Author: Nik Ranger

Ali-A Builds Call of Duty Map in Fortnite for 1v1 Sniper Battle YouTuber Ali-A and a friend built the classic Modern Warfare map Shipment in Fortnite to have a 1v1 sniper battle. Fans who were upset to see Ali-A leave Call of Duty will be happy to see him back in a sniper battle on Shipment – even if it happens to be in Fortnite. Shipment became a favorite map for Call of Duty fans when it launched with Modern Warfare. It is one of the smallest maps in Call of Duty history and its size made it the go to map for 1v1 battles and challenges. The map returned for Modern Warfare Remastered and then was remade as Shipment 1944 for Call of Duty: World War II. Having started his YouTube career as a Call of Duty player, Shipment was the perfect map for Ali-A to build in Fortnite’s Playground Mode. They created their tribute on the football pitch in Pleasant Park, which conveniently happens to be a similar enough size to the tiny CoD classic. The famous containers of Shipment were recreated with metal materials in Fortnite’s Playground mode, leading to a more colorful recreation of the 1v1 battleground. The battle was close and tense throughout, playing a little slower than a CoD match thanks to the long reloads and heavy handling characteristics of Fortnite sniper rifles. The video ends with another 1v1 on the Shipment build, except this time with shotguns. The full video can be seen below:

Alexa and Google Assistant name OpTic stars as the best Call of Duty players in the world If you’ve ever wondered who the best Call of Duty player in the world is, then look no further than your trusty robotic friend, Alexa and Google Assistant – although it seems even these devices can’t make their mind up. Endless arguments over the ‘GOAT’ (greatest of all time) player in Call of Duty have raged on for years across the internet, as the usual suspects are compared by their various accolades. Names such as 3x world champion Damon ‘Karma’ Barlow, or winningest player ever Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter, the ever consistent Seth ‘Scump’ Abner, or the 2x world champion Jordan ‘JKap’ Kaplan, are typically thrown in the ring. However, devices like Alexa and Google Assistant have almost made up their mind, narrowing it down to just two – Scump or Crimsix. First shared by OpTic Gaming owner Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez, in a video where he asked Alexa who the best was, others began doing the same. While standing next to Scump, Alexa told H3CZ that it was “a fan of Scump”, and when YouTuber KEEMSTAR tested his own, he got a similar response. “Hey Alexa, who’s the best call of duty player in the world” — Hector Rodriguez (@OpTicH3CZ) December 20, 2018 However, Alexa was not entirely consistent in her answer, as another Twitter user discovered that when you ask ‘who’s your favorite Call of Duty player in the world’, the response is in fact 32 time champion Crimsix. Google Assistant on the other hand gives a more in-depth response, taking its response from GINX‘s top 10 CoD player list, explaining that “Crimsix is the only man who could possibly replace Karma at the top of the list.” So Scump doesn’t even get a look in from Google Assistant. Alexa doesn’t even know I guess @OpTic_Crimsix pic.twitter.com/f7hkTw9WBr — BΞNJI (@ben_dempsey9) December 20, 2018 Of course, all these devices simply take results from the web, so it’s not like they have actually formed an expert opinion – but if you ever want to ‘prove’ to someone that Scump is the best, Alexa will be your friend. The general consensus however is that the “best” player over all of competitive CoD would be between Crimsix, as the winningest player, and Karma, as the player with highest earnings and most world championships.

Alcatraz video shows how insanely accurate Warzone’s Rebirth Island is Activision / D Ramey LoganWarzone loves to take inspiration from real-world places in each of its maps, and Rebirth Island is no different. The secondary Warzone mode’s map recreates the infamous Alcatraz prison, and a new video has shown just accurate the design is. Real-life locations have a habit of cropping up in Warzone, as the devs look to make each new map feel authentic to its time and setting. Caldera took plenty of Pacific locales as inspiration for its POIs, while Nakatomi Plaza became one of Verdansk’s most beloved spots. However, Rebirth Island saw CoD produce its most faithful recreation, as the devs adapted San Francisco’s Alcatraz Island for Warzone’s spin-off mode. At a glance, you can see how faithful the reimagining is, but a new video has shown just how meticulous the team was in bringing Alcatraz to life with Rebirth Island. The video in question was uploaded to Reddit by u/yoursofunny, comparing Rebirth Island on the top of the screen to the real-life Alcatraz below it. From here, the similarities are plain to see. From the courtyard on the outside of the prison to the cells themselves, the layout is almost identical in most cases. Aside from a few liberties taken to make the map suitable for a firefight. The video also compares the tunnels leading to the lower levels, showing the sheer level of detail that Raven Software included. Even the surrounding buildings keep to a similar layout, even though the structures are mostly derelict in real life. But don’t take our word for it, check out the full side-by-side comparison below. Rebirth Island has always been a fan-favorite among the Warzone community, but this latest video seems to have sparked a whole new level of appreciation for the map. “Incredible video, loved every second of this. I didn’t realize how spot on their copy of Alcatraz really was,” replied one player. “Rebirth Island has got to go down as one of the best maps that COD ever created,” said another. Warzone wasn’t the first time that the CoD series had looked to Alcatraz for inspiration. It was included as the final Blackout map during the Black Ops 4 days, while the Mob of the Dead Zombies map in Black Ops 2 also adapted the island. But there’s no doubt, after seeing this video, that Rebirth Island is the series’ most faithful recreation of the infamous jail that held Al Capone back in the 1930s. Hopefully, we see even more notable locations in Warzone in the future.

Alcatraz changes added to Blackout but one update is extra mysterious After its surprising removal from Call of Duty Blackout, Alcatraz has returned to the battle royale mode with various changes. Second map removed Black Ops 4 players were surprised and disappointed when the new Blackout map was initially removed from the game. Its removal also took away another fan favorite mode, Hot Pursuit. Read More: Hot Pursuit removed from Blackout again – Prior to the update, Alcatraz had been expected to receive some changes to improve its play-ability. These changes never happened though and it was confirmed by Treyarch’s Video Game Director, David Vonderhaar, that they simply ran out of time. Back in Blackout However, as part of the Operation Spectre Rising update for Xbox one and PC, Alcatraz is now back on all platforms. Its return also brings the improvements that were previously teased. This comes as widespread relief for Black Ops 4 players who felt a little short-changed with just the core Blackout modes and Spectre’s Ambush playable in the battle royale portion of the game. What are the Alcatraz changes? Vonderhaar had teased several changes for Alcatraz. While the new map had struck a cord with a lot of Blackout players, the new mode was certainly rough around the edges. As a result adjustments were needed for the mode. Interestingly, Treyarch didn’t provide a list of the changes that were made, with players left to play Alcatraz in an attempt to try and piece them together. Collapse speed The most obvious of these was the final collapse speed. It was clear very early on that the final circle closed too quickly. This caused not only the collapse to end up being the primary enemy but a lot of matches finishing in heal offs, a term for when players won’t engage and instead opt to try and heal their way to victory. Fortunately this has now been resolved and the final collapse closes at a much more appropriate rate. Map changes Somewhat surprisingly, the map itself has also changed. One notable change is that the second floor of the main prison now has two holes in the wall to jump out of on both the north and south sides. The reasoning behind this is unclear. Something mysterious lurking? Another map change which eagle-eyed players noticed was a change to one of the prison cells. Amongst other things but this was my favorite because it means there’s something coming to Alcatraz. pic.twitter.com/zwDmY02qSV — FTJ Gaming (@FTJGaming) May 7, 2019 The strange substance has got players wondering what it does. At this point it appears to be nothing but it is suggestive that an event is coming to Alcatraz soon. Bleed out feature One change that Vonderhaar had been keen on, was the addition of being able to take the cowards way out when downed. This was to prevent players from getting downed, being ignored and wasting two respawn opportunities while waiting to bleed out. This addition didn’t materialise but it does appear that the bleed out time for the first down has been sped up. PS: Not being able to take the Coward’s Way Out when you have zero chance of being revived in Alcatraz and miss the wave spawn timer? Yep. Gross. Will fix asap, Please don’t hang me over what asap means. I don’t have that kind of power. Even the bosses have bosses. — Potato (@DavidVonderhaar) April 12, 2019 Elsewhere, Hot Pursuit has yet to return, presumably due to the wetworks update to the core Blackout mode map preventing it. While this will disappoint Hot Pursuit enthusiasts, which there appeared to be a lot of, Alcatraz fans can take solace in the fact that the changes have been implemented and it appears there is more to come soon.

Alcatraz to return to Call of Duty Blackout with new features For those of you who ruing the latest removal of Alcatraz from Call of Duty Blackout don’t worry, Treyarch have confirmed the mode will return on July 9 – with new features. When will Alcatraz return to Blackout? It will also return with a “dark new twist” as part of Operation Apocalypse Z. This will presumably be in the form of a map change, much like the changes it has previously gone under, or maybe a brand new, powerful Zombie to fight. The Alcatraz map has already seen two notable changes to it – alongside new entrance ways being added to keep the battle flowing. The first change saw some strange lava-type matter added to a couple of the prison cells inside Cellhouse. The next change saw a huge hole created at the top of Cellhouse, dismantling many prison cells in the process. It also left more of the same matter on the floor of the building. These changes have been leading up to what’s coming in Operation Apocalypse Z. Of course new locations such as Submarine and Shipwrecked have been added too but don’t appear to be part of the evolving narrative of the map. The new additions are eagerly anticipated but this hasn’t outweighed the disappointment Black Ops 4 players are feeling as a result of the map being removed. Blackout players have already made their thoughts very clear the previous times the map had been removed. Alcatraz will return to #Blackout on all platforms on July 9th, along with a dark new twist coming to Alcatraz in Operation Apocalypse Z. Splitscreen co-op will also be restored in all Blackout modes with our July 9th update alongside new Blackout map updates. — Treyarch Studios (@Treyarch) July 2, 2019 Alcatraz removed again Feedback varies from a simple “stop removing Alcatraz from Blackout” to “why do you need to remove it to add changes?” One player also pointed out that a lot of people are going on their “holidays in the USA and you just took this away only to return it after they all go back to work.” Similar has happened with Hot Pursuit, which is played on the core Blackout map, where that mode has been intermittently and randomly removed. This provoked a similar reaction from Blackout players. It appears players have their favorite mode, be it Hot Pursuit, Alcatraz or one of the core modes, and like to stick with it – meaning anytime it’s removed, they’re prevented from enjoying Blackout. As part of the July 2 update though, Hot Pursuit underwent unannounced changes which has enraged the community. The fast-paced, cops and robbers mode has been lauded for its balance between speed and maintaining a core battle royale concept. While evolving Alcatraz is more of a natural progression, fans will be hoping Treyarch don’t do something similar to that of Hot Pursuit. Last updated 20:36 ET, July 5, 2019

Aimbots have been spotted in Black Ops 4 on PC Despite having been out for less than a week, hackers have already found a way to install aimbots in the PC version of Black Ops 4. Players using programs to gain an unfair advantage is a cause of concern for almost every game these days, with PC games typically seeing more hackers than on console. It looks as though Black Ops 4 isn’t immune from this, as one unlucky Reddit user has discovered. In a video posted to the Black Ops 4 subreddit, Reddit user ‘TheWetDolphin’ shows how one player utilized an aimbot to rack up a large number of improbable kills. Lasting just 20 seconds, the player in question, who goes by ‘ViciouZ,’ racks up six kills with godlike precision. Every time ViciouZ turns a corner, his sights snap towards player after player, seemingly never missing a shot. While there’s certainly no shame in being able to secure many headshots, as players like Shroud and Ninja tend to do on a regular basis, where things get questionable here is the manner in which his aim is automatically pulled towards each players head. Even when he’s aiming from long distances, around narrow corners or even looking at the ground, ViciouZ manages to snap to his enemies and pick up headshots with an ease that’s only possible with the help of an aimbot. Treyarch replied to the thread on Reddit, saying they “take anti-cheat very seriously” and despite working closely with Blizzard’s security team, Treyarch admits that stopping cheaters is an “ongoing process” as they try and reign in the hackers. Players who experience any suspicious instances such as the one above are encouraged to utilize the in-game reporting function to notify Treyarch of possible cheating.

Aimbot shroud returns with ridiculous Modern Warfare killing spree Michael ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and has even given viewers a glimpse at why he’s known as the “human aimbot” with his insanely long-distance snipes. Modern Warfare released to the public on October 25 and shroud has been playing it ever since. Given his roots in the competitive shooters, namely being a former Counter-Strike pro, it is no surprise to see him hitting the game this hard at launch and his viewers have been enjoying it as well. Shroud has been playing the Ground War mode in particular and with Modern Warfare’s wide-open maps, he’s been able to share some of his incredible aim with viewers. He was perched on top of a tall building with a sniper rifle as was able to secure three clean headshots within 30 seconds on players that were extremely far away from him. The human aimbot was able to make quick work of his enemy without even as much as an acknowledgment of what he just did, which shows just how routine this is for him. What sets this apart for him is it’s actually one of the first time his viewers on Mixer got a chance at seeing what he was capable of. In case you’re out of the loop, shroud announced he was moving to Mixer on October 24. When Ninja left Twitch, the platform botched his exit by advertising adult content on his channel, but shroud received a much better sendoff as they created a nice tribute video for him. So far, shroud’s viewership hasn’t taken a major hit since his move, which is good news for him. In just five days, he has been able to rack up over 600,000 followers on the new platform. A lot of that could be part of the massive hype Modern Warfare has so once that dies off, it’ll be interesting to see what types of numbers he’s able to bring in.

