Call of Duty: Warzone May Be Coming to an End

Call of Duty: Warzone may be in its final era, according to a new rumor. Call of Duty is a juggernaut franchise that has managed to stay relevant for over 20 years now. The series has released a brand new game every year since 2005 which has helped it reach a mainstream status. People know they can reliably count on Call of Duty to be there every fall and it makes for a good game to spend during the holiday season as well as a good gift for gamers. The series has evolved a lot since its inception and is hitting a point where it demands some really new ideas.

Rumors indicate that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will release next year, continuing Infinity Ward’s beloved series. It’s expected to fully merge with the Black Ops storyline and take place after Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 which was set in 2025. As such, Modern Warfare 4 will be more of a near-future game rather than some of the more grounded entries like Modern Warfare (2019). It’s possible Infinity Ward will still find a way to keep it relatively “realistic”, but rumors indicate that wall-running will make a return with Modern Warfare 4 next year. That’s a bit surprising given the series has always avoided advanced gameplay like that, but it seems like it may embrace it this time around as things move further into the future.

With all of that said, one of the biggest innovations in Call of Duty’s history was the introduction of Call of Duty: Warzone back in 2020. The battle royale was a smash hit as it released right at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and fused Call of Duty’s premium gameplay with a big, sandbox mode that was completely free-to-play. It exploded in popularity, but in recent years, player counts and overall enthusiasm for Warzone has dwindled. While it’s still a big game relative to other titles on the market, it seems Activision may not be pleased.

Call of Duty: Warzone Support May End Next Year, According to a Rumor

Ahead of Verdansk’s return to Call of Duty: Warzone, a new rumor from Call of Duty leaker GhostofHope indicates Warzone‘s days may be numbered. The leaker noted that if Verdansk doesn’t lure new/lapsed players back to Warzone and sustain current players, Activision may kill future support for the battle royale mode. Hope specificially referred to this as “Warzone 3“, which may mean that Activision wouldn’t release a big new revision of Warzone with expansive gameplay changes (possibly thing like wall-running), a huge new map, and so on. It’s likely Warzone itself would continue to exist as a mode, but it may not receive big new content updates and would just be there as an option for players.

Given Call of Duty: Warzone has dominated some gameplay design decisions and has its DNA over all of the different Call of Duty modes including Zombies and campaign, this would be a shocking decision. However, it may also be one that some Call of Duty fans support as Warzone‘s fingerprints have led to changes that some fans aren’t pleased with. Of course, this is all one big rumor and should be taken with a grain of salt. Activision hasn’t suggested this itself to the public and likely won’t for a while. However, there are reportedly plans to bring the cult-classic extraction mode DMZ back for a future Call of Duty release. If successful, perhaps that could take Warzone‘s place going forward.

Nevertheless, Call of Duty season 3 is expected to begin in April and bring Verdansk back into the fold. It’s possible the game will get a huge resurgence in players and dissuade Activision from taking any drastic measures. We’ll just have to see what happens, though. It would be shocking to see one of the biggest battle royale games ultimately surrender to its competition.