It’s exploded in popularity!
- by Ben Kerry
So far, Microsoft has been rather sporadic when it comes to putting Call of Duty titles on Xbox Game Pass. They’ve committed to dropping brand-new entries into the library with the likes of Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7 arriving day one, but the back catalogue hasn’t been as predictable thus far. While we’ve talked plenty about wanting classic Xbox 360 era COD on the service, another more recent Call of Duty game has made a case for itself recently – and we think now’s the perfect time for it to arrive on XGP.
The title in question — as some of you may have guessed by now — is 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Infinity Ward’s big MW reboot has had a massive resurgence for the last week or so, largely because the team recently gave it a huge discount on Steam, quickly followed up by a 2x XP event. That double whammy led to MW19 beating its best-ever concurrent player record on the platform – and it even overtook the modern Call of Duty launcher at the same time, which hosts the free-to-play Warzone. That’s pretty impressive stuff.
However, it’s not just this boost in player count that makes now the perfect time for Modern Warfare to come to XGP, even with cross-play benefitting all platforms here. Both follow-ups in Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3 are already in the library (so this would complete the trilogy), and this game looks and plays incredibly well on Xbox Series X|S. Seriously, it looks just as good — if not better — than the most recent Call of Duty titles – and as long as you switch HDR off (there’s a weird bug with it that drops frames), you can play at 120Hz with a compatible display.
We already own this one despite pleading for it to join XGP (it’d be great to see more players online, and for you fine folks to enjoy it), so have been playing multiplayer over the last few days to see what’s what. We fully expected to get bored once the novelty wore off to be honest – but no, it’s been fantastic fun rediscovering this game again. MW19 remains a highlight of the modern era of COD, and with tens of thousands now online, it somewhat feels playing a new release right now. The playlists are full, there’s a good variety of skill levels on show, and all-in-all, we’ve been loving our time with this game’s multiplayer once again (and that’s despite the Piccadilly map existing in this game, grrr).
With Modern Warfare 4 all-but confirmed to be the Call of Duty title for 2026, now’s the perfect time for Xbox to add this one to Game Pass, and to complete the modern MW trilogy on the service. We really hope Microsoft realises this and brings it to the library ASAP, but if you’re tempted to bite the bullet beforehand, the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Digital Standard Edition is discounted right now as part of the Xbox Spring Sale 2026 – although it’s nowhere near as cheap as last week’s Steam offer.
Have you played any MW19 since the game got more popular again? Talk to us about it down below.
Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.
Ben is a News Writer at Pure Xbox, and is a fan of action, racing and straight-up shootin’ in any Xbox game he can get his hands on. When he’s not clutching an Xbox controller like his life depends on it, Ben spends his time listening to music that’s far too old for him, watching football on the telly and probably eating somewhere.
