MW4 Beta Preload Live: Start Times, Rewards & Access

The Modern Warfare 4 beta preload is live right now, and Early Access opens Friday, August 21 at 11:00 AM PT, two hours after the Call of Duty: NEXT showcase. This piece covers exactly when the doors open in your time zone, how to preload on every platform without wasting your Friday morning, who actually qualifies for Weekend One, and the full Level 4 to Level 30 reward ladder.

The beta opens Friday, August 21 at 11:00 AM PT, immediately following the Call of Duty: NEXT showcase, which kicks off at 9:00 AM PT that same morning. Weekend One is the Early Access window and runs through Tuesday, August 25 at 10:00 AM PT. Weekend Two is the free Open Beta, running August 28 through September 1, also ending at 10:00 AM PT.

Both windows are built by Infinity Ward and published by Activision, and both feed into the same progression track — nothing about the schedule requires you to treat the two weekends as separate installs. Because the opening hour is the one moment everyone is trying to hit at once, here’s the Friday launch converted across the time zones players are actually asking about.

For a full breakdown of what’s actually playable once the door opens — maps, modes, the campaign mission — the Call of Duty NEXT and MW4 Beta confirmed content guide covers that side without repeating it here.

Preload started earlier today, and the process is not identical across every store. The beta is a separate install from the main Call of Duty application on every platform, so searching your existing Call of Duty listing won’t necessarily surface it — you need to find the standalone Modern Warfare 4 Beta entry on your platform’s store or launcher. It only needs to happen once; the same install carries you through Weekend One, any updates in between, and straight into Weekend Two without a second download.

Step-by-Step: Modern Warfare 4 Beta Preload Walkthrough

Weekend One is gated. You need either a redeemed Early Access beta code or a pre-order/pre-purchase of an eligible Modern Warfare 4 edition. If you pre-ordered digitally through the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, Battle.net or Steam, access is registered to your account automatically and you don’t need a separate code. Physical retail pre-orders work differently — the code comes printed on the receipt or sent by email, and it needs to be redeemed before it’ll do anything.

Weekend Two flips that entirely: it’s the free Open Beta, open to every supported platform with no pre-order and no code required, which is also when Nintendo Switch 2 joins in — Switch 2 is not part of Weekend One.

There are eight main progression rewards spread across the two weekends, earned purely by playing matches and gaining Player XP — no separate challenges required. Weekend One’s level cap sits at 20, which unlocks the first five rewards. Weekend Two raises the cap to 30 and opens the remaining three, including the closing weapon blueprint.

Outside that main ladder, Activision has also confirmed default items available immediately (three emblems, three calling cards, one spray, three loading screens), a Mobility Course Challenge reward, Combat Record rewards, and Twitch Drops for linking your Activision Account and watching NEXT. Every reward on this list, once unlocked, stays tied to your account and shows up in the full game when it launches on October 23.

On the actual cost of getting there: Call of Duty betas have historically front-loaded XP so the first twenty levels move fast, then slow down toward the cap. Level 20 inside the four-day Weekend One window is realistic for anyone playing regularly, but squeezing Level 30 — and the Han 86 blueprint — out of Weekend Two’s own four-day span means treating most of that window as dedicated grind time, not casual drop-ins.

If you want the earliest possible start, get the beta installed today rather than waiting for Friday morning — especially on Xbox on PC, where the late-arriving bulk download is the one thing that can genuinely cost you playtime. Sign into your Activision Account before your first session so nothing you earn goes to waste. If you only have Weekend One access, treat Level 20 and the Dread Tiger skin as the realistic finish line rather than chasing Level 30 early — the last three rewards, including the Han 86 blueprint, are locked behind Weekend Two’s higher cap regardless of how fast you level. The beta also includes the playable “Entrenched” campaign mission, reportedly the first time a Call of Duty beta has carried a piece of the campaign alongside multiplayer, plus systems like the Pick 3 Perk System, the returning Gunsmith, and the Combat Record tracking your challenge progress.