After only 3 hours, OpTic CouRage has already been ‘dropped’ from FaZe It looks like OpTic Gaming caster Jack ‘CouRage’ Dunlop is no longer part of FaZe – not that he was actually signed on to the team, to begin with. CouRage announced his ‘retirement’ in a tweet just three hours after FaZe trolled their fans by ‘revealing’ that the caster was a new addition to their Call of Duty team. Read More: FaZe Clan CoD troll fans on social media by announcing OpTic member as their new fifth player – He took shots at FaZe CoD player Dillon ‘Attach’ Price (in good humor, of course), and stated that he would be moving on to competitive Just Dance, instead. “I have decided to step down from FaZe Call of Duty because Attach already started to annoy me,” he wrote. “I’ll be seeking more offers for professional Just Dance teams.” I have decided to step down from FaZe Call of Duty because Attach already started to annoy me. I’ll be seeking more offers for professional Just Dance teams. — OpTic CouRage (@CouRageJD) October 5, 2018 FaZe Attach responded to the Tweet in kind, giving a joking ‘goodbye’ message to his faux teammate. “It was an awesome time teaming with you,” he said. “At least we can say our team never lost a match while we were together. Good luck in the future 🍩❤️” It was an awesome time teaming with you. At least we can say our team never lost a match while we were together. Good luck in the future :doughnut::heart:️— FaZe Attach (@Attach) October 5, 2018 Many other members of FaZe replied, as well, all with humorous takes on CouRage’s response to their trolling. Of course, CouRage had already been ‘dropped’ by FaZe after OpTic gaming got in on the joke, reminding them of CouRage’s infamous 0-15 record in a Black Ops 3 wager match. FaZe’s search for a fifth addition to their CoD team continues, as revealed in their retweet of CouRage’s statement. While no players have yet been confirmed, sources have hinted that a former OpTic and FaZe player could be making their way back into the FaZe ranks.

After Kar98k and MORS meta it’s time to admit Warzone doesn’t need snipers ActivisionSniping has long been a point of contention among the Warzone player base, but it’s time for people to accept what to some has become painfully obvious – snipers are ruining the game and are not needed in their current state. For some weeks, the MORS was the go-to weapon of choice for many in Urzikstan, and you couldn’t get around the map at all without someone sitting atop a building far away taking pop shots at you. Worst of all, because the MORS could down in one shot, all it would take is one half-decent or lucky shot to send you straight to the Gulag, with little to no counterplay. To nobody’s surprise, the Kar98k marksman rifle arrived in Modern Warfare 3 in Season 4 and is just as lethal, but with more mobility and handling, allowing players to be way more aggressive with it. However, the meta the Kar98k has created just isn’t fun. Every building above head height is instantly a threat and forces excessive smoke grenade usage, which seems to become increasingly more vital in the Warzone meta with every passing day, no thanks to the abundance of one-shot sniper rifles being used. Those who have been playing for a long time will remember the Kar98k being equally frustrating in Verdansk, but there needs to be a line drawn somewhere to bring snipers back down to earth. The simple fact of the matter is that they don’t take much skill to use, so there is almost no drawback to running around with a Kar98k. This is made worse by the fact that you can partner the dominant marksman rifle with a meta Superi loadout or other close-quarters gun in your back pocket, effectively negating the Kar98k’s only weakness. It’s a widely-held belief that shooting in current Call of Duty titles is easier than in the past, with all the different aim settings and aim assist options. The likes of Call of Duty world champion Seth ‘Scump’ Abner and his peers have been vocal on the subject. “They took out so much of the skill in aiming,” claimed Scump, during a Modern Warfare 2 stream at the tail end of 2022. “Nowadays, in CoD, they took out so much of the skill in aiming with a controller, with dynamic aim assist, it’s actually like you don’t have to aim anymore. It’s so easy to shoot nowadays, compared to back then.” When you couple that with one-shot sniper rifles that have little to no bullet drop, suddenly trying to traverse the battle royale map becomes far less fun. No matter how smart you play or how much you get the better of your opponent, someone sitting atop a tower 300 meters away can just aim in and shoot you in the back. Perhaps removing sniper rifles altogether is dramatic — but can anyone honestly say that their Warzone experience would be ruined if they were banned from using the MORS/Kar98k or any other sniper? If we only used LMGs, assault rifles, and SMGs, would that ruin the Warzone experience? Or — whisper it quietly — could it actually improve the game state and flow of matches? Even if you’re not in favor of removing the weapons, there are simple balancing changes that could be made across the board to bring snipers more in line with what is fair. After all, as with any gun, there should be both pros and cons. Perhaps this means more bullet drop, slower ADS, and slower rechambering on the meta guns, requiring more time dedicated to perfecting your shot and adding some kind of meaningful drawback to using sniper rifles. Alternatively, those who played through the jetpack years will remember the Black Ops 3 snipers having no aim assist on controller. Because of this, they required mechanical skill to use effectively and were far more satisfying than the sniper rifles of today. This could perhaps be an option with Treyarch bringing out their next effort in October with Black Ops 6, so we could see some major changes to sniping once the new title is integrated with Warzone. The idea that you can pitch up behind a head glitch and simply pick off players with ease is the antithesis of what a battle royale is supposed to be. Snipers in other BRs like Apex Legends and Fortnite at least require more practice to lead and hit your shots. Warzone devs Raven Software can do this without compromising on the game’s Call of Duty DNA and what has made it so popular, but it’s clear that snipers in their current state make for a far less joyful experience than the game needs to be.

Afrojack’s favorite CoD streamers & Warzone addiction | CI Interview Dexerto sat down with popular Dutch DJ Afrojack to discuss his transition into the Twitch streaming scene. Warzone can reel anybody into its clutches, including popular DJ Nick van de Wall, also known as Afrojack! In this exclusive interview, he and his business partner Sven Fields discuss all things Warzone, also revealing the content creators that he enjoys watching; two of which are Nick ‘NICKMERCS’ Kolcheff & Timothy ‘TimTheTatMan’ Jon Betar. Part of the new content creation group, TeamWALL, the pair talk about how Call of Duty has taken over their lives. While Afrojack has always played the game, being a big hobby for him. But now, with touring taking a backseat, the opportunity to stream presented itself and he dived right in. For Sven, having Afrojack working alongside him had been a fantastic venture. He stated that while it’s not something that’s spoken of often, he’s “really thankful” for the help he’s received. Going forward, the Team may look to broaden their horizons. While initially focused on Call of Duty, Sven and Miranda’s knowledge of the gaming sphere is a recipe for success with expansion to areas like YouTube. For Afrojack, though, his passion and main focus remain solely within the space of CoD. To find out why his favorite streamers are NICKMERCS and TimTheTatman, along with their views on Warzone and Afrojack’s passion for CoD, make sure to check out the full interview above. To stay updated with all Call of Duty and Charlie Intel news, head over to our dedicated hub.

Adin Ross furious with Activision after getting banned from Call of Duty Instagram: adinrossAdin Ross has lashed out at Activision after getting banned from Call of Duty for his skins, claiming he was labeled a “brand risk.” While streaming on Kick on May 10, the controversial internet personality called out Call of Duty for banning him after having played the game “for years.” According to Ross, Activision was banning players “who give a f*** about what people say,” calling the developer’s decision “crazy.” “Call of Duty, you guys are known for having game chats that are toxic,” Ross said, going on to state he would not “chill the f*** out.” Ross went on to mention Nick ‘NICKMERCS’ Kolcheff, stating the two streamers had been banned and called “brand risks” by Activision; “That makes no f****** sense! I don’t care! That’s weird as f***.” He then compared himself to a meme from Spongebob, using the unusual analogy to describe how he felt about the ban. “Like bro, come the f*** on, bro! I literally felt like that Squidward meme of SpongeBob and Patrick playing,” Ross said. Nonetheless, Ross has made it clear he doesn’t plan on letting the ban prevent him from playing, revealing he was evading the ban by using a friend’s account. “I did get banned from my account for skins. And guess what? On god, I don’t care,” he insisted. “I’m going to say it. I got a new account and I have skins, camos. I don’t care. It’s my boy’s account, using it.” Hitting back at viewer’s reaction to the news, Ross warned that fans would not be able to report his new account; “Don’t laugh, don’t drag it. I’m playing it today… No, you’re not going to report me because you’re not even going to find my name.” He explained his friend had logged into the account using Ross’ PC, describing it as a “hand-grinded account.” While his new name remains unknown, it looks like Ross will continue to appear on Call of Duty servers.

Adam Apicella leaves Activision Blizzard/MLG ahead of Call of Duty franchising Twitter: @MrAdamAp / @ASTROGamingOne of the most prominent figures in esports, and one of the original founders of Major League Gaming, has left the company after 15 years. A prominent figure in CoD esports, he leaves Activision Blizzard just ahead of franchising. As the Call of Duty league heads towards a franchising model, with franchise slots valued at $25 million, and expected to rise to near $40 million in a couple of years, it’s important to remember how the scene got to this point. And there’s no question it’s due to Major League Gaming, and its fearless leader Adam Apicella. After working on close to 60 games and 100s of live event programs, I have decided to leave Activision Blizzard. More importantly, after 16 years my time as a member of the @MLG family has come to an end. — Adam Apicella (@MrAdamAp) August 30, 2019 On August 30th, Apicella announced via Twitter that he was leaving his position with Activison Blizzard, and thus, would be leaving his position with MLG after 15 years. MLG was acquired at the beginning of 2016 for $46 million, as Activison Blizzard began their plan to “create the ESPN of esports.” Apicella thanked numerous members of the MLG and Activision Blizzard organizations, giving special consideration and thanks to the organization that he spent fifteen years with, saying “thank you for giving me this life.” He also made an attempt to instill confidence in the future of Call of Duty esports despite his departure, and assured fans and followers that he’s never too far away: Be nice to those trying to build something new and great. Change can be good, help them, and even though I’ve decided to leave, I love Call of Duty, I love this scene, and I love the players. I would be thrilled to help in any way I can, my line is always open. pic.twitter.com/b45XgPoImF — Adam Apicella (@MrAdamAp) August 30, 2019 There have been many twists and turns as CoD heads towards the franchising model, and it’s been a shaky start as the model has fielded many complaints from pros, a prominent org in 100 Thieves have decided not to participate, and now a founding father of the scene has left the company. Read more: Nadeshot explains why 100 Thieves will not participate in Call of Duty franchising league – Apicella was the first hired employee of MLG when it was founded in 2003, and he quickly went to work planning events, acquiring sponsors, and laying the foundation for proper tournament organization. As Apicella took on more responsibility, MLG grew to even greater heights, including a relationship with ESPN that led to esports appearing on the X Games for the first time ever. MLG held events for Starcraft, Smash, Halo, and even dabbled in League of Legends for a time, but their bread and butter was competitive Call of Duty. Under Apicella’s leadership, MLG became the home for competitive Call of Duty for years before the acquisition. Best of luck to Adam and whatever challenge he takes on next.

Activision’s Call of Duty League has been nominated for a Sports Emmy ActivisionOne of Activision Blizzard’s premier esports circuits has been nominated for a Sports Emmy as the 2022 Call of Duty League Championship Finals event has received a nomination under the ‘Outstanding Esports Championship Coverage’ category. The final clash of the Vanguard era has made history for Activision Blizzard. The spectacle of the ultimate showdown between Los Angeles Thieves and Atlanta FaZe has landed the publishing giant a Sports Emmy nomination. Revealed on April 11 as part of the 44th annual Sports Emmy nominees, the Champs Finals have been recognized under the lone esports category. The YouTube stream, orchestrated by both Activision Blizzard and Esports Engine, is one of five esports events to be nominated for outstanding coverage. The CoD showcase sits alongside The International 11 – Dota 2 Championship, League of Legends Worlds 2022 Final, VCT Champions 2022 Grand Final, and BLAST Premier Fall Final 2022. This nomination marks the second in CoD history, as the 2020 Champs Finals between Dallas Empire and Atlanta FaZe also received recognition a few years prior. Riot’s LoL Finals ultimately got the nod that year. It also marks the fourth Sports Emmy nomination for Activision Blizzard as a whole, with consecutive Overwatch League Finals being recognized across 2020 and 2021. The Emmys first included esports coverage in its extensive awards showcase in 2019, with the likes of Rocket League, Apex, Fortnite, and Fifa events all nominated. Once again, however, LoL World’s proved unstoppable that year too. This year’s Sports Emmy Awards ceremony is set to take place on Monday, May 22, and honor winners from all 47 categories. We’ll be sure to update you here at Dexerto once the esports winner has been crowned.

Activision unlocks all seasonal Vanguard weapons released prior to Season 4 in Warzone ActivisionAs part of the Season 4 Reloaded update, Activision has given all Warzone players access to the seasonal Vanguard weapons in hopes of leveling the playing field now that the game has nearly 200 guns. Each new season of Warzone comes with a new set of guns for players to unlock either through challenges or by reaching a certain level in the battle pass. These weapons often turn out to be some of the best in the game due to their lack of playtested experience when compared to the other weapons on the roster, so in the name of fairness, players can now get their hands on all of the weapons from the start of the Vanguard integration up through Season 3 Reloaded. Activision permanently unlocks all Vanguard Seasonal weapons prior to Season 4 As of the update going live, the only Vanguard weapons that will be locked are the ones that debuted either in Season 4 or the after the S4 Reloaded update. The full list of unlocked items is as follows: Katana – Welgun – Gorenko Anti-Tank Rifle – Cooper – Sawtooth – Skal Crusher – Ice Pick – Armaguerra 43 – Sledgehammer – KG M40 – Whitley – H4 Blixen – Nikita AVT – M1916 – Push Dagger – This coincides with another feature in this update that will now guide players towards the weapons that are performing the best in their roles with a new “Recommended” in-game tag. Warzone has been heavily criticized over the requirements needed to complete unlock challenges in the past, but with this change, the strain of catching up to the rest of the player base will be lifted off the shoulders of anyone who got a late start.

Activision tease further Modern Warfare “surprises” from Infinity Ward ActivisionActivision President Rob Kostich has claimed that Infinity Ward has got a few more “surprises” up their sleeve for Modern Warfare, noting that there are already plans in place for the long-haul. The newest installment to the popular Call of Duty sub-series released back in October and though complaints remain about maps, spawns, and various other bugs, Infinity Ward is gearing up to roll out their second season of content. Season one saw the return of classic fan-favorite Modern Warfare maps, as well as a tonne of new cosmetics, and even a new weapon or two. However, with some talk already lingering about the next game – which is set to come in the fall – Activision has noted that Modern Warfare still has plenty of road to run before its time is up. During the February 6 investors call, Kostich fielded questioned about a number of issues including player engagement, revenue, and what both investors and players can expect in the future – both long-term and immediate. Upon doing so, Kostich revealed that Infinity Ward still has a few surprises in store for players. “It’s really on us from now to really build great content, which we intend to do for the long haul on this game,” he said. “A great pipeline of content is coming starting with Season 2 next week. And, we have some surprises in store beyond that. So I’d say overall, what we expect is a healthier Call of Duty in 2020 versus the previous year. And we look forward to sharing more in the future.” Though he might not have been exactly forthcoming with details, Kostich still said enough to get fans excited and speculating. Many are still awaiting the previously ‘leaked’ battle royale mode – which was apparently meant to release at the end of January. According to one leaker, there have also been game modes apparently added to the game’s files that have yet to see the light of day. Whether they’d constitute as big enough surprises, though, remains unknown. With a huge back catalog of Modern Warfare content to work with, Infinity Ward could easily have anything set to come as a surprise, but fans probably won’t want to wait too long before getting their hands on them. We’ll just have to wait and see as to what they’ve got planned and what announcements they make next.

