Modern Warfare 4's New 'Counter-Strike' Mode Officially Announced

Published Sep 30, 2026, 2:46 PM EDT Sam Hill is a news writer at Polygon covering gaming and entertainment. He's a Portland, Oregon–based journalist known for covering gaming, the outdoors, national parks, tech, food, and internet culture. He has written for a range of publications including Outside Magazine, Boston Magazine, Vice, the Seattle Times and Digital Trends. Search and Destroy gets a little more expensive with Modern Warfare 4's new cash-based mode Modern Warfare 4 has its own Counter-Strike Image: Infinity Ward/Activision Sign in to your Polygon.com account Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is taking a page from Counter-Strike with a new multiplayer mode built around one of the classic shooter's defining mechanics: buying your gear with money earned during the match. Called Collateral, the new mode puts an economy system on top of the familiar Search and Destroy formula, creating a version of Call of Duty where every death and purchase could have consequences. Activision revealed Collateral in a new blog post primarily focused on Modern Warfare 4's PC features, with the mode getting only a brief introduction for now. The game is also getting a pile of PC-specific technical improvements, including more than 800 customization options, a built-in performance benchmark, and support for technologies including DLSS 4.5 and AMD FSR Redstone. Image: Activision But Collateral is arguably the more interesting addition, especially for anyone familiar with Counter-Strike or other competitive shooters built around an in-game economy. How Collateral works At its core, Collateral is a riff on Call of Duty's Search and Destroy mode. Teams alternate between attacking and defending two bomb sites, but instead of heading into every round with a predetermined loadout, everyone starts with a pistol and has to earn money to upgrade their equipment. Players earn cash by eliminating enemies and playing the objective, then spend it between rounds on armor, perks, equipment and increasingly powerful weapons. The available options include grenades, a Riot Shield, multiple pistols, shotguns, LMGs, SMGs, rifles and sniper rifles. Teams can also pool their money for a UAV. The mode also strips away several of the systems that normally define Call of Duty. There are no respawns, Killstreaks, automatic health regeneration or custom loadouts. If you die, you lose the gear you bought, although your accumulated cash carries over into the next round. That combination should make Collateral feel considerably different from standard Search and Destroy, while giving Modern Warfare 4 a familiar competitive structure with a very Counter-Strike-style layer of economic decision-making on top. Activision hasn't revealed much more yet, promising additional details on Collateral closer to launch. Modern Warfare 4 arrives Oct. 23.