Verdansk Boosts Warzone, Developers Confirm Its Permanence

It's no secret that Verdansk has injected new life into Call of Duty: Warzone at a crucial moment. The online community had previously labeled Activision's five-year-old battle royale as "cooked," but the nostalgic return of Verdansk has dramatically shifted the narrative. Now, the internet is buzzing with claims that Warzone is "back." Despite the dramatic event where Activision metaphorically nuked Verdansk, it seems to have little impact on the game's resurgence. Lapsed players, reminiscing about Warzone as their go-to lockdown entertainment, are flocking back to the iconic map that started it all. Meanwhile, loyal fans who have stuck with the game through its ups and downs over the past five years are declaring that Warzone is more enjoyable now than it has been since its explosive debut in 2020.

This return to a back-to-basics gameplay experience was a deliberate choice by developers Raven and Beenox. In a comprehensive interview with IGN, Pete Actipis, the game director at Raven, and Etienne Pouliot, the creative director at Beenox, shed light on the collaborative effort to revitalize Warzone. They detailed their approach to the game's revival, the success of Verdansk's Casual mode, and whether they considered reverting operator skins to mil-sim styles to recapture the essence of the 2020 experience. Perhaps most importantly, they tackled the burning question on everyone's mind: Is Verdansk here to stay?

Read on to uncover the insights from this in-depth discussion.