Activision takes action against new Warzone console cheats Activision/Sony/MicrosoftActivision has begun targetting the supposed Warzone console hacks and cheats by taking down videos advertising them on YouTube. While Warzone remains arguably the most popular game around right now, there is one big bugbear that players have, and that’s to do with the number of hackers that run riot. Cheaters have been able to use everything from God mode, to wallhacks, and aimbots in Warzone, frustrating the life out of regular players who just play for fun. The majority of cheaters operate on PC, and you’ll run into them on console while in cross-play lobbies, but some have warned that they might finally be coming to console properly given that hacks for Modern Warfare and Cold War have become available. That warning, obviously, scared a lot of players, especially as there were videos being shared of these cheats in action – even if there was some skepticism about them translating from normal multiplayer to Warzone. Well, it seems like Activision have now started to step up the fight against them, after it was revealed that they’d started taking down these advertisement videos. “Activision is now aware of the console cheats and probably are going to make plans to take them down,” said AntiCheatPD – an anti-cheat watchdog on Twitter – who initially flagged the videos. “They started to shut down the YouTube channels that advertise the cheats, this is good for the community.” Activision is now aware of the console cheats and probably are going to make plans to take them down, they started to shut down the YouTube channels that advertise the cheats this is good for the community pic.twitter.com/e6Y2DjCflk — Anti-Cheat Police Department 🕵️ (@AntiCheatPD) July 8, 2021 While the videos may have been shut down, a number of cheat sites are still up, selling their hacks, and even offering free trials. Though, the Warzone-specific ones are still locked to PC. The devs have repeatedly stated that they have plans to step up their anti-cheat game, and have banned over 500,000 accounts for cheating, but it’s an ongoing battle.

Activision sues major Warzone cheat provider EngineOwning in new crackdown ActivisionActivision is seeking to shut down another huge Warzone cheat provider as a new lawsuit has just been filed against EngineOwning, one of the most prolific organizations today. Activision has taken another step towards limiting cheats in Warzone with a new lawsuit filed on January 4. This time around, German cheat provider EngineOwning has been targeted, with the gaming publisher claiming their cheats have caused “millions of dollars” in damages. The lawsuit, filed in California, lists specific names of those involved in operating the website. Not only does this team sell in-game cheats for Warzone, but also a number of mainline CoD titles, Battlefield, and even Halo Infinite too. Furthermore, Activision also claims EngineOwning is “developing new cheating software” for Overwatch, another multiplayer game under their umbrella. This isn’t the first time Activision has pushed legal action against cheat providers, with the publisher well aware of the damages to its brand. “Cheating software has caused Activision to suffer massive and irreparable damage to its goodwill and reputation and to lose substantial revenue,” the legal document reads. In light of the damages, Activision has demanded an end to the “misconduct” along with a hefty financial sum. The maximum damages for each violation equates to $2,500. With the publisher alleging EngineOwning caused “at least tens of thousands” of cheating incidents, that sum quickly stacks up. “By Activision’s estimation, such damage may amount to millions of dollars,” the lawsuit outlined. Additionally, two further sums are to be added on top. Outside of covering legal fees, Activision also argues it’s entitled to all of EngineOwnings profits that came as a result of CoD-related cheats. An amount the publisher believes to be “hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more.” This marks another step towards resolving the cheater crisis that has plagued CoD titles in recent years. EngineOwning is just the latest in a line of major cheat providers to be targeted by the publishing giant. Ricochet, CoD’s proprietary anticheat system was revealed on October 29, 2021. Following its implementation across Vanguard and Warzone, many have labeled it an “overwhelming success”. To date, hundreds of thousands of accounts have been banned in the free-to-play battle royale alone.

Activision sued for allegedly stealing Warzone Operator design Activision/Clayton HaugenA writer and photographer has filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, claiming the company committed copyright infringement and modeled Mara, a popular Operator in Warzone and Modern Warfare, after a character he created for his story years prior. According to a brand new lawsuit filed in Texas, and first reported by TorrentFreak, writer and photographer Clayton Haugen contends that Activision committed copyright infringement with the Modern Warfare and Warzone Operator Mara. Haugen says the company deliberately copied her design from Cade Janus, a character featured in his own short story, November Renaissance, and the similarities are pretty striking. Both Mara and Janus share the same model, Alex Zedra, and, based on the images provided by the lawsuit below, the look of Janus is very similar to the Warzone Operator. Haugen apparently hired Zindra for the role of Cade Janus in 2017, nearly two years before she debuted as an Operator in Modern Warfare. Haugen is even going as far as to say that Activision used the same photographer and hair professionals he had hired to attend to Zindra during his original Janus photoshoot. He says the company even had pictures of his character’s photoshoot up on the studio walls for reference. “In addition to hiring the same talent, they also hired the same makeup professional who had prepared the talent for Haugen’s Cade Janus Photographs,” the lawsuit states. “They instructed the makeup professional to prepare the talent exactly as she had done for Haugen’s Cade Janus Photographs. They instructed her to style the talent’s hair exactly as she had done for Haugen’s Cade Janus photographs, even using the same hair piece extension.” The Mara Operator wasn’t just any regular character in Modern Warfare and Warzone. Apart from being one of the more prominently-used characters, she was used heavily in the promotion of Modern Warfare’s first season back in December of 2019. Not only that, but the model, Zedra, is very active on social media with over 118K followers on Twitter, so her online presence has kept the fictional Mara character relevant long after her debut in-game. At the time of writing, Activision is yet to issue an official comment or reply in regards to the lawsuit, so we’ll provide you with regular updates as more information becomes available.

Nadeshot responds to Activision stopping 100 Thieves’ Warzone charity Nadeshot / 100 Thieves[jwplayer SZm0PqRr]100 Thieves’ Gamers For Equality charity event has been postponed after the org revealed Activision had denied their request to use Warzone in their tournament series, which was set to run in June and July. The announcement came a day before the event was set to start the first of its four-week run on Thursday, June 18. 100 Thieves are still looking to organize the series, although they are now looking for “alternative solutions” to hold the event. “Unfortunately, Activision has denied our request to use Warzone for this charity tournament so we’ll need to postpone Gamers For Equality,” they tweeted on June 17. “We hope to still host this tournament and are working to find alternative solutions,” The “Gamers for Equality” competition was aimed to raise money for charity organizations working to advance racial equality and create systematic change. Throughout the four-week series, they were planning on donating $100,000 for the cause while taking donations from audiences and partnering with multiple groups to organize the event. Unfortunately, Activision has denied our request to use Warzone for this charity tournament so we’ll need to postpone Gamers For Equality. We hope to still host this tournament and are working to find alternative solutions. https://t.co/rZAeYIMCQj — 100 Thieves (@100Thieves) June 17, 2020 At the time of the announcement, the esports org revealed Cash App and JBL Audio as the supporting partners putting together the Gamers for Equality – Warzone series. Esports insider Rod ‘Slasher’ Breslau said an impasse between Activision and 100 Thieves over the inclusion of Cash App as a sponsor had led to the Call of Duty publisher denying them permission to feature their game. Read more: 6 players to watch during CDL Paris – He even went as far as to say, according to sources, that 100T’s decision to continue making announcements without consulting Activision was “likely to get the public on their side.” Sources: 100 Thieves was told by Activision that they could run a CoD charity tournament without a sponsor (CashApp) and 100T refused. sources tell me 100T made the original announcement without consulting Activision, likely to get the public on their side https://t.co/1BJwIbRM11 — Rod Breslau (@Slasher) June 17, 2020 UPDATE – June 17 at 5:15 PM ET Following this news, 100 Thieves CEO Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag addressed Activision’s decision and revealed that the publishers had concerns about the potential opportunities to monetize the charity event through a sponsored Warzone tournament. “‘You guys can’t run this tournament with Cash App, you can’t run this tournament with sponsors and monetizing the tournament that you’re running,’” Nadeshot recalled before clarifying: “I just want to make it undoubtedly clear, we weren’t making money from this tournament.” He noted the organic exposure that the tournament would naturally provide, but there weren’t any plans to monetize it “like [they] normally do with [their] sponsorships and the content [they] create.” Cash App had committed $100,000 to the cause and Nadeshot said they were tied to the charity, resulting in 100T being unable to drop the name. Wanted to take a minute to clear up what happened with 100 Thieves, CashApp and Activision earlier today in regards to our $100,000 Gamers for Equality tournament. pic.twitter.com/d51EgZwFiM — 100T Nadeshot (@Nadeshot) June 17, 2020 After the disagreement, Nadeshot and his organization accepted the decision and were already making plans to find another publisher and title to base their tournament series on. The org has yet to announce new times for the Gamers for Equality event, or even whether or not it’s still going to happen, so we’ll continue to update you on the situation as more details become available.

Activision exec says Sony boss wants to sabotage merger & doesn’t care about CoD Activision Blizzard, PlayStationAn Activision Blizzard executive claims Sony boss Jim Ryan has admitted to wanting to sabotage the pending Microsoft merger. The back and forth regarding Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been going on for several months now. At the center of it all sits the multibillion-dollar Call of Duty brand, which Sony argues could be used by Microsoft to skew market competition in Xbox’s favor. While Microsoft attempts to convince fair trade agencies and Sony that Call of Duty will remain on PlayStation platforms, it doesn’t seem as if Sony’s interested in negotiating a deal. One Activision executive recently claimed to know why. Activision says Sony boss wants to sabotage Microsoft merger Activision’s CCO and EVP of Corporate Affairs, Lulu Cheng Meservey, alleges that Sony’s refusal to ink a deal with Microsoft stems from a desire to obstruct the proposed acquisition. Reportedly, PlayStation President and CEO Jim Ryan admitted as much during a hearing in Brussels on February 21. Meservey claims Ryan said the following at the hearing, “I don’t want a new Call of Duty deal. I just want to block your merger.” There’s no definitive proof as of yet that can attribute the above quote to Jim Ryan. But given Ryan’s past comments about backwards compatibility, many are convinced the “merger” quote may hold some legitimacy. Lulu Cheng Meservey’s claim comes amid news that Sony fears Microsoft may release glitch-filled versions of Call of Duty on PlayStation hardware. Notably, such concerns were relayed to Europe’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Following a delay, the competition regulator will deliver its decision on the acquisition on April 25.

Activision slammed over comments about CoD: Black Ops 4 microtransactions TreyarchCall of Duty players have denounced publishers Activision as “delusional” following the company’s quarter 2 earnings call, which summarized the most recent financial quarter. On August 8, Activision Blizzard held a conference call for their quarterly financial report, dissecting the financial status of their company for the fiscal quarter that ended on June 30, 2019. Although primarily for the benefit of investors, calls such as this sometimes contain new details about upcoming titles for CoD fans – in this case, Modern Warfare. But, many fans were left scratching their heads at some of Activision’s comments regarding the most recently released title: Black Ops 4. Treyarch’s latest Call of Duty game received both praise and criticism from the community for different aspects. Innovative modes like Blackout have generally been met positively, while the overly complex DLC maps have been criticized. One aspect of Black Ops 4 that has received almost unanimous condemnation is the system through which DLC is dispensed, often locked behind Reserve Crates (loot boxes); giving players a tiny chance of acquiring new items without investing significant amounts of real money. However, Activision appear to think differently. During the call, Activision stated that the “community embraced new in-game content” during Black Ops 4. Our sister site, CharlieIntel simply responded with ‘Yikes’ – reflecting the community’s sentiment. Activision: “community embraced new in-game content” for Black Ops 4. Yikes. — Call of Duty News (@charlieINTEL) August 8, 2019 Given how far this seems to be from the general feeling among the fanbase, many players were quick to hit out at Activision for being “out of touch” and “delusional”. One example of new content being locked behind pay-walls is the Days of Summer update, which came on June 4. Five new weapons were added: the Grav, Peacekeeper, Vendetta, Locus, S6 Stingray, and Ballistic Knife. Only the Vendetta was available for all players. Understandably, this update was met with backlash, as players lamented Activision’s apparent greed. The message doesn’t seem to be getting through though, given Activision’s insistence that fans “embraced” Black Ops 4’s DLC content. Crucially, Activision Blizzard made approximately $800 million from in-game revenue (largely microtransactions) in quarter 2. Read More: Black Ops 4 August 9 update – patch notes – This kind of message does not give an indication of future content and microtransaction models, as Activision continues to maintain that their current systems are adequate, and fair, as CoD moves towards the new Modern Warfare.

Activision shuts down popular Warzone cheat seller ahead of Vanguard & RICOCHET ActivisionCall of Duty publisher Activision has successfully shut down another cheat provider ahead of the November launch of Vanguard, and the series’ first dedicated anti-cheat system: RICOCHET. Despite Warzone’s undeniable success, the game’s player-base has found their experience marred somewhat by the prevalence of cheats in the CoD battle royale. Any player with more than a few games under their belt will have encountered a cheater – whether it be in the form of wall-hacks, aimbot, or even God mode. The natural response from players was to call for a robust and effective anti-cheat system. Despite months of silence, Activision have now revealed RICOCHET, their own anti-cheat creation, which will launch alongside Vanguard. However, they do not appear to be resting on their laurels, shutting down an incredibly popular cheat provider just days before Vanguard’s launch. X22 Cheats, a French cheat provider, confirmed that they will no longer offer services relating to Call of Duty titles. On October 30, Activision confirmed to ModernWarzone that they served a cease and desist notice to the company. In a statement to their customers – shared on Reddit – X22 explained their decision to halt their distribution of Call of Duty cheats. “Today we have to announce that our cheats for the Call of Duty series stop here due to legal matters,” they said. “We from the X22 Team are very sad to bring [this news] to the community but this is not in our hands.” The statement finished: “Because we know this will be on Twitter and elsewhere, it is not due to the new anti-cheat. Lawyers are stronger than anti-cheat.” Many were quick to praise Activision for their hardline approach to the cheat provider and encouraged them to continue their efforts despite the pending addition of RICOCHET. There have been some concerns about the new anti-cheat, after the intricacies of the system leaked after its announcement. Warzone devs cooled these fears though, explaining that the system that leaked was a pre-release version of RICOCHET.

