While the battle royale for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has not yet been announced, official teasers and a load of datamines indicate that it’s just a matter of when and how. Rumours have persisted that this mode will be called Call of Duty: Warzone, and will also be available as a standalone, free-to-play download. Now, a new report lends even more credence to those rumours.
Call of Duty: Warzone is currently scheduled for release in “early March”, according to a report from the reliable VGC. While some early speculation suggested that Warzone might launch as soon as this week, VGC’s sources say the launch is “at least a few weeks away” – though content creators are expected to visit the developer and see the mode within the next few days, and will likely release their gameplay footage when the official announcement lands.
Warzone is, indeed, the greyed-out menu option currently taunting Modern Warfare players, according to the report, and will also launch as a standalone, free-to-play title. Free Warzone players will have the option to upgrade to the full Modern Warfare package.
With that in mind, Warzone is said to share progression with the current Call of Duty: Modern Warfare battle pass, and will offer similar cosmetic unlocks.
A week ago, analyst Daniel Ahmad suggested that the mode would launch soon.
Will be able to play soon enough. https://t.co/A1a6bEOnrk
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) February 12, 2020
It seems Activision hopes that a free-to-play Modern Warfare off-shoot will bring in players who’ve fallen off annual Call of Duty releases – though it’s certainly got no shortage of battle royale games to compete against. Still, Black Ops 4’s Blackout mode was an excellent take on the genre, and hopefully Modern Warfare’s version will follow suit.