Modern Warfare 3 PC requirements and campaign early access start time revealed

Those eager to dive into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s campaign on PC don’t have much longer to wait, as it’s now been confirmed that the campaign early access period starts on November 2 at 1pm ET / 10am PT / 5pm GMT / 4am AEDT. 

In a blog post published yesterday (30 October), it was revealed that PC preloads (available for those who’ve pre-purchased the game digitally) will begin on November 1 at 12pm ET / 9am PT / 4pm GMT / 3am AEDT. Meanwhile, preloads for the PC version’s full launch (complete with multiplayer and Zombies) will commence on November 8 at 12pm ET / 9am PT / 4pm GMT / 3am AEDT. 

If you’ve been wondering if your setup will be able to handle Modern Warfare 3, then fret not, as the full PC requirements have now been unveiled, too. The minimum specs vary slightly depending on whether you want to play multiplayer. Still, regardless, you’ll at least need the latest update of Windows 10 (64-bit), 8GB of RAM, up to 32GB hi-rez assets cache, 2GB of video memory, and a Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 / GTX 1650 or AMD Radeon RX 470. 

The only difference is that for multiplayer only, you’ll need an Intel Core i3-6100 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200 CPU, whereas for the full game, you’ll require an Intel Core i5-6600 or AMD Ryzen 5 1400. You’ll also need 79GB of storage space for the COD HQ launcher and multiplayer, but for the full game, you’ll require 149GB (assuming that you don’t already have COD HQ and Warzone installed). This exact storage requirement applies to the recommended and competitive/4K ultra specifications, too.

Speaking of the recommended specifications, these call for the latest update of Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), 16GB of RAM, 8GB of video memory, and up to 32GB hi-rez assets cache. As for the CPU, you’ll need either an Intel Core i7-6700K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X, and for the video card, a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080Ti / RTX 3060 or AMD Radeon RX 6600XT will do the trick.

As for the competitive/4k ultra specifications, you’ll once again need either the latest update of Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), and 16GB of RAM. However, you’ll also require at least 10GB of video memory and up to 64GB hi-rez assets cache, an Intel Core i7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 7 2700X CPU, and a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 / RTX 4070 or AMD Radeon RX 6800XT video card.

Modern Warfare 3 is a direct sequel to Modern Warfare 2 (2022), so if you finished that campaign wondering what would happen next, we’ll soon have the answers.

Only time will tell if Modern Warfare 3 (2023) ends up being one of the best FPS games, but for now, be sure to check out our recommendations for the best multiplayer games on PC.