Call of Duty: Warzone

Overview

Call of Duty: Warzone, later known as Call of Duty: Warzone Caldera, was a free-to-play modern-military first-person shooter developed by Raven Software (along with Infinity Ward and several others) and released digitally by Activision for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on March 10, 2020. It was later discontinued on September 21, 2023 in favor of its successor.

A spin-off of the Call of Duty series' 16th entry (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare), Warzone was a successor to the "Blackout" mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, pitting up to 150 players in squad-based matches throughout a massive-scale battlefield (set in the fictional Eastern European city of Verdansk) in order to either be the last squad standing (Battle Royale) or collect as many Cash as possible from opposing players and loot boxes (Plunder).

While the Plunder mode was a large-scale take on the series' traditional multiplayer (featuring custom loadouts from the start and automatic respawning), the Battle Royale mode played like a traditional survival-shooter, with squads converging into a smaller area of the map while scavenging loot (off of both enemy players and the environment). Along with its larger player count, the Battle Royale mode differed from traditional "battle royale" shooters by its "Contracts" objective system, random event system, "Loadout Drops" system (allowing players to earn their custom loadouts), and respawn mechanic (where players defeated early in combat are instead transported into the "Gulag" and can fight to the death in one-on-one gladiatorial combat).

While the game was originally tied to the modern-military entry Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, it was later integrated with the series' next two historical-military entries (Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Vanguard), adding new maps, game modes, weapons, playable characters, and other content. The game was known for its integration with each of these three games, including a unified progression system and the ability to bring certain DLC between these games and Warzone.

With the release of the game's successor (known then as Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0) on November 16, 2022, the game was relaunched in limited form as Call of Duty: Warzone Caldera, with only the Caldera map and standard Battle Royale modes included. It was later discontinued on September 21, 2023. While none of the player progression or purchased content can be brought over to its successor, they are still accessible in Modern Warfare, Black Ops Cold War, and Vanguard.