The first 12 months after Call of Duty: Warzone launched across the world have flown past in what feels like a blink of an eye.
The free-to-play battle royale skyrocketed in popularity, with tens of millions of players having dropped into Verdansk or Rebirth Island.
Since Black Ops Cold War was integrated into the game, it hasn’t been the smoothest of sailing for the game which has seen cheaters constantly plaguing the experience, numerous bugs and regular issues surrounding an imbalanced weapon arsenal.
With so many issues emerging since the integration of Black Ops Cold War, is title integration hindering the growth of Warzone?
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A Hinderance
It seems like there have been more problems with Warzone after Cold War was integrated into the battle royale, and there are a number of reasons for this.
Warzone’s original developer, Infinity Ward, gave control of Warzone to Raven Software after six impressive seasons of content and only a handful of issues that were addressed relatively quickly.
It can’t have been an easy task for Raven to get to grips with the inner workings of the biggest Call of Duty title ever released, and by the time that it had managed to grasp the enormity of providing a smooth experience for Warzone’s huge player base, several issues such as the DMR 14 dominating the metagame, players turning invisible, and the notorious infinite stim glitch had emerged, leading to widespread backlash from the often-vocal community.
Having to balance over 30 new weapons enabled the likes of Fortnite and Apex Legends to steer ahead of the battle royale as it struggled with issues that had only come about from the integration of a new title. Surely keeping Warzone as a separate entity to the other Call of Duty titles in the franchise would’ve ensured more organic growth and opportunities for original content to be introduced?
The recent addition of Zombies to Verdansk has been met with a mixed reception from players too. The Black Ops series is synonymous for its round-based Zombies mode but since they appeared in Warzone, fans are either intrigued as to how they tie into the developing storyline or annoyed because their presence has to be activated by a player rather than them roaming around the map independently.
If Black Ops Cold War stayed well away from Warzone, we may well have seen the arrival of Soap MacTavish to the game after the conclusion of Season 6. The growth would have continued along with the original storyline which has seemingly come to an abrupt end thanks to Cold War and the arrival of Zombies.
While the presence of the undead is a sign of growth for Warzone, could the omission of Black Ops Cold War have led to increased growth across multiple areas of the battle royale?
A Help
Despite the issues the integration of a brand-new title has caused Warzone, it’s certain that the presence of the entire Black Ops Cold War arsenal, numerous Operators, and even the inclusion of Zombies has actually helped the battle royale grow as opposed to hindering it.
If Cold War had been left as a separate entity, the weapon arsenal would’ve grown stale and with the Call of Duty community known for its almost constant demand for brand-new content, it could’ve been a significant period of time before Infinity Ward or Raven Software added in some kind of new content to satisfy demand.
With Raven Software now at the helm, the developer has a great opportunity to carve out a brand-new storyline for Warzone thanks to the integration of a new title. Season 2 saw further developments in the ongoing conflict between Adler and former Soviet engineer Stitch and the inclusion of Zombies has laid the foundations for what is expected to be the largest overhaul of the battle royale since the launch of Cold War in November 2020.
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Having dipped in and out of Warzone since it released, I think that the integration of Black Ops Cold War has had its fair share of problems but its presence within the game has certainly helped it reach new heights within the hotly competitive battle royale genre.
Compared to its rivals, Warzone is like nothing else. What other BR enables you to get the chance to fly around in helicopters and encounter a swarm of the undead attempting to take control of the entire map?
Activision’s long-term goal is to continue utilising Warzone to promote its most recent releases, and if that means a huge annual update when a new title is released then I’m all for it. Title integration has managed to connect the Modern Warfare, Black Ops, and the Zombies storylines together which is something I thought would be impossible considering the differences between each of the three stories, but thanks to Warzone integrating with Black Ops Cold War, the Call of Duty universe is united under one roof for the very first time and that won’t be changing anytime soon.
While it may look like overall growth could've done without Black Ops Cold War, the growth since its inclusion has been exponential.
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