Modern Warfare II’ Goes Live In Early Access Plus Free Rewards, Download Size And More

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II is just around the corner.

While the full multiplayer experience doesn’t go live until the end of the month, anyone who has pre-ordered the game will get early access to the single-player campaign a week ahead of time.

This is a new bonus we haven’t seen in prior Call Of Duty releases, and it’s especially nice this year since you can earn special Multiplayer rewards just by completing the campaign. More on that below.

Early Access and Launch Times

If you’ve pre-ordered the game, you can dive into the campaign Thursday, October 20th at 10am PT / 1pm ET. Pre-loading for the campaign has already begun, so you can download that now to get ahead of the game.

The full game launches on October 28th, with pre-loading already available on PlayStation and Xbox consoles. PC pre-loading begins on Steam and Battle.net on October 26th at 10am PT / 1pm ET. The full launch of the game will depend on your platform and region but will roll out between October 27th-28th.

October 28th – November 15th is the pre-season period, with Season 1 launching alongside Warzone 2.0 and the DMZ mode on November 16th. A month later, on December 16th, Raids come to Modern Warfare II along with a new “Legendary” map.

Modern Warfare II Campaign Info

The Modern Warfare II campaign is a sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare taking place several years after the events of that game, though you can start with this game if you prefer to skip the former. The story has many of the same characters but will work just fine as a stand-alone experience. Raids and seasonal releases for Warzone 2.0 will continue the story that the campaign begins, and you’ll see plenty of familiar locations in the Multiplayer maps as well.

The campaign follows Task Force 141, an elite multinational special ops unit, and features a globetrotting story that involves Mexican Special Forces, international drug cartels, terrorist groups and more. Water will play a larger role in this campaign (and the game overall) than in previous titles.

Multiplayer Campaign Rewards

Playing the campaign will net players quite a few rewards in Modern Warfare II—more than in any previous game I can recall. Typically you’ll unlock a calling card or two and maybe an emblem for finishing the campaign (maybe a handful) and some XP tokens but this is a pretty good haul. Here’s everything you can unlock in order just by playing the single-player portion of the game:

• Calling Card: “Soap’s Determination”
• Emblem: “What’s Done is Done”
• 30 Minute Double XP Token
• 30 Minute Double Weapon XP Token
• Calling Card: “Chainlinked”
• Base Operator: Chuy
• 30 Minute Double XP Token
• 30 Minute Double Weapon XP Token
• Calling Card: “Gaz”
• Base Operator: Nova
• 1 Hour Double XP Token
• 1 Hour Double Weapon XP Token
• Calling Card: Shadow Company Ops
• Base Operator: Reyes
• 1 Hour Double XP Token
• 1 Hour Double Weapon XP Token
• Base Operator: Hutch

As you can see, on top of XP tokens, Calling Cards and Emblems, you’ll unlock four base Operators and the Union Guard Weapon Blueprint, which Infinity Ward describes as: “Captain Price’s signature weapon that comes with four pre-equipped attachments: the Aim OP-V4 Reflex Optic, the SZ 1MW PEQ Laser, the FSS Covert V Silencer on the Muzzle, and the Lockgrip Pricision-40 Underbarrel Vertical Grip.”

It should make for a great, balanced starting weapon.

Campaign Download Size

Last but not least, make sure you have enough storage space on your PlayStation, Xbox or PC to download the early access Campaign. Here’s the download sizes for each platform:

PlayStation 5

• Base game: 42.9GB
• Campaign Packs: 19.1GB

PlayStation 4

• Base Game: 35.4GB
• Campaign Packs: 16.7GB

Xbox One / Series X|S

PC

Obviously this number will get larger with the release of Warzone 2 in November and other updates could continue to raise the total storage space required, but right now it’s not as bad as some of the other recent entries in the shooter franchise.

Stay tuned for more info on the full release of Modern Warfare II as well as my impressions of the campaign here on this blog.