Activision and Infinity Ward have announced the first details for Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, the successor to the incredibly popular battle royale. Among the major changes are a new AI faction that will be present during matches and a new approach to the genre’s staple circle mechanic.
Warzone 2.0 will be a “fully revamped experience” built from the ground up, specifically for new-generation systems, in the new Modern Warfare 2 engine. It will launch on November 16, a couple of weeks after Modern Warfare 2’s release, and will remain a free-to-play game.
Rather than a return to Verdansk or Caldera, Warzone 2.0’s map is set in the desert of Al Mazrah, a fictional region of Western Asia. The map will be made up of a number of locations, which for the first time will be populated by an AI faction. Infinity Ward hopes that adding some PvE to Warzone will “bring the world of Al Mazarah to life” and add “higher stakes and more realistic combat scenarios”.
Further changes come through the shrinking circle mechanic, which has now been changed to use multiple circles. No details were given on how this works, but multiple circles are said to “change end-game scenarios”, suggesting that there may be multiple ways that the circle behaves.
Warzone’s key differentiating feature, the respawn mechanic that is the Gulag, will also return in a new form. Gulag 2.0 ups the battles from 1v1 to 2v2, and will require players to loot for weapons and contend with a character called “The Jailer”. Again, no more details were provided, but it sounds like this core mechanic will be at least a little different than we’re used to.
It’s not clear if Warzone will include modes like Rebirth, but we do know it will have at least two modes at launch: the classic battle royale and something called DMZ, which is described only as “an all-new sandbox experience”.
Warzone will not just be on console and PC, though. Call of Duty Warzone: Mobile is also in the works, and will bring 120-player battle royale to iOS and Android phones and tablets in 2023. While not exactly a portable version of Warzone 2.0, it does share some tech, and even has a shared Battle Pass and social features to ensure coherence between the two versions. It will also have mobile-specific events, playlists, and content.
While there’s no sign of a Warzone beta, you can at least sample 32v32 player battles in this weekend’s Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer open beta. If single-player is more your speed, digital pre-orders get access to the campaign a week early.
Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.