Good times have been plentiful in Call of Duty Warzone, with maps like Verdansk and the tropics of Caldera giving way to exceptional action. But just like the removal of Verdansk and Rebirth Island, all good things must come to an end eventually, COD fans. Now, Activision is moving forward to plans for a Warzone shutdown, meaning that one of the best royale games around will be closing its doors forever.
The long-running Call of Duty publisher announces in a recent blog that “as Warzone moves ahead with exciting new experiences to come, Warzone Caldera will shut down on [Thursday] September 21, 2023. All Caldera gameplay, player progression, inventories and online services will expire on that date.” Since the arrival of Warzone 2, the popular battle royale title has evolved past the limitations of its eighth generation beginnings.
However, maps like Caldera, Fortune’s Keep, Rebirth Island, and Verdansk are completely absent; Al Mazrah, Ashika Island and the latest addition Vondel take pride and place instead.
With those recent maps in mind, Activision details that decision is a result of channeling efforts into the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S version of the game, as its “teams focus on future Call of Duty content including the current Warzone free-to-play experience.”
Though it might be thrilling to see the game evolve, the original Warzone has played host to some awesome events like the 80s Action Heroes event, which brought the iconic Nakatomi Plaza building from Die Hard into Verdansk, alongside numerous POIs for Rambo fans to investigate. These events, like other crossovers, also yielded limited-time skins that included the likes of John Rambo and John McClane respectively. However, if you’re hoping to use these kinds of cosmetics going forward, you’ll need to play specific COD titles.
“Regarding purchased content in Warzone Caldera – from Modern Warfare, Black Ops Cold War, or Vanguard – that will continue to be accessible in those specific games,” explains Activision. That means you’ll still be able to run around as Ghostface in the jungles of Black Ops Cold War, which is always an amusing sight to see. Player progression for the current Warzone experience won’t be affected, so there’s need to panic about losing all your hard work on the battlefield.
Activision specifies that the shutdown “has no impact on current Warzone gameplay, inventory, or player progression in Al Mazrah or the other available maps, and we look forward to continuing with you in that new Warzone experience.”
So, if you are hopping over to the latest version of Warzone, you’ll probably need a few pointers to get ahead of the curve. That’s why we’ve got this handy Warzone meta guide to ensure that your weapons are better than your enemies. Put together one of the best Warzone loadouts and you’ll be unstoppable.