The Biggest News From The Call Of Duty Next Showcase

Today, Activision and Infinity Ward revealed new information about the upcoming shooters Modern Warfare II and Call of Duty Warzone 2. From a new map for Warzone to new modes in MWII, here are some of the biggest and most interesting things we learned from the Call of Duty Next showcase.

Call of Duty’s Next Big Battle Royale, Warzone 2

• The next big evolution of CoD battle royale is Warzone 2, which is launching on November 16, 2022 and will be free-to-play just like the first Warzone. While this new game is being built with next-gen hardware in mind, it will be released on PS4 and Xbox One, too.
• Warzone 2, which Activision is calling “Warzone 2.0,” is set to launch with an entirely new map called Al Mazrah. This large desert also contains some big cities for players to fight in and explore.
• Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare II will both share seasons, and progression will also be shared between both games.
• Vehicles in Warzone 2 will now run out of gas, and you can shoot out their tires.

• There’s a new gulag in Warzone 2. (This is the area you go to when you die for the first time in the game.) This time around, the gulag will team players up with another person, and they’ll work together to defeat two other players and earn their chance to return to the fray.
• Interestingly, Warzone 2 is changing up the battle royale formula by implementing multiple circles. This will have the effect of splitting up players for a while before the circles eventually converge into a more traditional battle royale finale.
• Infinity Ward says that matches will contain 120 players and no bots. That’s a lot of people to kill. (Or to avoid.)

New Details About Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II

• Spec-Ops is back. This was a fan-favorite mode seen in older CoDs and in 2019’s Modern Warfare. And it’s returning again for this new Modern Warfare installment. Like before, it will feature two-player co-op experiences. Folks will work together to explore enemy-infested “hot zones” and complete objectives against an enemy that the devs aren’t revealing yet. This mode will be available at launch on October 28.
• The dolphin dive is back. You’ll also be able to swim, mantle, and hang off ledges. Previous ways of moving around, like tac sprinting, are back as well, but have been refined and improved.
• Modern Warfare II will apparently have raids. These will be three-player co-op experiences that sound similar to raids in Destiny. Infinity Ward didn’t say much about this new mode during the event and it won’t be released until after the game launches in October.
• First seen in the original Modern Warfare II, third-person online matches and playlists are coming back in this reboot.
• Some larger modes will now support AI players. Charlie Intel reports that when you kill an AI player in Invasion, the game makes it clear you took out a bot and not a real player.

New Call of Duty MW2 Beta Info

Infinity Ward not only talked about its big new Warzone game and the next Call of Duty, but also shared new details on the upcoming beta. The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II beta starts soon. Very soon, in fact! It goes live on Sept. 16 for PlayStation players who pre-ordered the game or have access via a pre-release code. Then on September 18, it will become an open beta for all PS4 and PS5 players to try. It will then open up to more players on more platforms on September 22 before going completely open to everyone on September 24.

The beta will feature the standard 6v6 mode that most players expected, but it will also include the 32v32 Ground War mode. Four maps will be included in the beta when it starts tomorrow, one for Ground War and Invasion (a large-scale take on deathmatch), and three for the other modes.

Modern Warfare II launches October 28 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Warzone 2 launches shortly after that on November 16, 2022 on the same platforms.