Activision shuts down notion Modern Warfare 3 is just an MW2 expansion once and for all ActivisionActivision just sought to end the debate once and for all, reaffirming Modern Warfare 3 is indeed a full-fledged, premium Call of Duty title and not just a mere expansion for Modern Warfare 2, as earlier reports suggested. The lead-up to this year’s CoD launch has been a rather unique one. Where historically, a full-priced CoD title has hit store shelves like clockwork on an annual basis, rumors began circulating earlier this year that the trend may be changing. Soon after last year’s Modern Warfare 2 cycle commenced, various reports speculated on the scope of 2023’s release. For the first time in decades, it was implied CoD would be skipping a premium annual launch. In its place, we could have been gearing up for an expansion for MW2 instead. Before long, new reports suggested that while originally planned as an expansion, the project soon blossomed into a full-fledged release in its own right. Though naturally, there’s been plenty of hesitation around these claims ever since. Now, with Modern Warfare 3 finally official, Activision has shut down the rumors once and for all, assuring this year’s new release is a full, premium title, and not merely an expansion. “As stated in numerous Activision Blizzard quarterly conference calls, Modern Warfare 3 is a premium release,” the publishing giant said in a statement to our sister-site CharlieIntel. Furthermore, they also sought to shut down more recent rumors of a price drop for this year’s release, clarifying the new release will indeed be “priced accordingly at $70 USD.” These comments come after confusion swirled on social media as a result of a new Steam listing. As all Call of Duty games are pivoting to the one Call of Duty HQ app, Modern Warfare 3 is listed as an Add-On through Steam, rather than its own standalone release. Though as Activision clarified, MW3 is no mere Add-On, but rather a full-fledged annual title. However, it’s obviously worth taking their words with a grain of salt for the time being. Players will have to judge the value proposition for themselves when the new sequel goes live on November 10.

Activision shut down another Warzone cheats site amid hacking crackdown ActivisionActivision Blizzard have taken action against another Modern Warfare and Warzone marketplace for cheats, this time shutting down the hub for hackers. It’s no secret that hacking/cheating is arguably the biggest issue Activision have faced following the release of Modern Warfare and especially since Warzone made its debut in March. The CoD publisher has been cracking down on outlets that supply programs or any other third-party tools to get a competitive edge. Back in August, they reportedly filed a lawsuit against a different site, and now they’re taking aim at a second site. Dexerto won’t be naming the company to avoid any potential promotion, but the screencap below shows that the creator and distributor of hacks was given a Cease & Desist by Activision’s lawyers. “In September 2020, Activision Blizzard’s attorneys had another Cease and Desist letter hand-delivered to me by who I assume was a (Personal Investigator), considering he knew family members by name and made a point to showcase that he did,” the seller of the cheats wrote. Soon after the initial contact, the distributor said they received a follow-up communication from them claiming their attorneys “would litigate if (they) didn’t comply with continuation of stopped sales as well as a complete stoppage of interaction with and updating of any products related to their client’s products.” It didn’t take long for them to comply with the orders to avoid further actions from the $13 billion company. Although the hack-seller said that they will “be looking to offer swaps from this product to other options in the extremely near future,” an indication that the cheat-network could be used for another title. The site’s owner had their infrastructure of hacks and clients willing to purchase them for 11 months before Activision stepped in to shut it down. In late August, a different Warzone hacking site claimed the Call of Duty publisher had also contacted them about a potential lawsuit if the third-party tools weren’t taken down. Parallels in both instances have amounted to the publisher threatening legal ramifications, the site owner taking down the hacking market, and multiple customers who bought MW cheats feeling dismayed while demanding refunds. With Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War on the horizon, Activision are making strides in thwarting people from acquiring these sort of hacks, especially since both the official professional and amateur competitive scenes will involve the use of PC for the first time in 2021. Competitive players are concerned the addition of PC crossplay in the amateur Challengers division will compromise the scene’s integrity since it’s a lot easier to install and use these sorts of third-party hacks on a computer rather than console. That’s exactly been the case in Warzone (which supports PC/PS4/Xbox One crossplay) – despite months of negative community feedback and everything Activision have tried, cheating continues to run rampant on Verdansk. Hopefully this shutdown of a hack distributor will be another step closer to finally eradicating those who break the rules.

Activision sends cease and desist to Warzone player sharing Verdansk access in 2023 ActivisionActivision is looking to shut down an unauthorized operation bringing the mega-popular Verdansk Warzone map back into focus. The publishing giant has already issued a cease and desist to one particular community member sharing access. When Warzone first went live in 2020, it did so with Verdansk as the core BR map. Over the months that followed, this battlefield became a hit in the community, one that players were devastated to see go as newer maps rotated in. Despite the jump to Warzone 2, and even now with Modern Warfare 3 just around the corner, Verdansk has remained on the shelf the entire time. Currently, the only legitimate way to access it is through Modern Warfare’s (2019) offline modes or through early Warzone Mobile tests. As a result, some community members have made it their mission to bring Verdansk back to its former glory, though without explicit approval from the developers. Activision has now filed a cease and desist to one particular player after their efforts to share access to the beloved BR map in 2023. Multiple posts on Twitter over the past few weeks from ‘HeyImAlaix’ show screenshots and footage of Verdansk in action once again. Not only that, but they also provided links for others to jump in as well, organizing private matches with up to 20 players. Given this form of access is not permitted by Activision, the company has now motioned to take it all down. Alaix revealed they had been hit with another cease and desist on September 15 in light of their efforts. “The sale, distribution, and use of the Cracks causes enormous and irreparable harm to the value and integrity of Activision’s products and services,” one particular section read. “Our content reflects the passionate work of our amazing development teams,” Activision then followed up in a statement to our sister site CharlieIntel. “We deeply appreciate the enthusiasm, but consistent with any intellectual property, it’s important that we preserve and protect Call of Duty, and the incredibly talented developers who create it, from unauthorized use.” So for those hoping to see Verdansk back in full force by any means, you may want to think twice before jumping into any unauthorized or ‘cracked’ version of the game. Although an entirely new BR map is on the way with Modern Warfare 3, we’ll just have to wait and see if a Verdansk revival is in the cards too in the near future. Currently, it appears there are no plans of the sort.

Activision seeking legal action against Modern Warfare leaker ActivisionActivision have filed a DMCA subpoena against a Reddit user for leaking information pertaining to Modern Warfare’s anticipated ‘Warzone’ battle royale mode. Activision, publisher of the Call of Duty franchise, have demanded that Reddit submit the personal details of a user who allegedly posted a leaked image to the site. The leaked image in question related to the rumored forthcoming battle royale mode in Modern Warfare, supposedly called ‘Warzone.’ Activision have been willing to dish out copyright claims in a bid to keep their battle royale project under wraps. Noted Call of Duty leaker, TheGamingRevolution, fell victim to such a claim after posting footage of players accessing the battle royale’s menus via a glitch. YouTube took swift action and removed the content from its platform in response to the copyright infringement claim, as they are obliged to do. However, on Reddit, a user under the alias ‘Assyrian2410’ posted content titled: “I found this image online. Not sure what it is. Possibly Battle Royale,” and embedded into the post was an alleged image of Modern Warfare’s currently classified mode. In response to the post, Activision filed a subpoena to Reddit, which orders the platform to share Assyrian2410’s personal information, including their name and IP address. Per a Korean post on Inven, the controversial image in question shows several characters (including the recently added Ghost Operator) standing on top of a burning Chopper, with the words “Call of Duty Warzone” in the backdrop. According to the DMCA subpoena to Reddit, “the content infringes Activision’s exclusive rights under copyright law. Specifically, it infringes Activision’s rights in its popular video game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.” The subpoena itself compels Reddit to provide Activision with the requested information by February 28. However, whether any further action will be taken by the Call of Duty publishers remains unknown. The court request was signed and approved on February 19. The post itself has since been taken down and Assyrian2410 has since deleted their account on Reddit.

Activision revenue increases in Q2 despite drop in Warzone & Vanguard players ActivisionDespite a drop-off in active monthly users between Q1 and Q2 2022, Activision’s revenue from microtransactions saw a notable increase in that time period, with Vanguard and Warzone helping significantly. Activision Blizzard is in the process of its $95-per-share cash sale to Microsoft, which is expected to go ahead in 2023, but is still pulling in billions of dollars each quarter. In April 2022, it was reported that Activision itself — covering the Call of Duty titles — had lost 50m active monthly users, attributed to a declined interest in battle royal hit Warzone. In the months following, though, the decline in players continued, with active users across all Activision Blizzard King titles dropping to 361 million, down from 372. Despite this, it’s not all doom and gloom for the game publisher, as Activision’s revenues saw a solid quarterly increase thanks to Call of Duty: Vanguard and Warzone. Increased revenue from CoD microtransactions As explained in the Activision investor call, “Call of Duty net bookings on console and PC grew sequentially in the second quarter, following gameplay improvements and seasonal content across Call of Duty: Vanguard and Call of Duty: Warzone that were well-received by players.” They also noted that CoD: Mobile revenue was consistent across quarters, but added that “revenue and operating income declined year-over-year, reflecting lower engagement for the Call of Duty franchise.” In total, Activision Blizzard’s net revenues for Q2 2022 totaled over $1.6bn, a decrease from the $2.3bn in Q2 2021, despite the short uptick from the Call of Duty franchise, which dropped another 6m monthly users in Q2. With Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 arriving in the latter months of 2023, Activision Blizzard will no doubt be expecting a huge uptick from both game sales and microtransactions when the new games drop.

Activision reveals how CoD Vanguard is fixing Warzone’s most hated feature ActivisionActivision has confirmed that Call of Duty Vanguard will be addressing Warzone and Black Ops Cold War’s most controversial feature: file size. Here’s how the new Sledgehammer Games release is fixing the issue. It’s no secret that CoD titles have exploded over recent years in terms of file size. Black Ops Cold War alone can chew through over 200GB today, with Warzone adding another 50GB if you happen to have both installed. For certain platforms and smaller hard drives, this leaves very little space for anything other than CoD. With more updates adding to that size with each passing week, it demands a lot from dedicated players. Thankfully, Activision is well aware of these concerns. CoD Vanguard has some new technological improvements on the way to “significantly” reduce file sizes. “Good news for hard drives everywhere,” the official Call of Duty Twitter account joked on October 27. “Vanguard’s install size at launch will be significantly below previous CoD releases.” Rather than cutting content or optimizing every bell and whistle like never before, Vanguard instead opts for a new “on-demand texture streaming” feature. This should have gamers across PC and new-gen consoles both saving “up to 30%-50%” of the overall file size. For those on the previous generation of hardware, this option doesn’t appear to be available. Read More: CoD Vanguard & Warzone anti-cheat revealed – Instead of saving one massive haul to your hard drive on day one, this new feature allows you stream assets instead. Rather than pulling from your storage, Vanguard will therefore rely on your internet connection to download various textures upon loading into a map. https://twitter.com/CallofDuty/status/1453114930853470210 It appears this streaming tech is indeed optional, however. After all, for players with a shaky network, constantly having to stream textures mid-match would be less than ideal. Read More: CoD Vanguard PC requirements – If you’re looking to install the full game, Activision recently confirmed Vanguard’s file sizes. Check below for details on your chosen platform. PlayStation 5: 64.13 GB Download | 89.84 GB Required Space – PlayStation 4: 54.65 GB Download | 93.12 GB Required Space – Xbox Series X |S: 61 GB Download | 61 GB Required Space – Xbox One: 56.6 GB Download | 56.6 GB Required Space – PC: Exact file size to be confirmed. – With just nine days left until Vanguard’s release, we’re fast approaching the next chapter in CoD history. Here’s how you can pre-load the new title to get in on the action right away.

How to watch Call of Duty’s ‘Live from Warzone’ weekly series ActivisionActivision have revealed Call of Duty: Warzone is getting its own weekly livestream series called ‘Live From Warzone’, with streamers, pro players and celebrities teaming up every week to jump into the action. They made the announcement via an official blog post on April 13, with the event set to make its debut just a day later. A trailer has also been rolled out for the new series. These weekly livestreams will see teams stream for two hours straight to rack up as many wins, kills and highlights as they possibly can – giving fans even more opportunities to see pro players and streamers in the battle royale game mode. Live From Warzone trailer Just to give CoD fans an idea of what Live From Warzone will include, the blog post states: “Starting this week, tune in to catch your favorite streamers, athletes, and celebrities squad up with Call of Duty League pros to go #LiveFromWarzone. Expect new tournaments, entertainment, and surprises all around the game you love.” When does Live From Warzone start? This new livestream series officially debuts on April 14 and will be broadcast on several different channels, which will depend on the schedule each week. Live From Warzone will kick off at 12pm PT (3pm EST, 8pm GMT, 5am AEST the following day). New streams will start every two hours after things get underway. All details can be found below. Paris Legion – 12pm PT – London Royal Ravens – 2pm PT – Toronto Ultra – 4pm PT – Dallas Empire – 6pm PT – Los Angeles Guerrillas – 8pm PT – Aside from that, the blog post also reads: “On Thursday, April 16, Call of Duty League players will return to live on the Call of Duty League YouTube channel. Five teams – Atlanta FaZe, Florida Mutineers, New York Subliners, Minnesota RØKKR, and the Seattle Surge will battle for victory in Verdansk.” Live From Warzone lineup: April 14-19 A full lineup for the first week of action has also been revealed, featuring a tournament from Nick ‘NICKMERCS’ Kolcheff – Week 2 of the MFAM Gauntlet. Some streams, as stated below, will be on Twitch and others will be on YouTube – so make sure you’re following the list correctly when it comes to tuning in. With Activision confirming that new tournaments and special guests are set to feature in the series in the future, it’s likely that Warzone players and competitive CoD fans will be pouring into these livestreams to watch the action. Paris Legion, London Royal Ravens, Toronto Ultra, Dallas Empire, and the Los Angeles Guerrillas are up first in the Live from Warzone series.

