modern-warfare-4 · warzone
Modern Warfare 4 Squad Guide: Parties and Crossplay
Modern Warfare 4 squad guide as of November 2026: DMZ squad sizes, party limits, how to turn crossplay off, and what to agree before ranked.
By Ahnaf An Nafee · Published 2026-11-05
TLDR
As of November 5, 2026, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is out. Activision confirmed an October 23 launch on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Switch 2, and not on PS4 or Xbox One. DMZ is the mode that most rewards a real squad. Multiplayer works with smaller parties, and Free For All caps a party at 2. Console players can turn crossplay off, but PC players cannot. Activision has not published a Ranked Play date or party rule on the pages checked for this guide, so treat any ranked plan as provisional. For Warzone, which is due to share content and progression with this game from Season 1, use the Warzone squad finder guide.
Which mode needs a squad
Activision's game page lists three modes: Campaign, Multiplayer and DMZ. That page does not list a Zombies mode. It describes Campaign as a story mode and says nothing about co-op, so co-op play is unconfirmed either way.
- DMZ is the extraction mode. Activision says you can deploy solo or with a squad, and lists Story Missions, Dynamic Operations and Side Ops as ways to spend a deployment. A group gets the most out of it.
- Multiplayer has 12 launch 6v6 maps, Ground War: Combat Outpost for larger fights, and Kill Block Gunfight in 3v3 and 10v10 versions. Gunfight is the easiest place to practice with exactly three people.
- Warzone joins in with Season 1, and that guide covers its squads.
Party sizes by mode
Here is what the published sources confirm, and where they are silent.
| Mode | What the sources say |
|---|---|
| DMZ | One outlet, Destroy All Fanboys, reports 60 players in 20 squads of three, with squads growing to a maximum of four through assimilation. Turning off Squad Fill sends you in alone, and solo matchmaking leans toward other solo players without guaranteeing it. |
| Free For All | Maximum 2 player party, per the October 28 patch notes. |
| Core 6v6 | No published party cap on the pages checked. See the party screen in game. |
Two group habits follow from this:
- Fit the group to the mode. Two friends can run Free For All together. Three fit DMZ and Kill Block Gunfight. Four or more may need to split teams in some playlists or rely on assimilation in DMZ.
- Agree who leads the party. A patch fixed a bug where party leaders could pull teammates out of DMZ without consent, which marked their Operators as missing in action. Even with the fix, settle who starts the deployment.
There is one extra reason to play together. A Season 1 event called Joint Fire gives an XP boost that grows with squad size. Activision does not say which modes count. Its patch notes put Season 1 at November 5, 9 pm PT, so check the in-game event list for details.
Set up a party across platforms
Dexerto's crossplay guide walks through the options. Open Settings, go to the last tab, Account & Network, and look under Online. There are separate crossplay settings for Multiplayer Unranked, Multiplayer Ranked and Warzone Ranked. On PlayStation, Xbox and Switch 2 you can pick On, Off or Console Only, and Console Only keeps PC players out of your lobbies. PC has no way to turn crossplay off.
Before the first session, check these:
- Platforms. Last-gen friends cannot join. Activision says the game skips PS4 and Xbox One, and Warzone stops being playable there when Season 1 starts.
- PC requirements. The official page says PC needs TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot, so a friend on an older setup may be locked out.
- Crossplay setting. Everyone in the party should know their own toggle. A console player who sets it to Off or Console Only changes who they can be matched with, and Dexerto's guide does not say how that affects mixed-platform parties, so test it with the group before a long session.
- Voice. Pick one chat app. For general etiquette across platforms, see the cross-platform squads guide.
What to agree before a ranked session
Ranked Play is the open question. Dexerto's menu list shows ranked crossplay settings exist, but Activision's Season 1 post has no Ranked section, and no official start date turned up. How Ranked treats parties is also unconfirmed. Read the in-game rules when it opens, and until then agree on the rest:
- The party shape. Decide in advance who sits out if you have an extra player, rather than arguing in the lobby.
- The crossplay setting. Everyone uses the same one, so a ranked queue does not surprise anyone.
- Roles and calls. One shot-caller, with the others giving short facts.
- A stop rule. Pick a number of losses or a time limit and honor it. The solo vs duo queue guide covers how party size can change a ranked climb.
Filling the empty slot
If your friends list runs thin, a teammate-matching app such as Player 2 can pair you with players who own the game and play when you do. The good teammate checklist shows what to offer back.