Players are banking on Verdansk to change Warzone’s fortunes, but if the OG map doesn’t turn things around, then CoD’s battle royale will never fully recover.

It was March 2020. The whole world was trapped inside by a pesky little pandemic, binging Tiger King and trying desperately to book a haircut. Luckily, there was one shining light during this – Call of Duty launched Warzone and we visited Verdansk for the first time.

After years of fan requests for a CoD BR, and a fun but short-lived trial in Black Ops 4’s Blackout, it was a welcome surprise. It took the snappy gunplay the series was known for and mixed in the high stakes, nail-biting battles that made the likes of Fortnite and PUBG breakout successes.

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Fast forward nearly five years and the story couldn’t be more different. Every big map released since has failed to recapture that initial magic, and ongoing hacker issues, sluggish movement, and a lack of truly memorable guns have left Warzone on life support as the player count plummets.

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Activision has one final Hail Mary to throw, though, as Verdansk is making its long-awaited return in Season 3, if reports are to be believed. But while fans are understandably excited to go back to the map, it’s hard to escape the feeling that this is a make-or-break-moment.

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A slippery slope

Activision

Although there have been high points along the way, it’s safe to say that the community hasn’t lovedWarzone in the same way since “Pacific” arrived in late 2021, which removed Verdansk in favor of Caldera and took on the WWII setting of CoD Vanguard.

As soon as that era began, there were cries from players to bring Verdansk back, as the new map drew criticism for its awkward layout and the moment-to-moment action was nowhere as fun as it was previously.

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A fresh start was on the cards when Warzone 2.0 arrived in 2022, but the movement changes introduced by MW2 were widely hated, and much of Al Mazrah’s lifecycle was spent trying to course correct.

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This trend continued all the way to present day, which, despite Black Ops 6 being well received at launch, has only made matters worse. Omnimovement hasn’t quite brought back the slick manoeuvres of the original game and new content has been lacking as the devs look to address the many bugs and problems.

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One last chance

Activision

All of this begs the question, will Verdansk save Warzone? The game is in desperate need of something to jumpstart it, and going all the way back to where it all began is definitely a smart call.

But it’s far from a guaranteed slam dunk. Regardless of the setting, this isn’t the Warzone from 2020, even with the iconic guns that are rumored to be coming back. This isn’t the same clean, slick gameplay that made being stuck inside almost feel like a blessing rather than a curse. This isn’t the community that was ready to receive anything with open arms.

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No, it’s the Warzone that has been bogged down with too many weapons after multiple integrations. It’s the gameplay that has been bloated by new systems and trying to sync with different games. It’s a community worn down by years of lackluster content and false starts.

If there’s one thing that can snap us out of this downward spiral, it’s Verdansk. Players have wanted it for years and the name alone has made Season 3 the most anticipated update in recent memory. But this is Warzone’s last chance to return to its former glory.

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The excitement is clearly there and the community is ready to forgive and forget if it lives up to the hype. But once that initial nostalgia wears off, if the reality isn’t a satisfying battle royale with a strong hook, players will jump ship and it’s hard to imagine what else could bring them back outside of a hard reset.

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Of course, we’re talking about Call of Duty here, there will always be a die-hard community of players waiting no matter how rough things get. But in terms of being the juggernaut it was half a decade ago — this is the final roll of the dice.

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