The Battle Royale Call of Duty: Warzone is expected to run for some time and benefit from new CoD releases. MeinMMO author Maik Schneider has taken a closer look at the information and explains how Warzone and Black Ops Cold War could grow together.
Update October 30: Activision released new information about the merging of Cold War & Warzone. It seems that the integration of the games goes much further than previously thought.
Original report: Shortly after the release of Call of Duty: Warzone in March 2020, it became clear – this is a special CoD project. Just like CoD Mobile, Warzone is intended to become a new pillar of the franchise:
- 1st pillar: The annual premium titles
- 2nd pillar: Call of Duty: Mobile
- 3rd pillar: The Battle Royale Warzone
This makes patron Activision less dependent on individual CoD products and pushes for diversification in the universe.
But how is this supposed to work with Warzone? Will it simply continue as before or are major upheavals ahead for the players? To assess the possible future of the Battle Royale, I analyzed the available official information and leaks and provide you with an assessment of the future of the Battle Royale:
- How does the Cold War release affect it?
- What could happen to the Warzone map?
CoD Warzone – More like a Cold War or Modern Warfare?
The most important question in this context: How does Warzone play after the release of Cold War? There are essentially 2 answers to this:
- Warzone becomes a complete “Black Ops” title and adopts the mechanics of the premium title
- The Battle Royale remains a “Modern Warfare” title and is oriented towards its predecessor
So does the Battle Royale remain true to its mechanics and therefore remains more of a MW game? Or are there major upheavals? Aspects such as movement or weapon handling could align with the new Black Ops. Let’s start with the complete upheaval.
Warzone as a Black Ops game
What could that look like? At the release of Cold War or a little later, a gigantic download for Warzone starts and turns a large part of the BR upside down. The weapons, the movement, the loadout composition – everything gets adjusted to the new CoD, so it feels like Cold War.
What argues for it? Warzone shares content with Cold War and Modern Warfare. This also includes weapons that will be released in the new CoD. The focus on a single game engine (Cold War uses a polished version of the MW engine) should make the maintenance of the game and the balancing of equipment significantly easier. At least, if it is reasonably stable at first.
What argues against it? Even though the effort for subsequent maintenance would theoretically be less – the effort for completely restructuring Warzone throws the calculations back. Everything would have to be revised: from the optics, over the weapons, to the movement routines.
Warzone as a Modern Warfare game
What could that look like? Warzone continues as it has been, but shares cosmetics, level progress, and the content of the Battle Pass with Cold War. Thus, new weapons could be introduced that would be somewhat different in Cold War than in Warzone and would rather fit with MW weapons.
What argues for it? This brings to mind particularly the statement of a well-informed CoD leaker. “Tom Henderson” predicted Warzone as a free-to-play title for early 2020, even before CoD MW was in beta. He recently shared his leaks on Twitter and claimed:
German translation of the tweet:
Warzone is essentially Infinity Ward’s Warzone (the same movement and weapon mechanics) – Treyarch will only add cosmetics, weapons, vehicles, and such things. It will be possible to lean or brace yourself with BOCW weapons, which is not possible in Multiplayer. It is slowly getting interesting.
The well-informed leaker assumes that everything will continue as usual.
What argues against it? However, there are indications that Warzone plans a lot of “Black Ops” content. Data from the Alcatraz map from Blackout was found in the game files and zombies are likely to play a role in the battle royale. That Warzone would suddenly throw zombies onto the map with the realism-oriented “Modern Warfare” background seems rather unlikely at this point. Although there were early concept-phase ideas for zombies in Modern Warfare.
Conclusion – Almost everything stays as it is
Warzone remains more or less as we currently know it. For the launch of the new Black Ops, an event is conceivable that revolves around zombies and thus introduces the biggest gameplay change that will only occur in selected modes.
With the start of the first season of Cold War, the leveling system of the battle royale will change and will be transferred to the new title. The developers have already announced this. In Warzone, only the weapons and cosmetics that you can unlock through the Battle Pass will likely come. Those would be the only items that Cold War and Warzone share.
Also, with the seasons, everything remains as it was. They pursue a theme (like Season 5’s Shadow Company) and regularly bring changes and new game modes to the BR. It is conceivable that the map will get a little more colorful when the “Black Ops” items from the Battle Pass are inspired by certain unicorn weapons.
However, what would also represent quite a significant adjustment would be changes to the map or perhaps even a completely new map.
New map for Warzone or the good old Verdansk
For more than 6 months, the soldiers of Warzone have been ravaging the deserted Verdansk. And even if the map is really good and has gotten even better with a few innovations, eventually even the finest piece of land wears off.
So rumors about a possible major map adjustment or even the introduction of a brand new map have persisted for months.
Here are some possible scenarios:
- Verdansk gets removed and a new map is introduced
- The map is set back to the Cold War era
- Verdansk remains, new content is added
Could Verdansk be removed and replaced? This rumor has been around since the early days of Warzone. Leaker “Tom Henderson”, who has commented on the mechanics, has reignited the rumor. Tom Henderson writes on Twitter:
German translation of the tweet:
Warzone will connect Modern Warfare, Black Ops Cold War and the standalone title Warzone. Verdansk will be replaced by a new map, but the weapons, vehicles, etc. from Modern Warfare will remain.
In an English YouTube video, he elaborated further, suggesting that Verdansk might return. Many statements from developers indicate that CoD still has a lot planned for the fictional city. He assumes that after a certain time following the release of Cold War, there will be a completely new map that will temporarily replace Verdansk.
Could Verdansk take a time leap? This is rather a rumor from the story aspect. The early Verdansk is mentioned, and it becomes clear that the city suffered greatly during the Cold War and was rebuilt jointly from the East and West. This implies that the city played an important role in the earlier conflict of the superpowers.
This scenario would fit well with the story, but there is a catch. If the map is set back in time, according to the story, some gadgets and weapons would have to disappear from the game. Also, some operators may still be in their infancy, if at all.
A time leap currently seems rather unlikely. Even now, there are the wildest theories about how the “Black Ops” operator Woods fits into Warzone. He would actually be almost 90 years old. The plausible theories regarding Woods suggest a clone or his son, who has gotten the same tattoos.
Could Verdansk stay and more be added? Developing the Warzone map took the creators over a year. Thus, it seems rather unlikely that the map would disappear after half a year.
While there are always voices calling for a new map, many players still find plenty to enjoy in the current large map. You may no longer uncover secret spots that offer a major advantage since almost everything has already been discovered. But even 6 months after release, Verdansk still offers a lot of excitement and demonstrates good balancing.
Adding something new would be a sensible option that wouldn’t put Verdansk fans off. There are also newly added game data that point to the small Alcatraz map from Blackout, a DLC from the spiritual predecessor of Warzone. The developers exchanging the 150-man map for a map designed for only 40 players doesn’t seem right.
Conclusion – Verdansk remains and more comes
Based on how the developers have talked about the map in recent months, I find it hard to imagine that they would just stuff their “baby” into a digital drawer. Not even temporarily. I rather think that smaller maps will come that refresh the Warzone experience.
Currently, I see a new large map as unlikely, but only for now. I can very well imagine that there will be something big for the one-year anniversary in March 2021. Perhaps even a brand new map with Verdansk proportions that takes place in Russia or the fictional state of Urzikstan.
I am confident that the developers will try to keep the number of available game modes low. A new map could then be conceivable as a duo mode, while the other team sizes continue to play on Verdansk or there is a rotation of the maps.
What do you think, how will the Battle Royale continue? Will Cold War have a significant impact on Warzone? Is a new map coming in the foreseeable future? We would love to discuss with you in the comments.
