Not to sound too dramatic, but it certainly sounds like the next couple of Call of Duty: Warzone updates feel more important than any others in the game’s five-year history.
And that’s not even taking into account a recent report that the CoD battle royale mode’s future “hangs in the balance” depending on the success of Verdansk’s return. But with the overall negative vibe around the game lately, and especially its lack of content in season two of Black Ops 6 so the devs could focus on quality of life, the situation feels more urgent than usual.
With the assumed (and highly likely) return of Verdansk happening in the delayed launch of season three, players are excited to hop back into the original 2020 map and try to re-live the “glory days” of the game at the heights of its early popularity. To start with, Warzone recently increased its base lobby size to 150 to better fit Verdansk’s size, but players want even more.
“Verdansk will not be enough to save this game,” one player said in a March 4 Reddit discussion, asking Activision to remaster Warzone 1. “We want the entirety of 2020-era Warzone back. Players aren’t leaving because they are losing interest in Warzone. Players are leaving because they are tired of waiting for Warzone to be good again. They are tired of the awful gameplay, the rampant cheaters, the numerous bugs, and the predatory management that comes from integrating WZ with MP.”
Warzone has undergone several overhauls since 2020, with many of them just rehashing original features and concepts to renege on changes that didn’t work out, including the integration of multiple different premium CoD launches including Vanguard, Modern Warfare 2, and Modern Warfare 3.
With these integrations, the game has become more convoluted and strayed too far from what made the original mode great, according to many fans.
“It’s what the people want,” another player said of a return to Warzone’s beginnings. “Simplicity. Five attachments. No Wildcards or tuning. No backpacks or water. Vehicles that are functional. Back to the golden age. Make Warzone great again.”
Wishing and hoping can only do so much, though, and a full-fledged remaster of WZ1 will likely never happen, as another gamer pointed out. But the rolling back of features has been done before and will continue to happen in the future, especially if everything truly does hinge on Verdansk’s success. With Verdansk coming back, and rumors of classic weapons and WZ1 features also returning, it’s clear that Activision has reached the point of realizing that nostalgia sells. And for the game’s fifth anniversary next week on March 10, it’s safe to expect further announcements illustrating that fact.
Personally, I’m of the thought that the 2020 Warzone vibes can’t be recreated. It was a perfect storm of a new game mode in one of the most iconic franchises in the world dropping smack dab in the middle of a global pandemic that allowed players to truly immerse themselves in the game, making memories with friends.
But Activision certainly will try its hardest to recreate that feeling when season three of BO6 drops on April 3.