Activision Reveal New Details About CoD: Black Ops 4 Development – Esports, Mode Innovations, and More! Call of Duty publisher company Activision have revealed new details about Black Ops 4, the next title of the storied first person shooter franchise. In Activision Blizzard’s quarterly Financial Call, the company discussed their vision for the game, including certain aspects of its development and esports scene. Activision and developer Treyarch first announced CoD: Black Ops 4 on March 8th, confirming long standing rumors that the fourth game of the popular Black Ops series would be the next title in the franchise. The vast player-base has since waited in anticipation of the Community Reveal event that is set to take place on May 17th, with the game due to be released on October 12th. The October release will be relatively early compared to previous titles, which have usually been released in November. Activision explained that this decision was based on the popularity of the Black Ops subfranchise, which has had over 200 million players and 15 billion hours played. When asked about the game’s development, Activision confirmed that Treyarch were hard at work on introducing innovations into the longstanding Multiplayer and Zombies modes. This could very well mean that these popular modes will include never-before-seen features. “We are very quick to capture innovation from new ideas.” Treyarch are widely considered to be the best of the three CoD developers, and Activision has shown great confidence in Treyarch’s “deep understanding of the community” and their ability to “execute their vision” in making Black Ops 4 a game that is built on what players love to play. “You are going to see a number of great developments on the core game itself beyond innovations.” Read More: Activision Blizzard Report Increased Revenue, But Confirm Fortnite Battle Royale Has Impacted – However, there was no mention or talk of any single-player or campaign modes, which lines up with reports that the next title will be the first to not include a campaign. One thing that was mentioned was the popularity of the Battle Royale genre, and especially Fortnite. Activision acknowledged that BR games are getting increasingly popular and bringing in new people to the online gaming world. There have been long standing rumors that Black Ops 4 will feature a Battle Royale mode, which would be a first for a CoD game. Activision also made mention of the increased in-game sales in CoD: WWII, which is the current title. It would appear that the success of WWII’s increased in-game content and ‘seasonal events’ will inspire similar promotions and content to be added to Black Ops 4. Another important part of the Financial Call was the discussion of the esports scene, which is of course a huge aspect of Call of Duty. The Call of Duty World League completed Stage One in mid-April and continues to have strong viewership, with cumulative hours watched doubling year-over-year” Activision also said that they have learned a lot from the new Overwatch League about esports league development and some aspects of that could be applied to CoD esports in ‘the near future.’ One huge difference between the two esports scenes is that the OW League has franchised teams that compete against each other while CoD esports uses the standard promotion/relegation format. If such a format change were to come to Call of Duty, it could massively change the landscape of its esports scene.

Activision reveal major upgrades to weapon audio in Modern Warfare ActivisionThe audio system for weapons in the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare title will be much more in-depth and advanced than ever before, according to publishers Activision and developers Infinity Ward. As the October 25 release date for Modern Warfare draws closer, Activision and IW will be revealing more and more about the highly-anticipated 2019 installment of the Call of Duty franchise. Their latest announcement was concerning weapon audio, and the lengths the developers went to make sure that the gun sounds in the game are as authentic as possible. Each weapon has its own “unique voice” Every weapon in Modern Warfare will have a collection of sounds that are distinct and exclusive to that gun, which includes both the actual firing of the weapon as well as other aspects. Also, these weapon sounds will exist in a 3D space, meaning that not only will you hear it being fired, but also the shell ejecting from the gun itself. For Modern Warfare, the sound of each individual shell, travelling in 3D space, as it moves through the air, is also audible, “before it actually impacts on the ground, using a physics system for all of this.” The weapons also have a weighty feel to them. Nestle a weapon stock to your chest, and there’s a familiar kick back: “We made sure you felt something akin to a nice thump to the chest.” Weapon sounds interact with the environment There was a huge emphasis on ensuring that the sounds guns make change based on the environment of a map. Three new systems were used in MW to capture these environmental effects to weapon audio. Reverb and slap delay DSP [digital signal processing] system. – Atmospheric layer that is contextual and plays along with every weapon shot. – Weapon reflection system – The developers took weapons to various environments and locations and used up to 90 microphones to capture each shot, 20 of which were for the player perspective alone, meaning that sounds will vary based on the point-of-view from which they are being heard from. Weapon reflection system The third new audio enhancement system, the weapon reflection system, is what will allow the sounds of weapon fire to differ based on the player’s immediate position on a map. This means that when a gun is fired, the audio will have an appropriate effect based on whether they’re next to a building, down in front of a car, inside a subway tunnel, etc… Furthermore, the audio will also adjust based on the amount of space there is surrounding a player. Weapons fired in a wide open expanse will have a big booming effect, while the same weapon will be more muffled and have less echo in more limited spaces. You can read the full post on Modern Warfare’s weapon audio changes in its entirety below, as provided by Activision in their July 23 blog post: MODERN WARFARE® INITIAL INTEL: CREATING AN ORCHESTRA OF INCREDIBLE AUDIO EFFECTS: WEAPON SOUNDS IN CALL OF DUTY®: MODERN WARFARE® A Sound Plan: How Distinct Weapon Sounds, Attention to Detail, and Crafting Accurate Reverb and Echoes Adds Layers of Audio Amazement to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. by David Hodgson on July 23, 2019 By now you should have read up on the meticulously-crafted Single Player Campaign narrative, the lengths the art team went to in order to obtain the most incredible graphics ever seen in a Call of Duty® game, checked out the wealth of technical advancements the new game engine allows the developers at Infinity Ward to utilize, and inspected the ways in which weapon animation reaches new levels of fidelity. However, just as important as any ray-traced reflection or weapon magazine reload are the enticing and exceptional sounds you’ll hear in the game. Gas Piston, Direct Impingement, Bolt Action: Distinct Weapon Voices. Stephen Miller, Audio Director at Infinity Ward, heads up the team responsible for everything you’ll hear in the game, and the following interview gives you an overview of how he and the audio team researched and improved the sounds of the weapons you’ll be using. This is important, Stephen says, as “each weapon must have its own unique voice.” Part of the distinctly-different sound every armament possesses is down to its operating system: “Whether it’s a gas piston, direct impingement, or bolt action, all of this brings a different type of voice to a weapon.” Imagine, if you will, the quick and rapid staccato sound; the familiar burst from an assault rifle. As well as the weapon’s sound, there are other effects the audio team considered, too: “You’re hearing the weapon fire, but you’re also hearing the shell eject from the weapon.” For Modern Warfare, the sound of each individual shell, travelling in 3D space, as it moves through the air, is also audible, “before it actually impacts on the ground, using a physics system for all of this.” The weapons also have a weighty feel to them. Nestle a weapon stock to your chest, and there’s a familiar kick back: “We made sure you felt something akin to a nice thump to the chest.” 90 Microphones in the Desert Miller’s team went out on a number of field trip recording sessions to ensure audio accuracy too: “We recorded all of our weapons, out in the desert and all kinds of other locations. We used about 90 different microphones to capture each shot.” Groups of microphones provided different audio functionality, too: “That’s for all kinds of perspectives. Twenty of those are for the player perspective alone. Using all of that detail, we were able to capture different perspectives; those from when you’re at the hip, and those when you’re aiming down sight….” Weapon sounds also interact with the environment. “This is super important to us, Stephen says; “we couldn’t make the game without the sounds being relevant to the place, whether that’s Piccadilly Circus, the desert, the mountains or wherever.” The team employed a number of new systems to add environmental effects to weapon audio: “The first is reverb and slap delay DSP [digital signal processing] system. The second is an atmospheric layer that is contextual and plays along with every weapon shot. The third is a weapon reflection system.” With the audio existing in 3D space, expect variations in sound depending on how and where you’re listening to each weapon fire. Reverb, Atmosphere, and Reflection: All at the Speed of Sound Weapon reflection system? Think about the nuances of noise and atmosphere and how it plays with your ears: “Every time you shoot a gun, the sound travels out into the world, and the game knows where the sound will interact with the environments and plays a specific sound at those locations.” All of this is contextual. Whether you’re up next to a building, down in front of a car, or inside a subway tunnel, the reflected sound of each weapon has an appropriate audio effect. Infinity Ward took this one step further, as Stephen explains: “having sound behave realistically is super-important to us, so as those sounds go out into the environment and bounce back to us, they do so with authenticity and clarity, at the speed of sound, and as close to how you’d hear it occur in reality. There is natural delay and decay to every weapon noise.” The results are exceptional immersive soundscapes: “The sound gives you a big, deep, booming echo in larger expanses of scenery, while the same weapon becomes slightly more muffled, far less reverberating, and with less echo in more confined environments.” Stephen and the audio engineers also took these aspects and ran with them: “We didn’t want to stop there, so we decided to do the same for all our explosions. These are just some of the pieces of the puzzle that we’ve all been trying to put together reimagining what Modern Warfare is to us, grounding you into our whole new world. And giving you a whole lot of fun.” Stephen is justly proud of his team’s work: “It must be heard to be believed.”

Activision reveal major improvements to Vanguard anti-cheat as it goes live ActivisionCall of Duty publisher Activision have revealed major improvements to anti-cheat system RICOCHET in Vanguard, making it considerably more difficult for cheaters to repeatedly offend. Call of Duty’s battle with cheaters has been incredibly pronounced since Warzone’s launch back in March 2020. The battle royale has been widely acclaimed in the CoD community, but has never quite got on top of its battle with cheaters and hackers. Thankfully, the announcement of Vanguard and Warzone’s Pacific map saw confirmation that RICOCHET will be dropping in both CoD titles, a dedicated and specially formulated anti-cheat system. While it’s not yet live in Warzone, Sledgehammer have confirmed it is active in Vanguard, and is already helping the developers isolate and ban those manipulating the system to get ahead. Call of Duty fans responded positively to the news and, on November 13, Activision provided another promising update on the anti-cheat system and how it is working in Vanguard. In a blog post, they detailed how they have improved their anti-cheat for Vanguard, and how it will prevent cheaters from avoiding their system. “We have made changes to our security enforcement policy for Activision’s statement says. “Extreme or repeated violations of the security policy – such as in-game cheating – may result in a permanent suspension of all accounts… Permanent suspensions for security infractions may now apply franchise-wide, including Call as well as any past, present, and future titles in the franchise.” In short, cheaters won’t be able to simply create a new account to get around a ban on a previous account. Similarly, bans will be transferrable between CoD titles. A cheater found to be hacking in Vanguard will be banned from all CoD titles. It certainly won’t spell the end for all Call of Duty cheating, but it’s a major step forward.

Activision reveal first five city locations for franchised Call of Duty league Activision Blizzard have revealed the first five cities and organizations that have purchased a spot in the new franchised Call of Duty league. It’s no longer a secret that Call of Duty esports will be going through a major change in structure as Activision Blizzard establish the new franchised league that’s expected to debut in the 2020 esports season. It appears that this massive transition is progressing well, as there are five organizations that have already staked claim to a spot in the franchised league. First five spots already sold Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick announced on May 2 that they had already sold five spots for the franchised CoD league to organizations based in five different cities. Moreover, all five organizations are also owners of teams in the Overwatch League, which Kostick has revealed to have been done by design, as they would “recognize the scale of opportunity from their partnerships with us on the OWL.” Atlanta (Owned by Atlanta Esports Ventures) – Dallas (Owned by Team Envy) – New York (Owned by Sterling VC with New York Mets owner as partner) – Paris (Owned by c0ntact Gaming, LLC) – Toronto (Owned by OverActive Media) – With these five already being announced, the attention turns to who else will be involved in the franchised CoD league. On that note, Kotich remarked that they will “announce additional owners and markets later this year.” With Team Envy and Overactive Media Group (Splyce) being the only teams currently in the CWL to have secured a spot, it’ll be interesting to see which other prominent orgs known for their CoD teams will join them in the new league. We are IN! Envy will join the inaugural season of the #CallofDuty esports league currently being developed by @ATVI_AB . Blog: https://t.co/nbWlh1mxwP pic.twitter.com/86LC1G2UrM — Team Envy (@Envy) May 2, 2019 Activision already raising impressive revenue According to various sources, including ones that have spoken to ESPN, the price for each spot in the new franchised CoD league has been set to $25 million. More recent reports suggest that bidding for each spot could cause this price-tag to go up much higher, with CEO Kotick confirming that the price was “much higher than the initial price” for the OWL. Even if we take each spot at its reported base price, this news means that Activision Blizzard have already raised a whopping $125 million in selling league spots. How the new franchised CoD league will work While there hasn’t been too much concrete information revealed about the new franchised CoD league, it’s been confirmed that each team will represent and be based in one of the major cities in either the United States or abroad. As far as the structure of the league itself, it will operate very much like any franchised league, meaning that teams that have purchased a spot are always guaranteed to compete without having to qualify or be at risk of possible relegation to a lower division. Read More: Top 20 highest earning Call of Duty pros – This is, of course, a major contrast to how the CWL works currently, which involves teams having to qualify for the Pro League each season, resulting in some major teams missing out on professional competition. While it has not yet been absolutely confirmed, the franchised league is expected to kick off its inaugural season in early-2020, which is right around when the Pro League has traditionally started each campaign. We will update this article with more information as it becomes available.

