Warzone’s New Map Could Be a Disappointment: Here’s How Activision Can Avoid Disaster
Diehard fans of Call of Duty’s groundbreakingly successful battle royale – Warzone – have been eagerly anticipating the release of a new map for months now. If Activision gets this one right, the new map’s debut could mark a huge, positive step forward for an already well-to-do title. However, if certain rumors surrounding the map change turn out to be true, fans may be left feeling robbed.
Over the past few months, Warzone has introduced nuclear weapons onto the game’s primary map, Verdansk. The warheads are hidden in secret bunkers across the map, all of which contain computers displaying an ominous countdown.
Rumors suggest this will culminate with the map blowing to smithereens, after which a new map will be introduced into the game. For example, leakers ZestyCOD and ModernWarzone both claim “a nuclear explosion event” will introduce a new map on April 22, as reported by Screen Rant.
If such a change does arrive, its introduction may disappoint and even anger fans, should certain rumors turn out to be true.
A Slight Redesign
Some of these rumors imply the new map will feature the Russian Ural Mountains, an area currently featured in the Fireteam: Dirty Bomb and Zombies’ Outbreak modes of Black Ops Cold War, according to Charlie Intel.
This would be just the sort of breath of fresh air that players have been waiting for.
Other rumors, however, predict Verdansk will simply undergo an aesthetic redesign to better align the map with Black Ops Cold War. Verdansk will remain virtually the same, albeit with a slight 1980s makeover.
Activision could also decide to set the nukes off, destroying certain sections of the map – turning buildings into rubble and adding the occasional large crater – while keeping Verdansk largely as it was.
Should Activision opt for the easy way out by only adding slight aesthetic changes, players will likely be enraged, and rightly so. This map has been hyped up and hinted at for months now. Players are expecting something huge. Activision needs to deliver on those promises or else be forced to deal with a pissed-off fan base.
Deleting Verdansk
There’s another possible map change to Warzone that could elicit an equally venomous response from fans. Activision could delete the Verdansk map entirely.
Well-known industry insider Tom Henderson claimed on Twitter that this will indeed be the case, saying “The current plan for Warzone is that Verdansk will never return.”
“There’s no separate playlist, map voting, or anything like that. Warzone is Warzone and Warzone is 1 map. Warzone will continue to change its map as the story progresses.”
Since its debut over a year ago, Warzone has become the preeminent battle royale map. Due in large part to Verdansk’s brilliant layout, the game has remained endlessly replayable for all that time. Destroying something fans have grown to love over the course of a year and leaving no option for them to return, would be a horrible mistake – one that Activision would certainly have to answer for.
What Gamers Are Hoping For
The nukes on Verdansk are going to go off. We all know this is going to happen. Activision should deliver on their implied promise. They should use the event as an opportunity to introduce a brand-new map. What the gaming industry giant should try to avoid, however, is forgetting what made Warzone successful in the first place.
When the dust settles, there should be two maps in Warzone – Verdansk and a new map. Anything less would be a disappointment to Warzone diehards.
Let’s hope Activision makes the right choice.