Everything suggests that the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will receive a new companion game as a free-to-play game. It will likely be Call of Duty: Warzone. At the moment, the battle royale mode does not have a release date yet, but fans are hopeful that it will start soon.
This is why the situation is so strange: Officially, Activision Blizzard has not yet introduced the new battle royale mode, Warzone. Activision Blizzard has never officially said, “By the way, we are releasing a ‘Battle Royale’ mode, get excited about it.”
However, there are leaks about the mode circulating. Dataminers have already found the map and exact details on how the 200-player mode will operate. There’s a feeling in the air that it should come out every week now, as everything is already ready.
It is almost certain that there is some truth to the rumors. Recently, Activision Blizzard filed a court application to identify a leaker so they can take legal action against them.
Almost everything about Warzone is known, except for the start date
What is still unknown: Two core pieces of information are currently missing:
- Will Activision Blizzard introduce the mode at all, or do they want to simply launch it live, as EA did with Apex Legends a year ago?
- When will they release the mode, when will it start?
These are new pieces of information: Next week, the first major gaming fair of 2020, PAX East in Boston, will start. This is the first opportunity for western publishers to present something bigger since the Video Game Awards on December 12.
Traditionally, announcements about games come at the PAX fairs, but often these are from the second tier.
The fair starts on Thursday, February 27, and ends on March 1, which is a Sunday.
The strange thing is that Activision Blizzard has 3 stands for Call of Duty:
- 2 are clearly marked as “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare”
- One is just called “Call of Duty”
This is now the theory: A fan who also runs the reddit for Warzone has put forward a hot theory. He believes: Activision Blizzard will show a playable version of Warzone at this smaller third stand of PAX East.
However, since the stand is too small to cram 200 players for a LAN party, the fan concludes that the mode will officially start on Tuesday, February 25.
According to the theory, there would be a “soft launch” on Tuesday. Then the mode would simply be there, and Activision Blizzard would already have the opportunity to promote and introduce it at PAX East.
Uncertainty about release fuels hype but also annoys
What other theories are there? According to the last leak, CoD: Warzone is set to launch on March 3 or 10. That would be after PAX East, which would then happen without a major announcement.
The speculation surrounding the launch of Call of Duty: Warzone seems to have drawn the attention Activision Blizzard was hoping for. However, some people are now also annoyed because this topic has been circulating for so long without a clear statement from Activision Blizzard.
