Call of Duty: Warzone will be getting a Pacific island makeover later in 2021, to tie in with the imminent release of Vanguard.
This was announced during a multiplayer reveal stream for Vanguard that took place on Tuesday, September 7. Here, developer Sledgehammer Games spoke at length about the upcoming title's online component and how it will differ from previous entries in the franchise.
While the vast majority of the broadcast was dedicated to Vanguard, the team over at Raven Software also made a guest appearance and briefly touched upon a few changes that will be coming to Call of Duty: Warzone later this year. Specifically, they mentioned that they will be launching an anti-cheat system for the live service in 2021, alongside a brand new map.
'Call of Duty: Warzone' Gets a Change of Scenery
Shown off in a pre-alpha footage reel, this new environment (entitled "Pacific") is decidedly more colorful than the dreary metropolis of Verdansk and promises to offer a completely different kind of battle royale experience. From the looks of things, there will be dense jungles to explore, tactical opportunities for camouflage (thanks to all the greenery) and even a few smaller urban environments to mix things up.
Describing the tropical map in more detail, Amos Hodge, associate creative director at Raven Software said: "Featuring an entirely new play-space complete with all new points of interest, players will get to traverse the lush [...] landscapes of the island and make their way through a variety of extremely cool locations while battling it out alongside friends and foes.
"Our goal was to create a fresh, new experience for Call of Duty players, by breaking out of the war-torn world of Verdansk to create an atmosphere that is vibrant, alive and [that] really opens the doors to how we can craft the narratives and events."
Intergration With 'Call of Duty: Vanguard'
It has also been confirmed that matches here will take place in the WW2 era, to pair with Vanguard's campaign.
Speaking about this, Hodge, added: "With the launch of Vanguard, we want to ensure that the feel and character of the game extends beyond the multiplayer experience and into Call of Duty: Warzone."
On that note, he confirmed that Vanguard will be integrating with Warzone upon release, much like how Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War did back in 2020. This essentially means that weapons, operatives and battle pass rewards from the upcoming historical shooter will all be carried over into Warzone.
To make this transition as seamless as possible, the Pacific map has been developed on the exact same engine as Vanguard. As such, the look and feel will be consistent across both games.
When Is the New 'Call of Duty: Warzone' Map Coming Out?
Elsewhere, we found out that "Warzone Pacific" (as it is referred to by Hodge) will be fully optimized for crossplay, cross-progression and cross-gen support. Like with Halo Infinite, this means that you will be able to play with your friends across different systems.
While there is no firm date for the Pacific map yet, Raven Software has confirmed that it will be launching this year, sometime after the release of Call of Duty: Vanguard. This indicates that the update will go live between November 5 and December 31, but we cannot narrow it down any further than that.
According to the livestream, the long-awaited anti-cheat system will launch simultaneously with "Warzone Pacific."
Call of Duty: Warzone is available to download for free on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series S.
Uncommon Knowledge
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