Call of Duty: Warzone will not shift game engines for Black Ops Cold War integration

Call of Duty Warzone
(Image credit: Activision)

Call of Duty: Warzone will not move over to the game engine powering Black Ops Cold War, but will remain on the existing Infinity Ward engine, according to a post on ResetEra

The post, from a user called ShutterMunster who is verified on ResetEra as an art lead at Activision, is in response to users wondering if Warzone will move over a Treyarch engine when integrating with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. ShutterMunster writes "there will not be an engine shift for Warzone" in response to a post speculating about a potential shift. 

The post read, "It should be noted it is a bit of speculation. I can't see them changing engines when MW's engine handles big maps and player counts much better. Not to mention Warzone will continue to be cross-gen, so you don't want to change your game to the worse performing engine that is struggling on previous gen." 

Other players took to the comments to applaud the alleged decision to keep Warzone on the existing Infinity Ward engine, with a few pointing out the Black Ops Cold War beta wasn't up to snuff. Treyarch's Black Ops Cold War isn't just visually different from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - it has its own mechanics, weapon balancing, and more. Swapping Warzone over to Treyarch's engine would dramatically change the battle royale. 

As we previously reported, Warzone will start getting Black Ops Cold War content this December when the first battle pass for the new game kicks off. For now, it's unclear how much of Black Ops Cold War will end up in Warzone, aside from weapons and operators you can unlock through the Battle Pass, which will work across both games. Activision has previously said that you'll be able to choose your Black Ops loadout or your Modern Warfare loadouts for Warzone matches. Just what kind of balance (or imbalance) that will cause remains to be seen. 

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Alyssa Mercante

Alyssa Mercante is an editor and features writer at GamesRadar based out of Brooklyn, NY. Prior to entering the industry, she got her Masters's degree in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Newcastle University with a dissertation focusing on contemporary indie games. She spends most of her time playing competitive shooters and in-depth RPGs and was recently on a PAX Panel about the best bars in video games. In her spare time Alyssa rescues cats, practices her Italian, and plays soccer.