Activision has announced that the original free-to-play battle royale game, Call of Duty: Warzone, now known as Warzone Caldera, will be permanently shutting down on September 21st. This decision is intended to allow developers to focus on the future of Call of Duty content, including the current free-to-play Warzone experience, originally referred to as Warzone 2.0, as stated in a blog post by Activision.
Read: YouTube is testing an online games offering called Playables
On the shutdown date, all gameplay, player progression, inventories, and online services associated with Warzone Caldera will expire. However, any Caldera content that players have purchased in Modern Warfare, Black Ops Cold War, or Vanguard will still be accessible in those respective games.
Warzone was introduced in 2020 and featured two gameplay modes, battle royale and plunder, along with a single map named Verdansk, accommodating up to 150 players at once. It shared a battle pass, weapons, and cosmetics with the 2019 title Modern Warfare. The game achieved tremendous success, reportedly amassing 30 million players within just 10 days of its launch.
Following the release of Warzone 2.0 in November 2022, the game was renamed Call of Duty: Warzone Caldera, after the introduction of the Caldera map. Recently, Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 was rebranded simply as Warzone. Activision is encouraging original Warzone players to transition to this new version, promising a wide range of gameplay options across three Battle Royale maps, including the new map Vondel from Season 04, as well as Ranked Play, the DMZ Beta with five different Extraction Zones, BlackCell offerings, and more.
While some players have expressed dissatisfaction with the shutdown, particularly comparing it to other battle royale games like Blackout from Black Ops 4 that still have active servers, Activision has emphasized their commitment to the new Warzone experience. Some players have also raised concerns about resources being directed towards Warzone: Mobile. Additionally, there are reports that players will lose their Warzone cosmetics in the transition, which has generated further discontent among certain segments of the player base.
