Call of Duty: Modern Warfare season 5: Everything we know

CoD: MW Season 5 has officially begun. Now that players are diving into the new content, we're starting to build a clearer picture of what lies ahead for Modern Warfare and Warzone. On top of the rumored loot train chugging through Verdansk, we've also got a brand new weapon and a bundle of new operators from the mysterious new Shadow Company. In a more traditional sense, Season 5 also brings new maps to standard multiplayer.

Now let's get you up to speed on everything we know about Call of Duty: MW Season 5.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare season 5 release date

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Season 5 kicked off on August 5, 2020.

Check out the Modern Warfare Season 5 roadmap for a breakdown of what's available right now, and what's coming later in the season.

Watch the official Call of Duty: MW Season 5 trailer

Infinity Ward's official Season 5 trailer is a standard overview of what we can expect from the next few months of Modern Warfare: new maps, operators, and weapons. In the Warzone camp, the trailer gives us our first look at the loot train and the inside of Verdansk's shiny centerpiece: the Stadium.

Call of Duty: Warzone season 5: What's coming to Verdansk

Verdansk is getting a loot train

Following in the tracks of Apex Legends, Warzone is getting its own loot train that will circle around Verdansk. We only know what we've seen in the trailer, but we can safely assume that the train will be home to high-tier loot that you can nab from the get-go.

Call of Duty YouTuber TheXclusiveAce has analysed the footage in this teaser video and has even visited the exact spot where the teaser was set. As you'd expect, it's right opposite the Train Station, with the carriage already parked on the tracks. There's no way to get inside, but judging by the teaser, Season 5 will unlock the doors to encourage players aboard. 

If the loot train has good stuff, you can expect it to be a hot drop in Warzone. In Apex Legends, nabbing a gun on the train is crucial to having a fighting chance. Things are a bit different in Warzone since everyone starts with a pistol and some armor, so train battles might be a bit less one-sided.

The Stadium is open for business

In June, players discovered a glitch that allowed them to stand inside the Stadium, although there wasn't much to look at, at the time. However, we now know that Season 5 is opening up the Stadium for business. The layout of the stadium seems pretty elaborate, complete with a field, stadium seating, and exterior corridors. Running around the center already seems like a good way to get sniped from eight different angles, but I have no doubt that there will be a good reason to take that chance anyway, like rare supply crates or a buy station.

Nukes have been on players' minds since the Warzone bunkers first appeared in Verdansk, with especially hard-to-access bunker 11 attracting a lot of attention from curious players. We already know that Warzone will connect the different Call of Duty series, and gearing up for season 4, there was more talk of thermonuclear war, with leaks pointing to the Cold War as the destination for the next Call of Duty game. If some sort of explosion is inbound to reshape the Warzone map, it looks as though the Stadium could be at the centre of the fallout.

What's the buzz around 'Rook'?    

Yes, it sounds a bit strange, but we are talking about the chess piece. All three content creators mentioned above have been sent a memory stick with the teaser trailer footage, and they all arrived in a container shaped like a rook. jackfrags also received the same item, with a box from the Senior Officer at Shadow Company—CoD fans will remember the private military contractor group from MW2. We now know that this connects to the three new Shadow Company operators coming in Season 5.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare season 5 new operators

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Season 5's new operators are all centered around the Shadow Company PMC that some might remember from Modern Warfare 2. From left to right we've got: Rozlin “Roze” Helms, Marcus “Lerch” Ortega (Shadow Company's leader), and Velikan.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare season 5 battle pass

Infinity Ward hasn't said much about the Season 5 battle pass yet, but I imagine it'll follow a similar structure to its predecessors. We should expect the same 100 tier progression, which usually sets players back 1000 COD Points ($9.99/£8.39). 

As always, it's likely that Infinity Ward will offer the battle pass bundle—including 20 tier skips—priced at 2400 CP ($19.99/£16.79). Playing frequently earns you a tidy sum of COD Points, which helps you snag the next battle pass without having to splash more cash.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare season 5 new weapons

Infinity Ward isn't shining a spotlight on new weapons yet, but we can see at least one confirmed weapon in the hands of our Shadow Company operators above: the AN-94 rifle that was lifted from the game files earlier this year.

It wouldn't be the run up to an upcoming season without a few weapon leaks, as well. @TheMW2Ghost claims that the 'm200' and 'm200_c' code files were added in season 4. The M200 refers to the CheyTac Intervention bolt-action sniper rifle, which also cropped up in conversation alongside the Remington Model 700 (R700), mined by @BKTOOR_ last month. This leaker has already uncovered a few season 5 titbits, which look pretty persuasive as some of the information has been supported by other dataminers. 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare season 5 maps

Infinity Ward has officially announced the four new maps coming to standard multiplayer, including two 6v6 maps, one new Gunfight map, and a new Ground War operation.

• Suldal Harbor (6v6)
• Petrov Oil Rig (6v6)
• Verdansk Int. Airport (Ground War)
• Livestock (Gunfight)

Alongside the new maps, Highrise is rumoured to make an appearance in Modern Warfare at some point, according to @ModernWarzone (via VGC). As it's just a leak, there's no guarantee it'll arrive in Season 5. So far, other maps lifted from older CoD games have gone down well with the community, so it makes sense that a Multiplayer map from MW2 would fit right in.

Modern Warfare's Season 5 patch will be huge, but shrink the file size

One of the biggest struggles for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare players since launch has been the unreasonably large patch sizes and the ever-growing size of the game (around 212 GB on PC right now), so it's good to see that Infinity Ward is shrinking the overall file size in Season 5.

Unfortunately, shrinking assets also means that much of the game will need to be redownloaded, resulting in a large patch at Season 5's launch. The patch on PS4 is weighing in at 36 GB, so we should expect a similar size on PC.

Will blasting Ozzy Ozbourne's 'Crazy Train' help you secure a victory in Warzone this season?

There's no guarantee that this works, but I certainly hope it does. There's nothing like that opening riff to give you a boost of confidence in a tense Warzone match. Let's be honest, it's worth a try.

• Warzone stadium access code: Everything we know
• Warzone Farmland access code: Get inside the locked room