How Long Does it Take to Beat the MW3 (2023) Campaign?

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is now available, but how long does it take to beat the new MW3 (2023) Campaign?

Whenever a new Call of Duty game drops, it’s always a scramble to see who can hop into multiplayer and grind out the new weapons first. And because of this mad rush, many COD Campaigns get left at the wayside, and forgotten about.

Beginning with MW2, Activision has recently started allowing players to experience the latest COD story modes a week early. This ensures that all users have sufficient time to complete the Campaign before the grind begins (and no doubt boosts pre-orders for non-refundable digital copies significantly).

But how long exactly does it take to beat the MW3 Campaign?

How Long to Complete MW3 Campaign?

The Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 (2023) Campaign takes roughly 4-5 hours to beat.

We personally completed MW3’s Campaign in exactly 4 hours, though it’s worth noting that we always went in guns blazing on the Open Combat Missions, rather than attempting a stealthy run.

However, thanks to the replayability of these missions, we expect that completionists could expect to sink a few extra hours with the game.

That said, having played them all, we don’t think there’s a lot of value to be had in replaying Open Combat Missions. They all play very similarly, though anyone who wants to do a full stealth run will no doubt sink more time into the levels.

For comparison, the Modern Warfare 2 (2022) Campaign took roughly 6-8 hours to finish, with each of the 17 missions requiring around 25-30 minutes to complete.

This was actually an increase from Vanguard and Cold War before it, which each offered a tight 6 hour experience for story mode fans.

How Long to Complete Each Mission

Here’s how long it took us to complete each MW3 Mission, not including cutscenes before and after missions (mid-mission cutscenes are included).

Again, bear in mind that we didn’t attempt to complete the Open Combat Missions with any degree of stealth.

Adding in time for cutscenes to play out brings MW3’s Campaign up to a 4 hour runtime. However, it’ll be higher for those on more challenging difficulty levels.

And despite seasons not offering much in the way of story, it’s worth noting that the Modern Warfare storyline will continue via both cinematics and events over the course of MW3’s lifespan.