Earlier this year, Call of Duty launched their free to play battle royale — Warzone — and it’s been a tremendous success, with 50 million players jumping into Verdansk within the game’s first month, and since then, the game has seen an additional 25 million players give it a try.
Even though it hasn’t officially been announced yet, the next Call of Duty game, reportedly called Black Ops Cold War, is on track to be released in the fall, which has led many to wonder what Warzone’s future is, and if it’ll still be relevant after the release of this year’s COD release.
During an interview with GamesRadar, Infinity Ward‘s design director, Geoff Smith, said that Call of Duty: Warzone was designed to be altered to reflect the release of the latest Call of Duty titles, meaning that the free to play battle royale will be updated with the new games’ content after its release.
“Although Warzone is very closely tied to Modern Warfare, it was designed from the beginning as its own game,” said Infinity Ward’s design director. “As the game continues to be updated over time, it will evolve and become tied to other games in the Call of Duty universe.”
As of this writing, Activision hasn’t revealed the rumored Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, but recently it was confirmed that Treyarch and Raven Software are developing the game. Originally, the game was supposed to be developed by Sledgehammer Games, who had a hand in the development in the following COD games: Modern Warfare 3, Advanced Warfare, World War 2, and 2019’s Modern Warfare, as they assisted primary developer Infinity Ward.
Right now, the belief is that Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will be revealed on Monday, August 10. However, it’s unclear how detailed the reveal will be, or if Treyarch will show any gameplay.
Also, it’s worth noting that recently, The Gaming Revolution shared an image of a double XP promotion for Black Ops Cold War, which states that the event will begin on October 5. So, it’s entirely possible that the game will be revealed on Monday with an October 5 release date.
It’s unclear if Call of Duty: Warzone will be updated after each year’s new release, or if it’ll only be updated after Black Ops Cold War launches, presumably in October. But, given that Warzone will be updated to feature the newest games’ content, there likely won’t be another COD-related battle royale until 2021 or 2022.