Earlier today, Call of Duty: Warzone kicked off Season 3 by blowing up its map with a nuke and replacing it with a 1984 rendition of Verdansk. The change has been a long time coming, and the Call of Duty: Warzone developers are now saying that the old Verdansk is never coming back.
Changing up the map is standard procedure for the battle royale genre, keeping things fresh for players who become extremely familiar with the current map over time. Where battle royales like PUBG and Apex Legends have introduced multiple maps that are cycled through, it seems that Call of Duty: Warzone will use events to deliver sweeping changes to one singular map.
The developers discussed the decision in Treyarch's Season 3 Studio Broadcast, a video that breaks down what players can expect from Season 3 across all of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's various game modes. In the video, the developers discuss how they wanted Call of Duty: Warzone's Nuke event to be really memorable for players and that they thought the map permanently changing was a big part of that. The developers say that it helps push players to be more active participants in the game's story.
While still being Verdansk, the changes to the map in Season 3 are pretty large. Players may see familiar terrain, but there is a seasonal change to Spring, as well as the new time period of 1984 that adds a very different tone to the map. The update also brings with it 7 all-new locations for players to fight in, as well as completely overhauling 5 existing locations that will seem more familiar. Season 3 also brings with it a good drop of story development for players through Call of Duty: Warzone's Hunt for Adler limited-time event that started with the season's launch today.
Call of Duty: Warzone's Season 3 even seems to be off to a strong start. Fans have already been praising Call of Duty: Warzone's latest patch and the season seems to be bringing some large changes to the game to help freshen it up for players. This is the first event of this size for Call of Duty: Warzone, and while it did experience some technical hitches at the start, it is a solid first attempt that shows what could be possible in the title's future events. Regardless, the new map, weapons, operators, and event all make a great time for new and returning players alike to squad up and jump into Verdansk.
Call of Duty: Warzone is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.