Activision responds to rumors Call of Duty 2020 has been delayed Activision / TreyarchCall of Duty publishers Activision have finally confirmed the franchise’s highly-anticipated 2020 release is “on track” for the series’ usual Q4 release, despite rumors Treyarch’s next title may have halted behind the scenes. New titles in the Call of Duty mega-franchise have become as commonplace as Christmas or a birthday. Every year since 2005 — when the game became a series with Call of Duty 2 — has seen a new blockbuster release drop. 2020 may have seen that 15-year streak broken though, if rumors surrounding the next title, and it’s potential delays, were to be believed. Even before the ongoing global situation forced devs to work from home, there were concerns. Luckily, those concerns seem to have been misplaced. Activision COO Daniel Alegre confirmed the Call of Duty 2020 title is “on track for release later this year” during a May 5 earnings call, despite the “challenges” the devs are facing. “The shift to remote working does add complexity in some areas of the game development process. We are implementing mitigation measures to address each of these areas,” he said. “This includes the next premium release of Call of Duty.” What do we know about Call of Duty’s 2020 release? Alegre did add the as-yet-untitled game “already looks great”. He remained tight-lipped on details about when and where it would be set, however. He also avoided confirming which studio is currently helming the project. That said, it’s practically an open secret Treyarch have been tasked with developing the 2020 title, after Activision chose to sideline Sledgehammer Games. The swap saw the studio slapped with a shorter two-year turnaround as a result. Originally tipped to be set in the Cold War era, it now looks like Treyarch pivoted to a Vietnam setting soon after taking over the project. Prominent leaks also suggested the devs will leave their famous Black Ops storyline behind. Activision’s Q1 calls did not include a potential reveal timeline. Confirmation the title is “on track,” however, suggests the usual roll-out schedule should apply. That means fans should see the first details by the end of May. The franchise’s 2020 release is full steam ahead, but what does that mean for Warzone? According to Activision, these behind-the-scenes plans haven’t slowed down ambitions regarding their battle royale title just yet either. Alegre confirmed Modern Warfare — and its huge new battle royale — is now the best-selling release in the series. With seasonal updates still rolling out, and big future plans in the works, Warzone isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Activision responds as Warzone devs continue to strike at Raven Software Raven SoftwareActivision has responded as QA developers at Raven Software, the studio currently behind Warzone, continue to strike following a series of layoffs in the QA department. In December, days before the launch of Warzone Pacific, and the new map Caldera, “the majority of Quality Assurance testers” walked out of the studio. This was in response to a number of QA devs being laid off days before, following promises of better pay. Following the walkout, Activision issued its initial response. On December 6, they said: “We are converting approximately 500 temporary workers to full-time employees in the coming months. Unfortunately, as part of this change, we also have notified 20 temporary workers across studios that their contracts would not be extended.” But, the strike continued into the new year, with GI.biz reporting that the QA devs had not had a response from Activision to their singular demand – that all members of the Raven QA team be offered full-time positions, “including those who were let go.” Their letter to Activision continued, “The downsizing of the Raven QA department without input from anyone within the department is concerning to us and others throughout the company. In the interest of making positive change for Raven, we would like to reach out to leadership to discuss the current situation.” Activision responds to QA strike On January 6, an Activision spokesperson said that there had been communication between Raven leadership and staff. “Activision is deeply committed to the wellbeing of all of our teams, including our QA workforce. Raven leadership has engaged in dialogue with its staff to hear concerns and explain the company’s overall investment in development resources. As previously announced, we are growing our overall investment in development and operations resources and converting nearly 500 temporary workers to full-time employees across our studios, the largest conversion in Activision’s history. “For the 12 temporary workers at Raven whose agreements were not extended, we provided an extended notice period, included payment for the two-week holiday break, and will be working directly with those that need relocation assistance. Raven is full of people dedicated to improving the culture at Activision, and we look forward to partnering with employees to do that work together.” As the strike is set to reach almost a month, no total resolution appears to be forthcoming. Read More: Activision sues major Warzone cheat provider – Many Warzone developers have returned from their holiday breaks, getting back to working on the game, which is currently plagued by a number of bugs and issues. Not least, players are angry with extremely overpowered shotguns, which the developers have now acknowledged need fixing. But the complaints are mounting, with some players saying they are refusing to play after a playlist update removed some modes.

Activision responds after Judge seemingly leaks CoD 2023 release in Microsoft hearing ActivisionActivision has added fuel to the fire after a Federal Judge seemingly confirmed the release window of Call of Duty 2023 amid the FTC vs Microsoft court hearing. As Microsoft looks to close its historic acquisition of Activision Blizzard, all manner of industry secrets are being aired out. Just yesterday, confidential Sony documents disclosed a wide range of Call of Duty figures, reaffirming just how big of a juggernaut the FPS franchise truly is. Now, as the US hearing drew to a close on June 29, it appears the show closed with a bang, at least for CoD fans. At the tail end of the final discussion, a Federal Judge reportedly outed plans for this year’s new release. Following previous rumors of a November 10, 2023 launch, the Judge has now seemingly confirmed the November release target for CoD’s 2023 iteration. While much has been speculated on a 2023 entry, recent leaks have implied what was once planned as an extension to last year’s Modern Warfare 2 has since evolved into a full-fledged title of its own. Reportedly titled Modern Warfare 3, a handful of supposed screenshots from the upcoming release have already slipped through the cracks, revealing a possible return of both Terminal and Scrapyard. Although nothing has yet been made official, we now appear to have our very first tease of CoD 2023 direct from Activision. Following confirmation of the November release window for this year’s new release, the official Call of Duty Twitter account subtly chimed in. Just 10 minutes after CharlieIntel first circulated the news, the CoD social channel simply entered the conversation with the classic eyes emoji. While obviously not an explicit confirmation, this no doubt adds weight to the Judge’s intel, all but locking in a November release for CoD 2023. As always, we’re sure to hear plenty more on this year’s highly anticipated release in the weeks and months to come. Be sure to check back often as we’ll keep you up to speed with all the latest surrounding the launch of CoD 2023.

Activision respond as glitches ruin new Infected mode in Black Ops 4 Activision officially responded on Reddit after a user came up against an opponent using a glitched spot in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 in the newly-added Infection mode, this time on the map Firing Range. Issues with Infected in Black Ops 4 Since the Infected game mode was added to Black Ops 4 on April 9, Treyarch have had to combat a number of players looking to exploit glitch spots in game. Infected is based around trying to survive against the ‘infected’ players, who are armed with melee weapons and throwing knives, as well as being given slightly boosted speed and jumping abilities. In the footage, a surviving player has reached a specific glitch spot on the popular map Firing Range, which was brought back from the original Black Ops game in Treyarch’s new title. The survivor cannot be reached by the meleeing infected, but can still shoot down onto them and kill them. Activision responds to Black Ops 4 Infected glitch spot The clip was quickly identified and responded to by ‘ATVI Support’; Activision’s official support account. They said that coming up against “players who choose to play unfairly or use exploits is never fun, or cool on their part”, and they appreciate the glitch being brought to their attention. They thank the Reddit user for reporting the opponent in-game, but state that they prefer glitch spots to be reported privately – rather than being shared to Reddit or elsewhere – so other players are not made aware of the possibility to exploit the game in the same way. The problems with Infected and glitching in Black Ops 4 have even caused Treyarch employee Alexander Conserva to tweet a response, saying that they are “discussing what to do” to players who cheat. He even humorously suggests they should give them an instant victory as it’s “what they want”. Discussing what to do with people who get out of the world in infected. I realized we should just give them what they want. When they go out of bounds immediately give them a win screen, give them win credit, and just allow them to quit or spectate people having fun. Thoughts? — Alexander Conserva (@AlexConserva) April 17, 2019 It is likely that the player caught in the exploitative position will face a temporary or even permanent ban from Black Ops 4, particularly given the attention they have now received via Reddit.

Activision demands SBMM Warzone site shuts down Pexels, @Sora Shimazaki / Activision / SBMMWarzoneActivision has demanded the shut down of SBMM Warzone, a site popular for tracking skill levels in Call of Duty: Warzone lobbies, citing API usage. The site announced a legal team gave them until Monday to comply, but they’ve not confirmed that it has been closed. Skill-based matchmaking has been a longstanding point of discussion in Warzone. The popular battle royale lacks a legitimate ranked mode but nebulously seems to enact some degree of SBMM to maintain skill levels in players’ lobbies. As the game’s competitors and fans sought to understand the system, the SBMM Warzone site became a beloved resource. For any public account, the website allowed players to check the skill level of each lobby they played in, ranking lobbies from Bronze to Diamond based on K/D (kill-death) ratios. To do so, SBMMWarzone used Activision’s API (Application Programming Interface) to source every lobby’s game records. That usage is limited to Activision partners and, following multiple requests, the developers have denied the site’s attempts and told them to shut down by Monday or face legal consequences. Activision’s lawyers reached out and asked us to shut down https://t.co/aX094FtqB8. According to their ToS, we can’t use their API. We’ve tried to reach them multiple times to become Partners, now is our last shot. Anyone working at #Activision, please reach out [1/7] ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/EBFNSee2R7 — Warzone Meta (@WZStatsGG) March 26, 2021 In a thread from SBMM Warzone’s official Twitter account, the small team reported that “Activision’s lawyers reached out and asked us to shut down sbmmwarzone.com.” The developers “want to guarantee their players’ privacy” and limit API usage to partners (as per their Terms of Service). This apparently comes after SBMM Warzone “tried to reach [Activision] multiple times” with partnership requests. In face of being unable to reach the developers and legitimize their service, Activision appears to have reached out themselves — but with threats of legal consequences. At the moment, the site seems willing to shut down if need be, but would much prefer to open up a dialogue with the developers so that a partnership can be agreed upon. Considering the reactions to this news, it’s clear that the community wants SBMM Warzone to become partnered. While initially controversial, the lobby-tracking website has become a useful resource for both the casual and competitive Warzone scenes. Some fans use it to discredit high-kill performances from big streamers, but most agree that the added transparency is valuable. By all accounts, this shutdown is disappointing for the battle royale’s fans. The site’s growth had reached a point where they were tracking lobbies for entire tournaments, like the Toronto Ultra $100K Trios kill race, lending another layer of nuance to the competitive scene. SBMM Warzone officially shuts down On Monday, March 29, SBMM Warzone revealed that they have met Activision’s demands and shut down the website. That said, they’re still hopeful they can reach an agreement with Activision “to provide you with the stats you love.” We’ve met @Activision’s demand and have shut down our website. Your Warzone stats are no longer available. We still believe we can reach an agreement with Activision to provide you with the stats you love. Hey @Activision, let’s partner up.https://t.co/FRyI9DJwRq — Warzone Meta (@WZStatsGG) March 29, 2021 Now, SBMM Warzone and the site’s fans are hoping that Activision will discuss a partnership opportunity — with numbers of people showing support online. We will update this piece when more news becomes available, but things currently look grim for the future of one of Verdansk’s more valuable community-founded resources.

Activision reportedly suing popular Call of Duty cheat website Infinity Ward / ActivisionCall of Duty publishers Activision appear to be cracking down on cheaters by targeting websites that offer aimbots and wallhacks for Modern Warfare and Warzone. With almost any online multiplayer game, such as Warzone, there are always a small section of players who look to get ahead by gaining an unfair advantage, with the likes of aimbots and wallhacks. While the player base at large has criticized Activision over the volume of hackers in Modern Warfare, they have taken action, reportedly suing one of the top websites where players can purchase these cheats. Although a number of ban waves have been issued in Warzone, plenty of players and even top streamers such as shroud have still criticized the state of Warzone after encountering blatant hackers in the game. Following Infinity Ward’s statement addressing the cheating problem, a major action has been taken with one cheating website (which will not be named to avoid inadvertent promotion), after u/MrTheRevertz- shared screenshots of the website’s Discord announcement. “Activision Publishing Inc has filed a lawsuit against the website and has made it clear to us that our services violate their Terms of Use,” they revealed. They added that the lawsuit had caused them to agree to stop developing selling these cheats for Modern Warfare and Warzone on their site. “As a result of our lawsuit with Activision we have agreed to cease development and support for all Call of Duty related products or services sold through the site.” The cheat developers followed up, claiming that the products will not be made available in any form and warned their users that they may receive suspensions or bans from Infinity Ward or Activision if they continue using the cheats. Users on the website’s public forum were angry, complaining that they had paid for access to the cheats that were now not working. Some were hoping they would get a refund. The website still currently offers hacks for other games, including Apex Legends and PUBG. Along with targeting the websites, Infinity Ward had recently confirmed that more in-game ban waves are on the way with future Modern Warfare and Warzone updates.

Activision reportedly eyeing “weeks” of CoD 2024 early access for those who pre-order ActivisionTreyarch’s next release, CoD 2024, is reportedly eyeing the prospect of giving fans “weeks” of early access with select game modes. At least for those who pre-order. Although Modern Warfare 3 (the second one) only just hit store shelves this month and we’re yet to even so much as reach its first big seasonal update, next year’s drop is already getting plenty of attention. From early concept art leaked back in 2022, we learned Treyarch’s next hit is set to be another in the Black Ops series. Thus, players expected CoD Zombies to be back, and not like its shambling corpse of a rework in MW3, but in the form of its traditional round-based mode. Now, new reports are suggesting that is indeed the case. But beyond that, it appears the devs may be considering the idea of letting Zombies fans in early, so long as they pay up. Recent CoD titles have begun to follow a pattern, one where players can jump into certain parts of the experience early if they lock in their pre-order in advance. Both Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3, for instance, offered up the full campaign a week before multiplayer servers went online. While this led to some early backlash for the latter, it’s a trend Activision is seemingly sticking with moving forward. In fact, the publishing giant even appears to be doubling down, according to reports from WindowsCentral. Not only could the full CoD 2024 game be playable early for those who pre-order, but it’s possible select modes are on offer “even weeks” in advance, according to the report. While no specific mode was listed here, CoD games typically follow the same trend with multiplayer, a campaign, and a third component of sorts, often Zombies when Treyarch is leading the charge. Although Modern Warfare 3’s latest outing with early access didn’t exactly go down all too well, contributing to some of the lowest review scores the series has ever seen, fans still appear happy with this direction on social media. “This is great,” one fan said in response to the news of increasing the early access window. “I love being able to play modes without affecting [the] MP grind.” “Treyarch isn’t known for their amazing campaigns like Infinity Ward .. so early Zombies makes sense,” another chimed in. “They don’t want a redo of MW3 campaign early access.” Obviously, as we’re still almost a year out from the release of CoD 2024, do take this early intel with a grain of salt for the time being. We’ve still got plenty of support left for Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone before the next title comes into focus and with it, a potential expansion on the early access trend.

Activision reportedly eyeing “NFT inclusion” in future Call of Duty games ActivisionActivision is reportedly considering the inclusion of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in upcoming Call of Duty titles, as an insider has claimed it’s currently in discussion. While NFTs have been all the rage in recent months, it’s rare to come across a project announcement without some degree of controversy. Whether it’s alleged scams or “cringe” marketing campaigns, many of the industry’s top figures have spoken out against cryptocurrency-based schemes, especially as they relate to video games. In fact, Valve has even gone as far as to outright ban NFT games on Steam, one of the largest distribution platforms today. Despite the near-endless waves of controversy, however, Activision is reportedly considering a way to implement NFTs in its biggest franchise, Call of Duty. The report comes by way of supposed industry insider ‘RalphsValve,’ who has leaked a great deal of CoD-specific intel in recent months. In an April 4 post, they claimed “NFT inclusion is reportedly being considered by Activision.” While nothing is yet set in stone, and it’s seemingly quite early in the pipeline, it’s allegedly being discussed nonetheless. “NFTs have been under review, and in consideration, for a few months,” they said. Given recent backlash to a number of NFT-based gaming projects, however, there’s always a chance it can “fall through.” There’s no telling exactly how NFTs would be incorporated into the CoD series, if supposed plans go ahead. We could see anything from weapon skins to calling cards provided through the blockchain, in this hypothetical future. NFT’s have been under review, and in consideration, for a few months. With EA’s immediate backlash against NFT’s, It can totally fall through. MTX and Content structures are influenced by trends and predictions, NFT’s just seem to be that at the moment. — Ralph (@RalphsValve) April 4, 2022 With a broader UI “overhaul” reportedly in the works, with Activision seeking to “personalize” user accounts with more depth than ever before, NFTs could be one such way to enable that. Obviously, it’s worth taking this all with a massive grain of salt for now though. There’s every chance these alleged conversations have already ceased in light of ample NFT drama in the gaming industry.

