Players have long suspected that a new map is coming for Call of Duty: Warzone. And just as long, there has been hardly any solid information on the subject. However, a leak could actually show the first images of a new Warzone map.
What happened? There was a big leak regarding the new Warzone map. An unfinished live-action trailer is currently circulating on the internet and shows the seemingly first images of the new map for the battle royale Call of Duty: Warzone.
What does the leak show? It seems to be a commercial for Warzone that is not quite finished. The spot features real actors playing a round of battle royale in Verdansk.
In the beginning, you see a guy jumping out of the window facade of a high-rise building with an ATV. He jumps off his vehicle and grabs onto a helicopter piloted by another “player”.
The state of the trailer suggests that the spot is not fully completed. The backgrounds are not complete, and there are even production markings visible in the video.
After an explosion, a sound reminiscent of “rewinding” or backward played sounds occurs. This is likely an indication that the map Verdansk is going back in time. Because afterwards, images of locations from the current Verdansk are shown that “transform” in the trailer and seemingly depict the same location at a different time:
- The stadium is not yet completed and resembles a construction site
- The dam has not been built yet, and there is a railway bridge
- An image of downtown shows unknown buildings with the Warzone interface
Additionally, there is briefly a large metal structure visible that strongly resembles the Duga signal stations which CoD players might know from the map “Grid” in Black Ops 1 or the “evil” ending of the “Cold War” campaign. This is a clear nod to the Cold War.
This suggests that the new map plays in a version of Verdansk during the Cold War, the scenario of the current CoD premium title Black Ops Cold War. Until now, speculation leaned more towards the new map being set in the Ural Mountains and combining several fire team maps from Cold War into a larger map. This now seems to be at least partially disproven.
At the end of the clip, the live-action players are seen again having fun in a Warzone helicopter. Here, too, the backgrounds are unfinished and show that the trailer is likely not complete yet.
When did the leak appear? The “trailer” surfaced during the night from March 31 to April 1.
Where did the leak appear? The leak came from the US site “videogameschronicle” via the Twitter account “On Thin Ice“. However, the Twitter account is not the source of the video; the clip was just noticed there for the first time.
“On Thin Ice” writes: “When we shared the Warzone video, our intention was not malicious. We noticed it was already circulating on several Discord servers and thought it was already public.” So far, it remains unclear where the leak originates. However, the video itself is so compelling that it is regarded as “authentic” by many fans and content creators.
How “real” is the leak? There might be something real about the leak. The entire clip indeed feels like a Warzone trailer that is not completely finished. The Warzone logo is visible at the beginning, and overall, the production seems professional and in line with Warzone PR, except for the “unfinished” scenes.
Additionally, Activision is actively blocking sources for the video. This could be an indication that confirms its authenticity in a certain way.
However, nothing is certain so far. It may also be a version of a trailer that has been scrapped and is no longer part of the plans. As long as the developers and responsible parties do not clearly comment on it, the authenticity of the new information remains unclear. Nonetheless, this is a significant leak and redirects speculation about the new Warzone map back to “Verdansk 2.0.”
