The future of Warzone was revealed today at Call of Duty Next, and the reception to the news has been lukewarm, to say the least.
The new map coming to Warzone later this year, to coincide with season one of Black Ops 7, is called Haven's Hollow, and it's a Resurgence map. Yeah, that's a bummer for most players, including myself, since I don't really care for the respawn-based gameplay, and it's not even coming at BO7 launch. But that's just the start of it.
Warzone is known mainly for its battle royale mode, and it appears that Verdansk will be the main BR experience for some time. Judging by social media, you'd be hard-pressed to find a dedicated Warzone player who's excited about staying on Verdansk for the time being, despite how long gamers pined for its return over the past few years.
The Avalon map that is home to BO7's Endgame campaign mode, along with several multiplayer maps, was expected to be the next BR map added to the game. But since Verdansk was only added earlier this year, it appears that Avalon may be on hold for a while, and Activision seems allergic to having more than one BR map available at a time. And so we stay stuck in 2020 for the time being.
The nostalgia of Verdansk wore off quickly for me, personally, and I imagine it's been similar over the past few months for most players after it launched back in April. Being confined to one map at a time is definitely detrimental to the Warzone experience, but it unfortunately doesn't seem to be changing any time soon.
The good news for CoD is that its yearly release cycle means a new multiplayer and Zombies experience will bring in revenue and keep players sated. But when it comes to Warzone, I think I may sit back and watch from afar until there's a more substantial update to be had, like in season one of BO7 when Verdansk is set to get some POI updates.
This situation is only exacerbated by the fact that, when I ask friends to play (both casual and hardcore gamers alike), they are wholly uninterested in continuing to play an old map without any substantial updates. So for now, I don't think I'll be dropping in much, with or without the boys, in the foreseeable future.
Update on Sept. 30 at 2:15pm CT: Activision just confirmed that a "new experience" that's "inspired by the original Blackout" battle royale mode from Black Ops 4 will be coming to Warzone in spring 2026. It sounds like it will be its own mode on Avalon, but Verdansk will stick around as the main BR map simultaneously.
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The post New Warzone map debuts at Call of Duty Next, but it’s not the one most players wanted, and I couldn’t care any less either appeared first on Destructoid.
