How Warzone will change with Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War

Call of Duty: Warzone will be the first battle royale game that bridges two other games. It came along as part of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, but without requiring it—it's a free-to-play side offering of the regular Call of Duty multiplayer. It's going to stay separate and free-to-play when Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War releases later this year, but it'll evolve to accommodate the new focus and setting.

Activision, Infinity Ward, and Treyarch have confirmed that Warzone will be supported for years to come, whatever the yearly Call of Duty releases are. It's one of the most popular games in the world right now. Despite Cold War only being a few months away, though, we have little information about how the change will work. 

Here is everything we know so far about how Warzone will straddle Modern Warfare and Cold War. We'll update this article as we learn more.

When does Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War release?

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War releases on November 13, 2020. We don't know how this release date will affect Warzone yet, but we presume (and hope) that we'll be able to use the same Modern Warfare-adjacent download that the battle royale originally came in.

Will the Warzone map change when Cold War releases?

Activision has promised that Warzone will connect Modern Warfare with Cold War through shared progression and items. We don't know if the map is changing just yet, but the in-game Cold War announcement hints at a big Verdansk overhaul. 

Infinity Ward's 'Know Your History' event sent players on a chase across the map looking for keys. It ended with a mad rush towards the Stadium as a nuclear explosion was about to go off. This has led players to believe that a nuke will level the Verdansk map, making way for something new. Some think the entire map will change while others suspect that the nuke will only clear part of the map to make way for a new Chernobyl-like named location. It's all speculation for now.

How do Warzone's map changes so far compare to other battle royale games?

Verdansk hasn't yet had any major overhauls like Fortnite did with its Chapter 2 reboot. Infinity Ward did add a loot train that circles the map, open the stadium and train station so players could camp inside, and seven subway stations are rumored to be coming with the Season 6 update. It isn't reluctant to make changes to the map, then, and the release of Cold War surely means something else will change—how big the change will be is the question.

Call of Duty: Warzone hasn't been out for a year and it's already gotten some notable changes to the map. No new named locations have been added, but major ones like the Stadium have been given vast interior areas. Apex Legends and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds have both received multiple maps while Fortnite has had constant changes since its battle royale mode launched in 2017.

VIDEO: A multiplayer match from Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War.

Will buying Cold War get you anything in Warzone?

Buying the standard edition of Cold War won't get you any special cosmetics in Warzone, but the Ultimate Edition will get you three operator skins, three vehicle skins, and then three weapon blueprints. You'll also get the battle pass and 20 tier skips for $90. 

If you preorder the standard edition you can get the Woods Operator Pack which includes a Sgt. Frank Woods Operator Skin, M4 Weapon Blueprint, Voice Quip, and Finishing Move to use in Warzone and Modern Warfare. 

Activision and Treyarch still have time to announce more Warzone-related incentives that comes with the Warzone Battle Pass that launches with Cold War.

Will you be able to use the same cosmetics in Warzone once Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War releases?

Activision has confirmed that you will be able to use all the weapon blueprints, cosmetics, and skins earned in Modern Warfare and Warzone once Cold War launches in November.