Gauntlet 1v1 arrive as part of the Wager Match Event. New weapons at launch are the CSG-35 SMG and the Cronen Osprey Assault Rifle, with the JAK 12 Shotgun and the ZLR Talonhawk melee weapon later. In DMZ, the X01 Black Site opens with new enemies and orders.

The bigger change hits the free-to-play Warzone. According to Activision's November 2 post, Season 1 fully integrates Modern Warfare 4, adds the Battle Royale map Hajin in South Korea and the Resurgence map Zodiac, plus gear like the Zipline Launcher and Grabber Drone and new Elite Perks. Verdansk and Rebirth Island also return. Windows Central reports that Hajin gets two new Gulags, that Verdansk joins the rotation at some point during the season, and that Massive Resurgence puts 120 players on Hajin. GameSpot adds that Black Ops 7's movement is gone with the integration, and Activision confirms a Player Level reset with optional Prestige across all modes. Nintendo Life reports that Season 1 ends Warzone support on PS4 and Xbox One. GamesRadar+ calls it "perhaps one of its biggest overhauls yet" for Warzone.

Battle Pass and BlackCell

The pass has a 100-tier track with more than 100 rewards, earned by playing Multiplayer, DMZ or Warzone. New this season is an automatic catch-up: paid pass owners who fall behind are moved up to the reward matching the current day of the season, up to day 50. The pass costs 1,100 COD Points; the Battle Pass Bundle costs 2,400 and adds 20 Tier Skip Tokens. GameSpot puts the pass at $10 and BlackCell at $30. Pass owners get a 10% XP boost for the season, and Activision's patch notes promise bonus rewards later in the season for anyone who completes all 100 tiers.

BlackCell includes the pass, 20 tier skips, challenges that unlock the XERO skins "Cowled" and "Adder", and DMZ perks such as an extra vendor weapon and daily rewards in the Forward Operating Base. Players who upgrade from the regular pass to BlackCell get 1,100 COD Points back, according to Activision.

Warzone's new maps cost nothing to try. Before paying, note Activision Support's statement that players who purchase or upgrade after launch receive the BlackCell Battle Pass only at the start of the first new Season after the transaction. Steam reviews for the Call of Duty app remain Mixed, with 58% of 803,049 reviews positive.