Warzone 1 can never return due to one major issue
ActivisionIt’s no secret that Warzone is going through a rough patch post-Black Ops 6, with cheaters running rampant and players fed up with the map selection. Verdansk is returning in Spring 2025 but players just want the original version back. However, a developer has explained why that can’t happen.
In a December 31 stream, FaZe streamer Kris ‘Swagg’ Lamberson explained the devs’ reasoning for the first iteration never making a return.
“We’ve asked if they can bring Warzone 1 back, [and] they go ‘we just can’t,'” he said. “They basically explained it like we can’t bring Warzone 1 back because Warzone was almost like a build-a-bear. It was small pieces built on top of each other, put together – very complex. This is their words, not mine.
“And they said they made Warzone 2 and the rest of the Warzone’s all on one engine. So that’s why,” he concluded.
Why was Warzone 1 removed?
Warzone completely blew up when it first launched in March 2020, and then Cold War and Vanguard integrated with the battle royale. But there was one major problem, it was still connected to Modern Warfare 2019 so you’d always have to go back to the old game, and it was stuck on that engine.
Then in November 2022, Modern Warfare 2 arrived and it brought ‘Warzone 2.0‘ – CoD’s battle royale on a brand-new engine, totally separate from its previous iteration. Warzone 1 hung around for just under a year, being completely removed in September 2023.
While they might not miss the Caldera map specifically, some players prefer the movement and mechanics of the original Warzone so they desperately want to go back and play. But, as the devs explained to Swagg, that’s not an option.
Although all of the weapons, movement, and mechanics will be the same, Verdansk returns in Spring 2025 so expect a healthy dose of nostalgia when it arrives. As for the cheating issue, the devs have promised updates to their RICOCHET anti-cheat, starting with Season 2 in January.