Officially confirmed in March via a recruitment ad, Call of Duty: Warzone on mobile was touted as a “large-scale, multiplayer experience is being built natively for mobile with cutting-edge technology.” Developers include Digital Legends, Beenox, Demonware, Solid State Studios, Activision Shanghai, and Activision Central Tech. In May, it was revealed to be in closed alpha under the name Project Aurora, with various gameplay clips leaking from the same in June.

No official release window has been announced, so stay tuned next week for more information. Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 is also in development and scheduled to release this year (with leaks pointing to November 16th). Running on the unified Call of Duty engine alongside Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, it will offer a new play space and RICOCHET Anti-Cheat. Stay tuned for more details on the same at the Next showcase.

The new update is completely server-side and does not require any download on the player’s part, and features weapon adjustments for Call of Duty: Vanguard, such as AK-47 damage being decreased, the AS44 damage’s range being increased, and a lot more. Of course, usual bug fixes. such as a fix for certain weapons to get their intended XP, and skin fixes for the ones obscuring vision, have also been introduced.

Additionally, the armored truck has gotten its own much-needed adjustment, with its health and resistance decreased- however, it is, of course, still superior compared to a cargo truck, and its turret damage has been decreased to 40%.

The patch notes for the update contain exhaustive details regarding all the new changes, so make sure to check them out below to get a detailed lowdown of all the fixes, changes, and adjustments.

UPDATE NOTES:

A new teaser trailer has officially unveiled the upcoming Operation Monarch event, which Godzilla and King Kong, of all things, as operators to the game.  Even though the trailer doesn’t give much information, it does show Kong and Godzilla in action, also going at each other, hyping up their imminent arrival. Whether or not the crossover will also come with a time limited mode similar to previous events remains to be seen. Check out the teaser trailer below. 

Operation Monarch is scheduled to go live on May 11 on all the platforms the game is available to play on. 

Next month, Warzone is set to get a big new update to coincide with Vanguard. One of those is the map update, and Pelle Sjoenell, Chief Creative Officer of Activision, Blizzard and King, posted a picture of the map overview on his Twitter. As you can see, there isn’t a lot of detail, but can give you an idea of how big it will be as well as the general structure.

Call of Duty: Vanguard and Call of Duty Warzone are now available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC. The Warzone update will drop for those platforms on December 2nd.

https://twitter.com/pellesjoenell/status/1456110421669122049?s=20

Activision reportedly gave an early build of the anti-cheat to select third-parties, and some cheaters were able to get access to the files. However, Activision isn’t too afraid of the whole situation, since the build was an early one which is relatively easy to crack.

“So as long as they weren’t testing with a non-release ready version (for example a non-obfuscated version or a version with debug symbols available) the only impact is that the cheat devs get a small head start. Running a public test is likely to be more valuable to Activision than the extra secrecy,” said Paul Chamberlain (a developer who previously worked on Riot’s Vanguard anti-cheat system) to Vice.

“That will help the people that would in any case be able to bypass that first version. The less advanced cheaters are screwed either way as they don’t have the skills to come fight in the kernel,” one of the sources said.

Call of Duty has been struggling with cheaters for a very long time, so it’s understandable that Activision wants Ricochet to solve its long-lasting problems. Whether this plan bears any fruit or not remains to be seen for now.

As announced on the official website, the company will deploy a new system they are calling Ricochet. It will launch alongside Vanguard, but will see full utilization later in the year with the Pacific update in Call of Duty: Warzone. It will utilize a kernel-level driver on PC that will monitor applications for those that are seemingly trying to manipulate the software to weed out cheaters. The driver will only be on when playing Warzone and will not always be on. However, once Ricochet is deployed, it will be required to play Warzone. The service will only be on PC for now, but it’s stated this will also help console players who experience cross-play with PC. You can read the details via their blog through here.

Call of Duty: Vanguard will release on November 5th for most major platforms, and Call of Duty: Warzone is currently ongoing.

Call of Duty: Warzone’s Verdansk map will be featuring WW2-era bunkers that should shake up the gameplay and tactics in new and interesting ways. There will also be a new Gulag, which is supposedly inspired by the original version. In addition to this, there is a new Zombies map and three new multiplayer maps in Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War. There’s also a new Halloween event, which will run from October 19th through to November 2.

Call of Duty: Vanguard will also be releasing in November this year, but the game’s open beta has left a sour taste in many a fan’s mouths.

The studio behind the incredibly successful free-to-play battle royale has had a big change of fate, with Warzone‘s ballooning success making it a valued standalone studio in the eyes of Activision. Raven has previously assumed the role of a support studio for a decade now, even supporting Treyarch on Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

Far Cry 6 game director Ted Timmins has now assumed the role of creative director for Warzone, and other industry veterans have also taken up jobs within the studio. Crash Bandicoot 4 developer Toys for Bob has now been reduced to a support studio for oiling the Warzone machine.

Glen Schofield served as a co-director on many of the franchise’s entries, and goes in detail about how intensively he researched the subject material for creating the games. He argues that fans think that developing a new Call of Duty is as simple as pressing a few buttons on a machine, and a new game pops out every year.

As transcribed by VGC, Glen states, “People nowadays [think] a Call of Duty is… you know, just put it through the grinder and another one will come out. They don’t realise how much work goes into making a Call of Duty game. There’s just a ton of research.”

“You’re working with experts – I studied World War Two for three years. I worked with historians. I spent eight days in a van in Europe going to all the places that were going to be in the game. I shot different old weapons. All of these things that you have to do when you’re working on a Call of Duty game.”

“And, you know, to become an expert – we worked with Navy SEALS and Delta Force people to learn [the] tactics and techniques and get them into the game, right? You had to learn about the Special Forces from different countries like England and France and Spain and Italy and all that, because they were all in the game. So, a lot of learning, constantly reading, constantly watching videos and constantly working with experts.”

Game development isn’t an easy task, even with the massive financial backing that a publisher such as Activision provides. However, this doesn’t excuse the fact that Call of Duty is being extensively milked, as there’s always the pressure to release a new game every year. With Call of Duty: Warzone being a live-service title that requires maintenance and updates alongside the full-priced annual release, many of Activision’s subsidiaries have been reduced to support roles to keep oiling the Call of Duty machine, with the most recent example being Toys for Bob.

Players jumping in for free will have access to select Zombies and multiplayer offerings, though multiplayer playlists haven’t been confirmed yet. The newest map Rush will be included, and so will the Mauer Der Toten Zombies map. Players jumping in from Call of Duty: Warzone will have access to all acquired weapons from the game, and progress made during the free week will be transferred to Warzone automatically.

In addition to these free-to-play details, a bunch of new content is also on its way along with the mid-season Season 4 Reloaded update, which will go live shortly.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.