Activision reportedly considering free-to-play revenue model for Modern Warfare 4 Activision could be looking into implementing a major change for its future Call of Duty titles, starting with a possible free-to-play ‘revenue model’ for Modern Warfare 4. The next installment’s release for the legendary Modern Warfare series has basically been a poorly kept secret in the games industry, but a surprising development suggests that it could take on a vastly different revenue model from titles past. A Kotaku report on the internal workings at Activision has revealed that a free-to-play model of some kind might be adopted by the publisher, as early discussions about the release are starting to take place. The report suggests that while Black Ops 4 sold well during its initial launch window, follow up sources of revenue for the title weren’t exactly what the publisher was hoping for. Not looking to repeat that trend, Activision could pull the trigger in changing how the next game brings in cash during its life cycle. “Activision executives have started to talk about embracing free-to-play as a revenue model – once anathema to the publisher – and, three sources say, are looking into offering a free-to-play component for this year’s new Modern Warfare, although the specifics may not be finalized yet,” the report said. Furthermore, it seems like there are those inside Activision who “[remain] resistant” to using any kind of free-to-play model for Call of Duty, according to Kotaku’s sources. 600How would free-to-play work in Call of Duty? This could vastly change how Call of Duty players interact with the 2019 title as it would see a model more closely tied with other popular titles like Fortnite Battle Royale and Apex Legends. While those games are completely free-to-play, if Activision decide to go that route it doesn’t mean the next Modern Warfare 4 will be identical in design based on those models. Call of Duty games are known for giving players multiple ways of diving into that battlefields be it through a story mode, Multiplayer, Zombies and, since Black Ops 4, a battle royale. Depending on what Infinity Ward has in store for Modern Warfare 4, any one of those modes could follow a free-to-play model while the rest of the title’s offerings retail at a normal price. Alternitavely, the publisher could be considering making DLC content ‘free’, potentially scrapping the Season Pass, or ‘Black Ops Pass’ which cause so much controversy leading up to Black Ops 4’s release. The recent reports suggest a lot of things are happening over at Activision and it will be interesting to see where the company decides to go with their next major title.

Activision removes NICKMERCS Call of Duty bundle after controversial Pride Month comments YouTube: NICKMERCSNick ‘NICKMERCS’ Kolcheff’s very own Call of Duty bundle has been removed from the in-game store just one day after his controversial Pride Month comments caught fire on social media. NICKMERCS drew the ire of thousands of Twitter users on June 8 upon sharing a controversial Pride Month comment. After claiming that children should be ‘left alone’ in schools and not educated on LGBTQIA+ topics, the streamer became the focal point amid a wave of backlash. The next morning, the content creator took to Twitch and stood by his comments, assuring that he “didn’t mean to upset anybody,” but nonetheless reiterating that he believes school is no “place to speak about things like that. “It’s not that I think it shouldn’t be spoken about. If that’s what you got from that tweet, then you’re just wrong.” Now just hours after this stream, Activision has taken a stance on the matter. Weeks after the arrival of NICKMERCS’ very own custom cosmetic pack in the CoD store, the first of its kind streamer skin alongside TimTheTatman, his bundle has now been removed. “Due to recent events, we have removed the NICKMERCS Operator bundle from the Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone store,” Activision confirmed on June 8. “We are focused on celebrating Pride with our employees and our community.” For the time being, a few things remain unclear. Firstly, there’s no telling if this is a temporary decision by the CoD publisher or a permanent move. Second, it’s also yet unclear if this consequence will soon extend to existing owners of the bundle. In a similar instance under the Activision Blizzard umbrella in recent years, the Overwatch League designed unique MVP skins for the year’s standout player. 2019’s MVP was Jay ‘Sinatraa’ Won, an OW-turned-Valorant pro that was later shrouded in controversy of his own. Following abuse allegations, the custom in-game Zarya skin was manually changed by the developers to distance from the player. Furthermore, anyone who purchased the skin could remove it from their collection and even claim a refund too. We’re yet to hear if CoD will be following suit with the NICKMERCS bundle. Obviously the two situations are vastly different. NICKMERCS is yet to respond to the news of his bundle’s removal. We’ll be sure to keep you updated here as any further details emerge.

Activision release impressive figures behind Cold War Alpha downloads Activision[jwplayer NR7iW2lk] It’s been a little over a week since the Black Ops Cold War multiplayer Alpha, and Activision has revealed that the pre-release version was the most downloaded Alpha or Beta in the Call of Duty franchise ever. Hype for Black Ops Cold War is pretty high. For people who didn’t enjoy Modern Warfare, the game promises to be a breath of fresh air and a return to form for the series, which is sure to get some people incredibly excited. A week or so back, Activision held an Alpha for the game for free for anyone on a PlayStation 4. Which some criticized the decision to make the pre-release version exclusive for owners of the aforementioned console, most people praised the decision and many players seemingly jumped into the game. Now, Activision has revealed on its official Twitter account that not only was the Alpha extremely popular but it was the most popular Call of Duty Alpha or Beta ever released on PlayStation 4. An enormous feat, to say the least. While it makes sense that it would be the most popular Alpha considering it’s only the second one they’ve done publicly, it’s kind of crazy to think that it also blew away the Betas released for previous CoD titles. https://twitter.com/CallofDuty/status/1310595121121955840 While neither Activision nor PlayStation released any statistics for the actual Alpha in terms of player counts, one has to wonder if it crossed the million mark. Considering everyone on the platform had access to it, it would make sense that more people would want to play it, even if they aren’t fans of the franchise. All in all, it’ll be interesting to see if this hype translates over to the Beta weekend. While there’s also a portion of it that’s open to the public on all consoles, many players feel like Black Ops Cold War is in a rough spot right now in terms of gameplay, graphics, and more.

Activision release damning statement as over 50k MW3 & Warzone cheaters banned ActivisionOver 58,000 accounts were officially banned by Activision for cheating in Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone, as they shut down CoD players claims of “mistaken” permenant bans. CoD has been at war against cheaters for well over a decade, and in 2021 Activision pack-a-punched their arsenal by releasing a purpose-built ‘RICOCHET’ anti-cheat system. Fast forward to MW3 and Warzone in 2024 and despite constant improvements to its anti-cheat, the fight still reigns on. Activision had announced just a few days prior in the build-up to Season 3 that they had banned 27,000 CoD accounts, in which they stated Team RICHOCHET “anticipates more ban waves to come.” On April 10, they revealed they had done exactly that. Another 58,000 cheating players have been banned, bringing the ban hammer total to over 85,000 in a short matter of five days. An Activision rep provided a statement regarding the bans to CharlieIntel: “Be wary of bold claims made by cheaters trying to sell subscriptions to their wares. #TeamRICOCHET has been launching a series of targeted cheat vendor enforcements, resulting in over 58,000 detected accounts banned yesterday. More ban waves are expected.” As the waves of bans have continued to flood in during the start of Season 3 for Warzone and MW3, players in the community have complained to the developers accusing them of banning them by “mistake.” This was also fueled by an influx of players who have been using unlock tools, which is a bannable offense. However, in a further statement given to CharlieIntel, Activision has denied these claims and has confirmed that permanent bans in Call of Duty are final and that there are “no false permanent bans.”

Activision reaffirms plans for new “premium” CoD game launching in 2023 ActivisionActivision has doubled down and reaffirmed that a new “full annual premium release” is coming to the Call of Duty franchise in fall 2023. Conflicting reports shroud Call of Duty’s future in doubt. During a Q2 earnings meeting in August 2022, Activision implied the existence of a new CoD title for 2023 by stating, “development of new premium content planned for 2023 and beyond.” CoD insider CharlieINTEL clarified premium content has equated to new titles in the past. However, it could also mean a smaller bundle of content released as DLC for Modern Warfare 2. Questions arose about who would create the next series entry. Infinity Ward developed Modern Warfare 2, and we know Treyarch is taking the helm for CoD 2024. In October 2022, CoD leaker RalphsValve claimed Sledgehammer Games is developing Advanced Warfare 2. CharlieINTEL shut down rumors of an Advanced Warfare sequel but couldn’t verify Sledgehammer’s next project. Now, Activision has reaffirmed plans for a new premium release of sorts in 2023. Activision reiterates 2023 CoD plans On February 6, Activision stated, “with 2023 plans including even more engaging live services across platforms and the next full annual premium release in the blockbuster series.” CharlieINTEL mentioned a report by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, stating, “this fall’s title would be an expansion to Modern Warfare 2 from Sledgehammer Games.” Schrier doubled down on his initial findings and said 2023’s project is “a continuation of MW2.” For 17 straight years, Activision released a new CoD title annually, cycling through Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer. Modern Warfare 2 could be the first title in series history to receive a two-year life cycle. In October 2022, Cod Leaker TheGhostofHope leaked an expansion coming to Modern Warfare 2 in 2023; a paid “greatest hits map pack” featuring classic maps from Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer’s catalog, celebrating the franchise’s 20th anniversary. Longtime CoD fans would relish the opportunity to play a remastered version of London Docks, Nuketown, Firing Range, and Fringe on Modern Warfare 2. However, all rumors must be taken with a pinch of salt, and we will provide an update when Activision sheds more light on CoD’s future.

Activision reaffirms commitment to CoD Mobile despite Microsoft’s plans to “phase it out” ActivisionMicrosft planned on phasing out CoD Mobile in favor of Warzone Mobile. However, Activision stepped forward and reassured worried fans. Microsoft has been very outspoken about its plans for Call of Duty’s future. Microsoft struck 10-year deals with Nintendo and Nvidia, potentially supplying Activision Blizzard titles to their platforms. This would open the door for players to have titles like CoD on smartphones and other devices. In August 2022, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer claimed, “The biggest gaming platform on the planet is mobile phones.” He said mobile and PC gaming sat at the forefront of Microsoft’s decision to pursue Activision Blizzard instead of CoD. So On March 8, when Microsoft claimed, “CoD Mobile is expected to be phased out over time with the launch of Warzone Mobile,” mobile gaming fans were shocked by a lack of commitment to their beloved game. CoD Mobile developers commit future to the game On March 13, Activision went against Microsoft’s initial statement, announcing its plans for the future of CoD Mobile. “We are committed to Call of Duty: Mobile as an important part of the entire Call of Duty franchise and our overall mobile strategy. We have the best fans in the world and intend to continue supporting the game with a robust roadmap of fresh new CODM content and updates for the long haul.” Activision Some community members doubted Activision’s promise. One player responded, “I mean, the deal isn’t finalized yet. Activision can say whatever they want for now.” A second user added, “Once Microsoft takes over, they don’t have to continue support for mobile. It will be their company, and Activision will have to answer to MS. For now, this is just Activision saying stuff that may not matter in the future.” Other fans remained optimistic, stating, “ok, thank god, this is a huge W,” and “long live CoD Mobile.” EU antitrust regulators confirmed a decision by March 23, 2023, whether to clear or block Microsoft’s deal. The UK CMA and US FTC also need to provide decisions as well, so we will keep you up to date when we learn more about the pending acquisition.

Activision assures Building 21 in DMZ is still free amid Modern Warfare 2 purchase bug ActivisionActivision appeared to have silently changed the rules surrounding Building 21 in Warzone 2’s DMZ mode. Where previously, anyone could access this loot-rich area, it became locked off for those who hadn’t yet purchased Modern Warfare 2 in full However, it now seems this was nothing more than an in-game error. When it comes to high-tier loot in Warzone 2’s DMZ game mode, few locations come close to rivaling Building 21. As one of the most highly regarded areas in Al Mazrah, this POI contains an abundance of supplies and in general, serves as one of the hottest combat zones on the map. Since its arrival in Season 1 Reloaded, it’s been one of the most popular fighting spots and a must-visit area for those looking to make the most of their DMZ runs. However, the rules of engagement just temporarily changed. Seemingly without any public acknowledgment in patch notes, official dev blog posts, or on social channels, Building 21 suddenly functioned differently in DMZ. Rather than being open to all players, it became inaccessible for those playing the F2P version of Warzone 2. Dexerto’s sister site CharlieIntel revealed as much on May 1, sharing that both early reports and conversations directly with Activision Support have all but locked in the news. “Infinity Ward quietly updated Building 21 in DMZ to no longer be accessible unless you purchased Modern Warfare 2,” the post read. Attaching a thread from ‘WarzoneTacMap’ on Twitter, this player shared their recent conversation with Activision Player Support. In the conversation, a representative confirmed that in order to open the door and access Building 21, you indeed must own Modern Warfare 2. Without a premium copy of the game, “only regular DMZ is available to you,” they added. Shortly after this news circulated, however, Activision broke its silence and issued a statement on the controversy. With a definitive stance, the devs at Infinity Ward clarified Building 21 is still indeed free for all players. “DMZ’s Building 21 is intended to be free to play for all Warzone 2.0 Players. We have been tracking an issue that placed components of this particular map in a Multiplayer DLC pack, resulting in it being inaccessible for Players who do not own MWII. This will be addressed in an upcoming update.” Currently, this key issue regarding Building 21 is flagged on the game’s official Trello board, though an exact ETA on the fix is yet to be made clear.

Activision provide unfortunate update on Call of Duty movie plans ActivisionThe Call of Duty movie may be added to the Hollywood kill-feed after comments by the film’s director Stefano Sollima. Sollima, who is best known for directing Sicario: Day of the Soldado, the sequel to 2015’s action thriller, made some comments about the state of the film with Italian movie site Badtaste. “We wrote the script with Scott Silver,” Sollima said, noting the screenwriter’s worker on Joker. “Let’s say that the idea of expanding the universe, the world of Call of Duty… is no longer (at the moment) an industrial priority of the group, of Activision.” According to the Italian filmmaker, the film is now in “limbo.” “Now we see,” he said, noting how many films in Hollywood end up in this state. This is unfortunate considering the talent that was on the table to bring Call of Duty to life as a feature film. Considering how Joker was critically well-received and made over a billion dollars in the box office, Silver could have provided a huge boost to the CoD film’s credibility. Sollima too was familiar with Call of Duty. In a 2018 interview with Polygon, he talked about playing the game with his kids. In fact, the director played or watched “almost everything they did in the last seven years” with the CoD franchise. During that interview, he remarked how he wanted to make a soldier film and “not a war movie” after he was finished with Call of Duty. He may be getting his wish still in his upcoming film: Without Remorse is based on the Tom Clancy novel of the same name starring Creed star Michael B. Jordan as a Navy Seal. With the success of video game movies as of late such as Tomb Raider and the newly-released Sonic movie, it will be interesting to see if Activision decide to move forward with the project or if they decide to cancel it altogether. If they do end up wanting to do the film, the plans for it probably won’t be put in motion until a few years from now at the very least, making this a stronger possibility for the second half of the decade. As always, we will continue to bring you the latest on this as more information becomes available.

