Key facts
- Cheapest right now
- € Standard · Global · Difmark
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- Standard · Steam Gift · Global · Gamivo — €
The first campaign footage is out, the release date is set for 23 October, and the obvious question follows: reserve it now or sit on your hands? For a shooter with a 69,99 € list price that question is worth real money, and the honest answer depends less on the game than on which of the three PC storefronts your copy is tied to. Anyone about to buy Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 on PC should know that "PC version" is not one thing here.
Three launchers, one game, different products
Infinity Ward's series has spent years split across Battle.net, Steam and the Microsoft ecosystem, and the pre-order listings reflect that. What you receive is not interchangeable.
| Listing type | Where it lands | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Standard activation | Your own account on the storefront named in the listing | The straightforward purchase. Yours permanently. |
| Battle.net gift | Transferred to your Blizzard account | Fine, but delivery depends on the sender and can be region-tied. |
| Windows Store code | Microsoft account, PC only | Check whether the listing covers console too before assuming it does. |
| Account listing | Someone else's account, shared with you | Always the cheapest line. You do not own the game. |
That last row is why the lowest number on the page can be half of the next one up. It is not a discount on the same product; it is a different product with a much shorter useful life.
A thin market moves in bigger steps
Compare this to a game that has been out for a year and the difference is stark: a handful of sellers list a pre-release Call of Duty, and thin markets are volatile. One seller undercutting the rest can drop the visible floor overnight, and one seller running out of stock can push it back up just as fast. The entry price today is € (with coupon Gocdkeys), and there is no reason to assume it will still be the entry price next week — in either direction.
Live pre-order listings
Reserve now or wait?
Reserve now if you are certain you want it at launch, the standard format is available near or below RRP, and playing with everyone else in week one matters to you. Wait if you are unsure about the campaign, if the only listings under RRP are account-based, or if the subscription question below matters to your decision. There is no scenario where paying above RRP for a pre-order makes sense, and with this few sellers that does happen.
Before you commit
Will it be on a subscription service at launch?
Nothing is confirmed for this entry. Activision now sits under Microsoft and recent instalments in the series have arrived on the subscription on release day, so if that is how you would rather play, the sensible move is to wait for the official word rather than pre-order and find out afterwards.
Why is one pre-order listing far below the rest?
Because it is an account listing, or a regional copy, or it assumes a checkout coupon. Our panel resolves the final price with the coupon applied, which is why the ordering there sometimes differs from what a store shows on its own page.
When does the code arrive?
On third-party marketplaces you pay now and the activation is delivered on or just before release day. If day-one access is the whole point of reserving, seller delivery record matters more than the last euro of the price.
Where that leaves you
Match the format to how you actually play, ignore the bottom line of the price list unless you understand what an account listing is, and treat RRP as the ceiling rather than the target. Check the whole board and buy Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 key only from a listing that puts the game on your own account.
I have been a gamer for as long as I can remember, and for the last 14 years I have been making life easier for other gamers. CEO and co-founder of Gocdkeys.
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