MW4 Multiplayer modes: Launch rules

Which Multiplayer modes are available at launch?

Activision’s Maps and Modes briefing names the new modes Inflation, Hijack, Collateral and Combat Outpost. Returning entries include Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Free-For-All, Frontline, Search & Destroy, Gunfight, Gun Game and Proving Grounds. The briefing also describes Standard, Alternate and Hardcore variants, plus a Mobility Course.

Possession and Infected arrive in the pre-season as Halloween additions — Possession on October 29 and Infected on October 30 — with Grind, Drop Zone and Gauntlet 1v1 at Season 1 on November 6. Their scheduled status matters: a confirmed future mode is not evidence that its playlist was available on release day. The playlist reference separates the launch list from additions and historical Beta queues.

How does Inflation work?

Eliminations generate cash to collect. Holding enough cash reveals a player as a High Value Target to both teams, creating a reason to defend a wealthy teammate or hunt an opponent. Eliminated players drop part of their cash, and the late-match overtime changes the cash multipliers. The team holding the most cash when the match ends wins.

The source does not support the older claim that the richest player on each side is always the HVT; it describes a threshold. The current rules should be recorded as published, rather than imported from Plunder or another game’s bounty system.

How does Hijack work?

Teams contest a single Data Spike and transport it to the enemy Comm Station. The carrier can throw or pass it. A planted Spike generates points during an upload, with a completion bonus; defenders can interrupt the transfer. Teams switch sides between rounds, and the Spike can reset after particular dropped, out-of-bounds or defused states.

This is an upload objective. The old page’s claim that the Spike detonates is removed because that is not the launch briefing’s rule. It is also different from Search and Destroy’s bomb objective, even though both involve an attacker defending a planted object.

What is Collateral?

Collateral combines an attacking-and-defending bomb objective with a Buy Phase. The official briefing gives a starting Pistol and $800, no respawns and no custom loadouts. Players earn money through combat and objective actions, then purchase weapons, equipment and upgrades between rounds. A death loses the loadout while retaining earned cash.

The source specifies six round wins for victory. That limit applies to this published mode description; it should not be replaced with a rule from an older Call of Duty. The same briefing separately sets Search and Destroy to six round wins.

What is Combat Outpost?

Combat Outpost is the Ground War mode. Capturing Outposts generates points and opens additional spawn locations. Reinforcing a captured position enables stronger team rewards, including reconnaissance and vehicle support. Territory therefore matters both to scoring and to sustaining an advance.

It runs in the Ground War format listed on the map roster, rather than making every Core arena a vehicle map. The map guide explains why an objective marker and a live spawn rule are different records.

What do the returning entries offer?

Team Deathmatch rewards eliminations; Domination holds objectives; Hardpoint moves the contested zone; Kill Confirmed collects dog tags; Free-For-All removes teams. Frontline deploys players from their team’s base. Search and Destroy is round-based with no respawns. Gunfight supplies matching loadouts that change during the match, while Gun Game advances players through a weapon sequence. Proving Grounds is movement training, not a ranked competitive queue.

Hardcore is a rules variant with a restricted HUD, friendly fire and reduced health without regeneration. Specific score limits and timers should be read from the current briefing or playlist; this page does not inherit unrelated series defaults.

What comes after launch?

Possession moves the player into an eliminated enemy’s location and loadout. Infected converts eliminated Survivors into members of the Infected team. Their published descriptions do not establish the older page’s imported death zones, Juggernaut variant or round timings. Those cross-title details have been removed.

Season 1 on November 6 adds three more modes, each with a published rule set:

Mode	Published rule
Grind	Eliminate players, recover their dog tags and carry them to the Bank to score. There are two Banks on the map, either team can deposit at either one, and you can carry multiple tags — but you drop all of them when eliminated.
Drop Zone	Teams fight to hold a single rotating objective. Periodic airdrops deliver Killstreak packages over the Drop Zone; opening one gives a random Killstreak for defending the position or breaking the enemy line.
Gauntlet 1v1	A 1v1 Gunfight variant reachable through the Wager Match Event. Wager your trophies and eliminate the enemy to win; the winner stays on to face the next opponent, and multiple wins claim the waged reward.

At mid-season Activision says to expect Counter Attack, where you focus on detonating bombs at the enemy Comm Station while protecting your own, plus a Team Deathmatch variant whose twist it does not describe. Neither has published timings or score limits.

What changed after launch?

Read the October 23–25 patch notes for dated Multiplayer and DMZ fixes, XP changes and known issues, and the October 30 patch notes for the update that added Infected to the playlist and published the DMZ cash figures.

Sources

• Activision Maps and Modes briefing — launch rules, formats and pre-Season 1 additions.
• Activision Season 1 announcement — Grind, Drop Zone and Gauntlet 1v1 rules.
• Launch patch notes — launch content confirmation and tuning.

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