Activision plans to take the original Call of Duty: Warzone offline for a little over a week and a half. The outage is scheduled to begin when Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 goes live on November 16th.
Call of Duty: Warzone launched in 2020 as a battle royale component for the reboot of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which was released the previous year. It is also integrated with Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War and Call of Duty: Vanguard and supports cross-play between all three games. The upcoming Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 is part of this year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. However, players don’t need to purchase Modern Warfare 2 if they want to experience the free-to-play battle royale.
Activision previously stated it intends to keep both versions of Warzone online, so fans can play whatever game they prefer. However, Classic Warzone fans will have to do without for about 12 days after Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 goes live. Raven Software expects the game will come back online at 10 AM Pacific on the 28th, at which point it will relaunch under the name Call of Duty: Warzone Caldera. The studio will be using this downtime to focus on rolling out Warzone 2.0 and making sure that the game is running efficiently.
The studio didn’t clarify why exactly it thinks such a radical step is necessary. However, the downtime is partially to let team members take time off to celebrate the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday on November 24th. Activision is also giving Warzone players a few free gifts if they decide to jump into Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0. Unfortunately, the blog does not provide any indication of what those complementary items might be.
Additionally, while the original Warzone’s in-game storefront is shutting down, players can transfer their Warzone COD Points to Warzone 2.0. However, weapons, Cosmetics, XP, Tokens, Bundles, and other items are non-transferable and will be staying in Call of Duty: Warzone Caldera. Activision explained that the publisher made this decision due to technical limitations and its desire to streamline Warzone 2.0 into a more seamless experience.
Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 introduces a variety of new features, including game engine improvements, drivable boats, and a new fuel mechanic for the expanded vehicle roster. Meanwhile, Warzone 2.0’s massive Al Mazrah map is larger than any environment in the previous game. It also features a new DMZ mode, which may offer a significant shake-up to Warzone’s typical battle royale formula.
Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 launches on November 16th for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Activision