Verdansk Boosts Warzone, Developers Confirm Its Permanence

It's fair to say that Verdansk is injecting new life into Call of Duty: Warzone, and the timing couldn't be more perfect. The online community had previously labeled Activision's now five-year-old battle royale as "cooked" before the nostalgia-driven return of Verdansk turned the tide. Now, the online buzz is that Warzone is "back." Despite Activision's dramatic nuking of Verdansk, it appears not to have deterred players. Both those who drifted away and fondly remember Warzone as their lockdown game, and the loyalists who stuck with the game through its ups and downs over the past five years, agree: Warzone is now more enjoyable than it has been since its explosive debut in 2020.

This return to a back-to-basics gameplay experience was a deliberate choice by the developers at Raven and Beenox. Pete Actipis, the game director at Raven, and Etienne Pouliot, the creative director at Beenox, spearheaded the multi-studio effort to revive Warzone. In an extensive interview with IGN, the duo detailed their approach to bringing Verdansk back, the triumph of Verdansk's Casual mode, and whether they contemplated restricting operator skins to mil-sim for a more authentic 2020 feel. They also addressed the pivotal question on everyone's mind: is Verdansk here to stay?

Read on to discover more about their insights and plans.