Ah, zombies. A quintessential addition to any Call of Duty title, the Zombies game mode first made waves all the way back in 2008 with World at War. There was nothing like dropping into a session of Nacht der Untoten, throwing back a Perk-a-Cola, and mowing down the undead by the hundreds.
From boarding up your first window to making thousands of rolls on the Mystery Box, zombies have been an integral part of the Call of Duty experience for over a decade, primarily in CoD titles produced by Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games. It took until 2016 for Infinity Ward to join the horde with Infinite Warfare.
As Sledgehammer is leading the Modern Warfare 3 project, with members of the Treyarch team assisting, many have wondered whether the zombies game mode will return after Infinity Ward skipped it for 2022’s Modern Warfare 2.
Will MW3 have a Zombie mode?
It is believed 2023’s MW3 will have a zombies mode, according to numerous leaks and a report from Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson in May 2023.
Sources indicated MW3’s zombies mode would work similarly to Outbreak, a large-scale objective-based game mode a little similar to DMZ where players enter and must complete numerous objectives while fighting off an unlimited horde of zombies. At the same time, the chance of a classic zombies mode with waves hasn’t been entirely ruled out.
Related: Modern Warfare 3 officially confirmed—and it’s just a few months away
It’s also unclear whether zombies will be packaged with the full title or included with CoD’s free suite of add-ons like Warzone and DMZ. Historically the zombie game mode came with the full-priced version of CoD and not a free addition, so it’s highly likely zombie fans will need to fork out for the full game if they want to play.
That’s not to say Activision hasn’t given players a short time of free access in the past, so perhaps in a future update, we’ll be able to carve through some zombies for free for a short time.
All eyes will be on MW3’s launch on Nov. 10, which will include a new campaign, multiplayer, Warzone, a rumored return of War Mode, and of course, zombies. MW3 will launch on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.