The rumors are running rampant for the latest iteration in the Call of Duty series. Like clock-work for the past decade and a half, new entries into the Call of Duty franchise have dropped in October or November, just as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare did in October of 2019.
Speculation and leaks have pointed to a battle royale releasing sometime in the near future as a free to play game and add-on to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. And if the latest rumor is true, the battle royale, rumored to be named Call of Duty: Warzone, could release very soon.
Twitter user ModernWarzone, whose first name is Doug, has been active in the Call of Duty community over the past week or so, including moderating the new subreddit also named r/modernwarzone. Meanwhile sibling subreddit r/modernwarfare recently saw Activision subpoena information for leaks and copyright information. Doug tweeted that he strongly believes that Call of Duty: Warzone will be released on Tuesday, February 25.
Currently, Activision has three booths set up for Pax East in connection with Call of Duty. Two of the booths are listed as Modern Warfare, the third, however, is mysteriously marked simply as "COD". Theoretically and entirely speculatory, this could be because Call of Duty: Warzone has not yet been officially revealed. While all of the leaks have pointed to the name Warzone, nothing is official. If the third booth was for Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Mobile, or any other already revealed Call of Duty game, it would make sense for the booth to have a full name and not just be marked as "COD."
Some additionally interesting information to note is that the "COD" booth also shares space with other battle royales such as PUBG and CS:GO. If this "COD" booth is indeed Warzone, it could be strategically placed here to prove that it can go up against the likes of PUBG and outperform it with its 200 player count and other impressive features.
As Call of Duty: Warzone gets closer to release, it seems that more information is getting leaked out and speculated on. While Doug has claimed to have an inside source for some of his information, other leakers have already been suspended from Twitter for releasing too much information. Doug believes that 2/25 will be an important date, marking the day that the embargo will release for Call of Duty: Warzone, or more likely, marking the release of the game for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare players.
There are still many different possibilities as to the release date of Call of Duty: Warzone. Currently, there is a large "Classified" section on the main menu in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare that is almost certainly the battle royale. One going theory is that the game will be available first to Modern Warfare owners, perhaps for a couple of weeks, and then Warzone will be a free-to-play stand-alone title at a later date. This would allow Modern Warfare owners to beta test the game for a time before it is released to the masses. Regardless of when the battle royale is released, fans are eagerly awaiting this new Call of Duty iteration.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.