Modern Warfare 4 is trailing Black Ops 6's launch-weekend Steam peak, despite the older title launching on Game Pass. The numbers reveal a surprising gap.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 has opened its first weekend with a noticeably smaller Steam player peak than Black Ops 6, despite a significant difference in how the two games were released.
Following Modern Warfare 4's launch on October 23, 2026, the shared Call of Duty application has recorded approximately 227,000 concurrent Steam players, according to available Steam player-count data. That remains below the 306,460 concurrent players recorded during Black Ops 6's opening weekend in October 2024.
The comparison was also highlighted by CharlieIntel, which reported an earlier Modern Warfare 4 peak of approximately 215,000 players.
The difference becomes more interesting when considering Xbox Game Pass.
Black Ops 6 attracted more Steam players despite launching on Game Pass
When Black Ops 6 arrived on October 25, 2024, it was available to eligible Game Pass subscribers from day one. PC players therefore had the option of accessing the new Call of Duty through Microsoft's subscription service rather than purchasing it on Steam.
Modern Warfare 4 has taken a different approach.
Activision confirmed that the October 23 release would require a separate purchase, with Game Pass availability not planned until the holiday period of 2027.
Despite that difference, Modern Warfare 4's early Steam peak is roughly 26% below the figure recorded during Black Ops 6's opening weekend.
That does not automatically establish that the newer game has sold fewer copies or attracted fewer players overall. It does, however, show a substantial difference in concurrent activity on Steam during the two launch periods.
There is an important limitation to this comparison: Steam's Call of Duty player counter measures activity across the shared application, rather than exclusively tracking Modern Warfare 4 multiplayer.
The same issue applied to Black Ops 6 in 2024, when the launcher also included other Call of Duty experiences, including Warzone and earlier premium releases.
Consequently, neither peak represents a verified count of people playing the newest game's multiplayer mode alone.
Steam also excludes players using Battle.net, Microsoft's PC ecosystem and consoles. Without comparable player totals across those platforms, it is impossible to calculate the complete difference between the two launches.
Game Pass further complicates the comparison. Black Ops 6 subscribers playing through Microsoft's PC platform were not included in Steam's numbers, meaning its overall PC audience was not fully reflected in the reported peak.
What Modern Warfare 4's opening weekend actually tells us
Although the newer release has not matched Black Ops 6's launch-weekend Steam performance, the arrival of Modern Warfare 4 has coincided with a significant increase in activity across the Call of Duty application.
For context, the shared launcher recorded a peak of around 45,000 concurrent Steam players in September 2026, before climbing past 220,000 during Modern Warfare 4's opening weekend.
That increase points to substantial renewed activity around the franchise's latest release, even though the shared data cannot establish precisely how many additional players are using Modern Warfare 4.
The initial comparison is therefore meaningful, but limited: Black Ops 6 generated a higher Steam concurrency peak during its opening weekend, even with a day-one Game Pass alternative available.
Modern Warfare 4's first weekend is still unfolding as of October 25, and concurrent-player figures may rise further. For now, the data provides an early indication of Steam engagement rather than a definitive verdict on the game's commercial performance.
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