Call of Duty: Warzone is a recent sequel that has established itself quite well within the wider shooter franchise. While a lot of attention has been placed on the title's gameplay and updates, a recent name change for the game left fans feeling confused as to what the future intentions are for the release.
These recent changes for Call of Duty: Warzone have recently been contextualized by the news that the original Warzone will be shutting its servers down for good in the near future. With this controversial news, the recent changes that have come to 2022's Warzone are starting to make a lot of sense.
The Recent Changes to Warzone
Call of Duty: Warzone recently welcomed its fourth in-game season, which usually marks the introduction of many alterations to the game as standard. For example, Season 4 of Warzone introduced an array of new vehicles, weapons, battle passes, and even a new core map called Vondel.
However, Season 4 took the expected level of changes to a new level, with the announcement that Warzone would be changing its name. Originally, the title was called Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, yet Activision announced it was dropping the 2.0 as of Season 4 of the release. This of course led to a lot of confusion, with the newer title now sharing the exact same name as its 2020 predecessor.
Many labeled this move as confusing, citing the obvious mess that this can cause among fans who are discussing and playing the two separate titles. However, recent announcements for the wider Warzone franchise paint a pretty clear picture as to why this name change was introduced.
The Shutting Down of Call of Duty: Warzone
On June 22, Activision shocked huge portions of the Call of Duty playerbase by announcing that the original Call of Duty Warzone will be shutting down its servers indefinitely. The shutdown is set to come into effect on September 21, making it impossible for players to play the game ever again. Of course, this led to a lot of vocal disappointment within the Warzone community, with the original game having a huge legacy thanks to its massive success and nostalgia with many fans. This is a pretty unprecedented move from Activision, with Warzone being the only globally available Call of Duty title to ever be made impossible to play.
As well as this, many players are annoyed that the premium bundles and in-game Call of Duty Warzone items that they have paid for in the original are now essentially redundant. While Activision has confirmed that in-game items will be made available within their respective mainline CoD titles, many of them were made specifically for Warzone's gameplay.
This bombshell news regarding the original Warzone makes its successor's recent name change make sense, with the newer title now taking over the Warzone moniker in its entirety. This marks a potentially worrying trend of sequels completely replacing their predecessors, as was seen with Overwatch 2 and the shutdown of the original Overwatch.
While Warzone 2 had a significantly larger playerbase than the original, there was still a dedicated community that preferred the mechanics and overall experience of the 2020 title. With these players now only having a small window to continue playing the game, it is clear to see why so many were shocked by the news. Regardless, the recent name change for the sequel makes perfect sense with the knowledge of the first Warzone's unfortunate fate.
Call of Duty: Warzone is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X.