Prestige Tokens are a currency used in the Prestige Shop. They are used to buy more Create-A-Class custom classes, double Weapon XP and Double XP, custom Playercard and Emblems, or the player can use a token to reset all their statistics at Prestige level 20. Each reward costs one Prestige Token.
The player can also use prestige tokens to unlock weapons prematurely in the level-up cycle. Common early unlocks, for example, may be things like the M60E4, the MP7, or the RPG-7. While it may seem useless to unlock one weapon in exchange for losing everything else, there are emblems, and titles that can be earned automatically for prestiging. If the player unlocks a weapon with a prestige token, it stays unlocked no matter how many times they prestige again afterward. It will, however, be reverted to weapon level 1 when prestiging.
To gain prestige tokens, the player must prestige in Modern Warfare 3. They will also gain one prestige token from each game if they have prestiged in any of the other Call of Duty games from Call of Duty 4 onwards, i.e. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Call of Duty: Black Ops. One Prestige Token will be received for each game, not for each prestige level with a game. ELITE founders also receive one extra prestige token.
It may take 48 hours or more for the player to get their prestige token(s) for prestiging in other Call of Duty games. The reason for this is because while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 does keep track of their ranks in each game, it will usually take a while to update. Until it is updated and registers them to have the rank of Prestige in either Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, or Call of Duty: Black Ops, the player will not be recognised as having prestiged in that game. (Note: The player must gain some experience after entering prestige for that prestige to register.)