On the official Call of Duty blog, Activision defends this questionable choice, saying it would allow their teams to “focus on future Call of Duty content, including the current free-to-play Warzone experience“. Since the release of Warzone 2.0 last year, the Caldera edition is basically shelved, frozen on the eponymous map (to the chagrin of the community who would return to do a last stand on Verdansk). No more updates have been released. Rather than let Warzone Caldera expire over time, Activision therefore opts for forced accelerationism.
Some turbulence to report
Conversely, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Blackout mode has continued its merry way since its launch in 2018. battle royale of the multi-billion dollar franchise, Blackout is kept alive by a community of loyal fans on which Kotaku published a solid report on this microcosm last March. This “double standard” of Activision is obviously explained by economic reasons: as long as the community Caldera still clinging to their heart game, impossible to sell them the cosmetics of Warzone 2.0.
By the way, what about purchases in-game within Caldera ? The majority will simply be lost, like tears in the rain. Warzone 2.0 had recorded a radical divide between the two opuses without the possibility of transferring its contents or cosmetics. Unless compatible with Modern Warfare 2019, Black Ops Cold War or Vanguard, it will therefore be impossible to transfer the contents of Caldera elsewhere. Admittedly, this is the risk of online games, but nothing to be happy about.
Let’s conclude with a brief terminology point: if our database will continue to refer to Warzone 2.0 for clarity and convenience, Activision now only refers to it as Warzone tout court. An erasure of the first almost Stalinist episode.