Activision is officially shutting down the original Call of Duty: Warzone, the company has confirmed. It’s had a decent run, engaging players for a few years since it was launched in 2020 alongside the 2019 release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
That version of the game, renamed to Call of Duty: Warzone Caldera after its last available map, has grown to be a fan-favorite after the launch of Warzone 2.0 in 2022. Which has received both positive and negative feedback from players. Initially when Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0 released, Activision said the original Warzone would remain playable. And so far it has. But nothing lasts forever, and it was unlikely that Activision would keep both versions running for years to come.
The decision to shut the game down will allow Activision’s dev teams to focus more on future content. “Including the current Warzone free-to-play experience,” the publisher says.
The original Warzone is shutting down in September
While the game is getting the axe it’s not going to be gone right away. Activision won’t take the game offline until September 21 according to its official statement.
That means you still have time to enjoy the content if you prefer it to Warzone 2.0. Activision also confirms that you’ll be able to continue using any purchased content in the games it was associated with. For example, if you purchased bundles or blueprints during the Modern Warfare 2019 era, you can use any of that content in Modern Warfare 2019. The same goes for any content purchased with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and Call of Duty: Vanguard.
You cannot however transfer that content to the new Warzone 2.0 experience. Activision already confirmed this a while back though, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise. If you still have unused CoD points, those will remain with your linked account on the platform where you picked them up. So if you bought some while playing on PlayStation and are playing the new game on PS5, you’ll still have access to those points as long as you use the same Activision account.