Verdansk Boosts Warzone, Developers Confirm Its Staying

It's fair to say that Verdansk is injecting new life into Call of Duty: Warzone, and the timing couldn't be better. The internet had previously labeled Activision's now five-year-old battle royale as "cooked" before the nostalgia-fueled return of Verdansk turned things around. Now, the internet is buzzing, declaring Warzone "back." Yes, Activision did nuke Verdansk in the past, but that doesn't seem to matter anymore. Lapsed players who fondly remember Warzone as their lockdown game are flocking back to the map that started it all, and those who've remained loyal to the game through its ups and downs over the past five years are saying Warzone is more fun now than it's been since it exploded onto the scene in 2020.

This back-to-basics gameplay experience was a deliberate design decision by the developers at Raven and Beenox. Pete Actipis, the game director on Warzone at Raven, and Etienne Pouliot, the creative director at Beenox, both played pivotal roles in this multi-studio effort to revitalize Warzone. In a comprehensive interview with IGN, the duo shared insights into their approach, discussed the success of Verdansk’s Casual mode, revealed whether they considered limiting operator skins to mil-sim to recapture the 2020 feel, and addressed the critical question on everyone's mind: is Verdansk here to stay?

Read on to discover more.