The wait is finally over. With rumors swirling for almost a month, Activision has officially announced Call of Duty: Warzone, Modern Warfare’s “Game-Changing Free-to-Play Experience.”
Things started to heat up at 8 a.m. PDT on March 9, when the in-game “Classified” menu option started featuring a 24-hour countdown timer, indicating that the wraps would finally come off the next morning. Less than two hours later, Activision would formally announce Warzone via a blog post.
Introducing a Game-Changing Free-to-Play Experience – Call of Duty: Warzone. A New and Massive Combat Experience with up to 150 Players from #CallofDuty #ModernWarfare is Free-to-play for Everyone. #Warzone #FreeCallofDuty
Trailer and Details here: https://t.co/49wzAZNsN1 pic.twitter.com/HnxiLT5cqB— Activision (@Activision) March 9, 2020
In the post, Activision revealed that Warzone will indeed launch on March 10, with Modern Warfare owners getting early access at 8 a.m. PDT. Players who don’t own Modern Warfare can begin downloading a standalone version of Warzone at 12 p.m. PDT.
The actual size of the download will vary heavily depending on whether or not you own Modern Warfare. For those who have the game installed and patched to the current version, the download will come in between 18 and 22GB. The download will unlock the previously introduced “Classified” main menu option that has been teasing players ever since the launch of Season Two. For free-to-play users, the standalone Warzone download weighs in at a whopping 83-101GB.
Warzone will feature up to 150 player lobbies, and like Modern Warfare, will feature cross-play between players of the PC, Xbox One, and Playstation 4 versions of the game. It’s also important to note that Modern Warfare owners and free-to-play Warzone owners will occupy the same matchmaking pool, according to CharlieIntel. This, coupled with cross-platform play will no doubt ensure a robust player base.
Activision has also made it point to implement cross-progression into Warzone. In other words, Modern Warfare and Warzone will share the same Battle Pass and Officer Rank progression system. All progress earned in Warzone carries over to Modern Warfare and vice versa.
Finally, Warzone will also introduce a supplementary mode called “Plunder” to go along with the Battle Royale offering. In this mode, “the race is on to collect the most in-match Cash by looting across the map, taking down enemies to steal their Cash, and completing in-match Contracts.”
With many feeling that the Battle Royale craze is dying down, it will be interesting to see how successful Warzone can be. Warzone launches on Tuesday, March 10, across all platforms.
