Call of Duty’s 2026 entry is Modern Warfare 4, a return to boots on the ground and realistic combat set mostly on the Korean peninsula.

MW4’s campaign is excellent, and the story continues past the credits in the DMZ mode, which is CoD’s version of the popular extraction mode seen in games like Escape From Tarkov, ARC Raiders, Marathon, and more.

Here’s everything there is to know about DMZ, including how to play it.

No, DMZ is not a free-to-play mode in MW4 at launch. It’s the third mode in the premium paid package of Call of Duty: MW4, alongside Campaign and Multiplayer.

“DMZ” stands for “demilitarized zone.” Cambridge Dictionary defines a DMZ as “an area of land from which countries or groups have agreed to remove military forces.”

DMZ mode goes live for all players at midnight local time on Oct. 23 when MW4 is fully live, but players who pre-load and pre-order the game can play as early as 12pm CT on Oct. 20.

To check what time this is for you in your region, use this Time Zone Converter website.

To play DMZ early ahead of Oct. 23 launch, you need to digitally pre-order the game on any platform to play on Oct. 20 at 12pm CT.

You can also do the “New Zealand trick” by changing your Activision account’s address to a location in New Zealand. You can generate a random address in New Zealand by using this website.