Modern Warfare 4 will finally give players control over which skins they see in Call of Duty, starting when the game integrates with Warzone later this year. This will allow players to choose to keep the immersion of Modern Warfare 4 in battle royale, while others can continue to use their outlandish skins from previous seasons.
The ability to toggle operator skins on and off has been a highly requested feature, especially after Beavis And Butt-Head operators were added in Black Ops 6, but Activision seems to finally be leaning toward player choice. Some players want immersion and thematically appropriate skins, while other players want to use wacky, colorful, and even animal-esque operator skins.
Modern Warfare 4 will integrate into Warzone with the new Zodiac map starting with Season 1, and it will also include an all-new filter, which Activision says was built specifically for the Modern Warfare 4 chapter of battle royale. When toggled on, the filter will only show Modern Warfare 4 operators in Warzone, replacing all the skins from the previous games. However, the player’s own equipped operator will not change, meaning they’ll continue to see the selected operator even if it’s from another title.
The publisher also clarifies that the toggle only impacts the user’s game, and it does not alter the experience of others. This feature will be off by default.
This feature is not available in Modern Warfare 4, but it’s possible this means the operator skins added in the post-launch updates will remain thematically appropriate. Black Ops 7 did scale back the skins from Black Ops 6, but it still featured some colorful anime-style bundles and a RoboCop operator.
Over the years, Call of Duty has gone from being a grounded mil-sim shooter to a Fortnite-style live-service game with an influx of wacky skins. Many players found the addition of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and cel-shaded skins of animated characters to be off-putting, and this new filter allows Activision to find some middle ground to appease a split playerbase. However, it does risk muting the appeal of buying a skin–a key part of CoD’s business–if players know they won’t be able to use it while playing with everyone they encounter.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 releases on October 23 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2. Modern Warfare 4 will feature campaign early access, allowing players to jump in on October 16. The game also launches with a full multiplayer experience and the return of Infinity Ward’s DMZ extraction mode.
