Call of Duty players up in arms after Activision calls time on Warzone

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The original Call of Duty: Warzone is shutting down on September 21

Call of Duty Warzone
(Image credit: Activision)

Call of Duty Warzone's days are numbered, and players aren't happy about it.

In a blog post on the official Call of Duty website, Activision revealed that it's calling time on Warzone Caldera, the name for the original Warzone, later this year as the developer shifts its focus to the current free-to-play Call of Duty experience Warzone 2 as well as the future of the shooter series.

Warzone will shut down on September 21, at which time all gameplay, player progression, inventories and online service will be no more. Though, any content purchased in the free-to-play game will still be accessible in Modern Warfare, Black Ops Cold War, and Vanguard.

Activision also assured fans that this move won't affect Warzone 2 in any way. "The Warzone Caldera shut down has no impact to current Warzone gameplay, inventory, or player progression in Al Mazrah or the other available maps, and we look forward to continuing with you in that new Warzone experience," the developer said. It wrapped up the announcement by thanking the Call of Duty community and its developers for "making Call of Duty: Warzone an amazing place to play together."

Over on the Call of Duty: Warzone subreddit, fans are less than impressed at Warzone's imminent demise. "The servers being taken down 1 year after they stopped adding content to Warzone 1 is insane," commented one user. "That is a pathetic level of support for a Triple A company." Another wrote: "There are a lot of Warzone 1 diehards that just won't play Call of Duty anymore. I have no desire to migrate to Warzone 2".

Others are angry that their purchased content will soon no longer be usable in a battle royale setting. One player said, "If only they did what OW2 and CSGO2 did with the transferring of content... This just makes me not want to buy anything from CoD ever again."

As for Warzone 2, Season 4 has just rolled out, which rather confusingly sees the sequel drop the '2', so it's now just 'Warzone'. It also introduces Vondel, a brand-new medium-sized map which supports 18 players for DMZ and 72 in Resurgence.

Looking for something to play after the original Warzone kicks the bucket? Check out our guide to the best battle royale games.

Anne-Marie Ostler
Anne-Marie Ostler
Freelance Writer

Originally from Ireland, I moved to the UK in 2014 to pursue a Games Journalism and PR degree at Staffordshire University. Following that, I've freelanced for GamesMaster, Games TM, Official PlayStation Magazine and, more recently, Play and GamesRadar+. My love of gaming sprang from successfully defeating that first Goomba in Super Mario Bros on the NES. These days, PlayStation is my jam. When not gaming or writing, I can usually be found scouring the internet for anything Tomb Raider related to add to my out of control memorabilia collection.