The Call of Duty series first dabbled in the battle royale space in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4"s Blackout mode. While that was a mode available as part of the title, the series" latest battle royale venture will be completely standalone and free-to-play, coming in with the name Warzone.
No official announcements have arrived yet, but a review of the upcoming experience by the Call of Duty Youtuber Chaos was discovered today, showcasing many of the features and quirks alongside over 10 minutes of gameplay. The video has already been pulled down - mirrors are currently hard to come by - and it was obvious that it was destined to go out with some sort of a surprise release that"s coming soon.
Some of the major points discussed in the video were that Warzone will not require ownership of the original title, letting anyone jump into the battle royale for free, while cross-play will be another big feature, combining the playerbases of PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 just like the regular game.
Adding to that, rounds will consist of 150 players though this apparently could go up to 200 later. Players may matchmake for solo, duo, and trio matches. Chaos said that classic maps from previous Infinity Ward games have been incorporated into the massive map as well, including Broadcast, Overgrown, Scrapyard, and Terminal. Killstreaks will also be a factor.
There will be a couple of respawning systems too, one where teammates can purchase respawn tokens from the cash they earn while playing the round, and another where dead players will fight one versus one in a separate Gulag area, with the winner returning to the battle royale.
We will probably see an official announcement and a release for Warzone this week, which falls in line with other recent leaks. Also, it looks like battle royale won"t be the only game mode available in this standalone experience, though other than its name, Plunder, there"s no more information to go on.
Source: Warzone review by Chaos (YouTube)
UPDATE: Call of Duty: Warzone is now official. Activision has released the official trailer for the title, and revealed the release date to be tomorrow, March 10.
The images in this article have been changed in response to a DMCA complaint from Activision.