Activision promise “upgraded and improved” anti-cheat to counter Warzone 2 hackers ActivisionWarzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 will have an “upgraded and improved” version of their Ricochet anti-cheat system on launch day, as complaints of cheaters in Warzone have started to rise again. Hacking has long been an issue throughout Warzone’s lifecycle, ever since it launched in March 2020. Finally, in October 2021, Activision announced the launch of Ricochet anti-cheat, with frustrated players hoping it would finally put an end to the seemingly-endless number of hackers that trawled across Verdansk and Rebirth Island at the time. While there was a marked improvement in the issue, with the number of cheaters notably decreased, it has never completely ceased to be a problem in the Call of Duty battle royale. Warzone 2 anti-cheat details With the launch of Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2, however, Activision are looking to make it even harder for cheaters to get into the game and ruin others’ enjoyment. As explained by Activision at the COD Next event, “Team RICOCHET has been working with our teams to bring an upgraded and improved anti-cheat system to Modern Warfare II, with new features and mitigations to protect the game.” For the first time, RICOCHET Anti-Cheat will launch day and date with our games at release – Team RICOCHET’s server protections and kernel-level driver are coming day one, globally for both Modern Warfare II and Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0. That’s not all Activision players have been working on to better protect players, though. On September 13, Activision confirmed that they had banned over 500,000 “toxic” accounts and renamed over 300,000, saying that they had been “scrubbing their global database” to identify and remove “toxic” users.

Activision patents reveal SBMM systems potentially used in Modern Warfare Patents filed by Call of Duty publisher Activision have potentially revealed the underpinning data tracking logic behind the rumored (and highly controversial) skill-based matchmaking, said to feature in games like Modern Warfare. Modern Warfare’s alleged use of skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) has left players competing in public matches like they were playing in an elo-based ranked playlist. With players ‘reverse boosting’ to avoid stiff competition, SBMM is proving to be an inherent issue deep-rooted within Infinity Ward’s first-person shooter. With very little in terms of developer transparency on the issue, one eagle-eyed Reddit user has delved into Activision’s patent applications to develop a deeper understanding into what the publisher is possibly doing with the plethora of data being acquired from your multiplayer experience. It should be noted at the outset, that just because these patents have been filed, it does not conclusively guarantee that they are in use in Modern Warfare — or any other Activision game for that matter. SBMM and the ‘Virtual Coaching System’ The patents potentially reveal how data tracking is used by a developer to acquire and transform your player’s activity, playstyle and more – insight that has thus far has remained elusive. The premise behind their Virtual Coaching System (VCS), mentioned in the patent, is to merge players of similar abilities into the same lobby, with the hope that player will enhance their skillset through in-game feedback. Within one of the patent applications, it states: “Stored statistics are analyzed to determine one or more of the player’s traits. Determined traits are used to determine the player’s playstyle,” which implies that more than in-game metrics (such as kill-to-death ratio) are tracked to measure player behavior. This patent was filed in April 2019, around six months prior to the release of Modern Warfare. For example, the Reddit user points out that the patent monitors player strengths/weaknesses based on (and not limited to): how player’s respond to scenarios, changes in strategy in response to scenarios, usage of weapons, etc. In short, the tracking system develops a profile of player traits to better map how players will respond versus opponents of a similar profile. Meaning that (in theory), the game’s servers place you in a lobby with players who exhibit similar tendencies. What are Activision doing with this data? According to the Reddit user, the system culminates data on basic in-game parameters (such as kills, deaths, damage per minute), all the way up to how a player navigates a map (such as movement speed and area covered). After all data is monitored, it is lumped into an algorithm that calculates “various models for different games/levels/modes/contexts of what statistics/traits are important to being successful within each playstyle.” Alongside gathering player data for the benefit of ‘player improvement,’ Activision have hinted towards eyeing the potential for matchmaking models to influence player behavior outside of the game. As stated in patent three, “Conventional systems further fail to leverage matchmaking processes in other contexts, such as influencing game-related purchases.” By this logic (and hypothetically speaking, of course), the Reddit user points out that players could be matched with individuals who have purchased in-game cosmetics in a bid to entice them to fork-out themselves. It must be reiterated, as a disclaimer, that although the patents have been filed by Activision, that doesn’t necessarily mean that all or indeed any of the features discussed have been embedded into their games. Those looking to read the Reddit post in full, can do so here. For further inspection of the details of these systems, the patents are all publicly available: Patent one: System and method for validating video gaming data Patent two: Practical application of a ‘Virtual Coaching System’ and method within the context of multiplayer video games and based upon a determined playstyle of a player Patent three: Matchmaking system and method for multiplayer video games

Warzone boosts Activision revenue figures way higher than expected ActivisionActivision’s quarterly earnings call, which took place back on May 5, was expected to yield impressive results. However, the impact of the free-to-play Warzone saw the company’s revenue leap to dizzying heights. Call of Duty is always one of Activision’s highest-earning games every year, regularly topping sales charts in the USA and Europe. Modern Warfare, for example, is the series’ all-time best-selling title in the first quarter of any year. While they’ve been criticized in the past for the volume of microtransactions and prices for DLC, Activision’s most recent investors’ call shed some light on the insane revenue the company is generating. The March 10 release of Warzone marked a shift in strategy for Activision. While annual releases have been a staple of Call of Duty, they have confirmed that Warzone will act as a ‘thread’ between different CoD titles. This means new battle royales in subsequent CoD games are less likely. Warzone boosts Activision revenue Despite being free-to-play, it looks like Warzone’s immense popularity has boosted Activision’s already monumental revenue. While predictions for the company’s Q1 revenue were at a whopping $1.32 billion, Activision announced that their total revenue came in at $1.52 billion. This is over $200 million greater than analyst predictions. One analyst has said that these earnings “completely obliterated Wall Street’s highest expectations” for Activision. The company’s earnings-per-share was double what analysts had predicted, at $0.76. Warzone is free to play and set to stay that way, but players can purchase in-game skins and cosmetics. Players are encouraged to upgrade to the full Modern Warfare game, and Activision confirmed more players than expected did this. Activision President says the amount of players who got Warzone and then upgraded to Modern Warfare was “higher” than they predicted it would be. — CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) May 5, 2020 Finally, the ongoing global situation has been cited as a reason for Activision’s incredible revenue, as more players are forced inside and encouraged to partake in socially distant activities. The March 10 release of Warzone allowed Activision to perfectly capitalize on the changes of behavior many people have been forced into. Related – The Upset That Created One of CoD’s Greatest Dynasties: The impressive first quarter has seen Activision increase their annual revenue estimates up to $6.9 billion. This would be an increase of 8% on the company’s 2019 revenue.

Activision needs more transparency with CoD’s hacking situation ActivisionBoth MW3 and Warzone are experiencing issues with cheats and hackers, and Activision can’t seem to crack down on the problem or properly explain its system for punishment. As a result, CoD players continue to suffer. Hacking has been in CoD for a long time, but it may be at its worst right now in MW3 and Warzone. Further, Activision is compounding the issue by not communicating to the community how it plans to stop it. The company’s shown a propensity for being picky when it comes to who gets banned and for what, leaving a lot of it to players reporting each other. This has led to a messy situation where not everyone who is punished deserves it, and CoD players don’t understand what is going on. The discussions about cheating and the punishment for doing so have been renewed after word about permanent bans not being appealable began to spread. Activision is adamant that no permanent ban can be undone, and that there are no such things as a “false positive” ban, meaning that a person can’t be permanently banned unless there is irrefutable proof that they are cheating. This is the first part of the problem, as it isn’t clear how the team can undeniably know that someone is cheating in CoD. Activision has not been clear about its process or what systems it uses to identify cheaters. For a long time, the process has been that players can report each other when they believe the other is using a cheat, hack, or exploit of some kind. Activision could then investigate and decide what to do with the accused. But it’s never been explained what this investigation entails or what tools get used to find proof of cheating. As one fan asks on the MW3 subreddit: “Thing is though, if they can state that bans are justified without doubt then how can they not detect the cheating as it occurs?” This is leading to hesitancy among players to even play the game, as they don’t know if they could be wrongfully reported by another player and receive this punishment. Another CoD player voiced this exact concern, saying: “I’m one of the many who recently got an offensive chat warning, even though I have had voice chat off since MW3 came out. Worried I’m gonna be perma banned for no reason one day.” The system has been wonky, as evidenced by players receiving bans even though they haven’t done anything wrong. And when they face the possibility of being permanently removed from the game, that can make a person just leave the game entirely. It also doesn’t help that Activision doesn’t seem to want to crack down as hard as it could on this issue, with a lot of talk with no results. The company repeatedly mentioned that its updating its anti-cheat and announced the mass numbers of bans being dealt to accounts, but then a CoD fan can hop into a game and still see cheats on full display. This presents a conflicting picture, and makes one question whether or not there is an active crackdown on hackers being carried out. Sure, developers can say that they’re working at it but when there’s still plenty to be seen, that sends a different message. This is leading to players just not believing what Activision is saying. One person explains their stance: “Just after the update I’ve been paired with a level 23 guy who pushed every team winning every gunfight. These bans solve the problem maybe for just 1 hour or so, then everything goes back to normal. Games full of cheaters.” Again, it’s a lack of transparency that also paints a picture of trying to appease the players looking for bans while not upsetting others. This causes CoD players to just stop caring and walk away, which is not going to help the game at all. If Activision wants to alleviate this hacking issue in CoD, it feels like something has to change. Either the publisher needs to have a different process to find these types of players, or needs to be more transparent on how the current process works.

Activision hints at more remastered games coming Activision BlizzardAfter successful remasters of several of their classic franchises were well-received by fans, Activision has said they intend to remaster and release more classics to keep the nostalgia train rolling. Activision recently released Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (2017) and the Spyro Reignited Trilogy (2018), both of which were well received by fans. In a recent earnings call on August 8, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick talked about the success of the remastered Crash and Spyro games and told fans to “stay tuned” for more remasters coming soon. What could we see get remastered next? Kotick said on the call that the response from fans to remastered games so far has encouraged the publisher to bring even more classic games back. “We have seen great results from remastering, some of these beloved games over the last couple of years,” he said. “If you look at Crash N. Sane Trilogy, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, and crash team racing. They’re all incredible games and our teams have done a really great job in modernizing for today’s platform.” “I’d say stay tuned for some future announcements,” Kotick added, “But just beyond pure remasters, there are also a lot of opportunities now to innovate and think about totally new content within these IPs.” Read More: Modern Warfare cosmetics revealed – One of Activision’s most popular Call of Duty games: Modern Warfare 2, has been rumored and wanted by fans since the PS4 and Xbox One were released – but besides some tantalizing online breadcrumbs, there is no solid info on a potential release date. Call of Duty fans may be pining for the days of chaotic lobbies, scuffed microphones and ridiculously overpowered kill streaks in Modern Warfare 2, but it looks like they’ll have to wait a while longer for any juice. What about Warcraft 3: Reforged? Another IP now under the Activision umbrella is Warcraft and Blizzard gave fans of the RTS series plenty to be excited about when they announced a remaster for WarCraft 3 at BlizzCon 2018. Since then though, fans have waited patiently to find out when they’ll be able to command the armies of Azeroth once more, but so far Blizzard hasn’t given any info on a potential release date. Blizzard definitely likes to take their time to make sure they get games exactly how they want them to be before release, so hopefully Reforged will be worth the wait. It’s clear Activision Blizzard want to keep remastering their extensive library of video game franchises, so it will be interesting to see what classic game comes back next.

Activision reveal how many Modern Warfare 2 cheaters have already been banned ActivisionCall of Duty publishers Activision have revealed how many Modern Warfare 2 cheaters have already been banned, detailing the figures in a RICOCHET anti-cheat update. Cheating in Call of Duty has been a substantial topic ever since Warzone dropped back in March 2020. The battle royale has been a resounding success for Activision, spawning a sequel that is set to drop in mid-November. However, its success was, to some degree, marred by major issues with hackers and cheaters. The response from the publishers was to launch RICOCHET anti-cheat and, ahead of Modern Warfare 2’s release, they have detailed how many cheaters have already been banned from the 2022 title. Activision reveal number of Modern Warfare 2 cheater bans In an October 13 RICOCHET update, the devs revealed their plans for the anti-cheat system moving forwards, doubling down on its capabilities to identify, isolate and ban those seeking to manipulate the game for their own gain. They also detailed how many accounts have already been banned from MW2, despite the game not even being released yet. Speaking about the recent multiplayer Beta, Activision confirmed that over 60,000 “illicit accounts” were banned ahead of it going live. During the Beta’s live period itself, over 20,000 bans were issued. They also stated that 72% of cheaters were banned prior to being able to actually cheat in-game, while those who did manage to cheat in-game were generally banned quickly: “For those that were able to play normally (assuming every match they played included the use of cheats), our systems were able to detect and remove them from our ecosystem – on average – within five matches played.” Given how problematic cheaters have been in CoD across the last few years, many were pleased to see rapid progress made against those trying to play unfairly. The developers finished their statement by promising “more protection such as better detection capabilities, additional access to develop and deploy new mitigation techniques, and expanded freedom to update our security more frequently than ever before.” Fingers crossed their efforts continue to be felt in-game. Modern Warfare 2 drops on October 28, with Warzone 2.0 launching a couple of weeks later.

Activision is making another “AAA mobile game” to add to CoD Mobile franchise ActivisionActivision has launched a brand new in-house studio centered around mobile development. As its first major project, the team that’s currently forming is set to work on a new ‘AAA mobile title’ in the Call of Duty franchise. Mobile gaming is on the rise around the globe and Western publishers are now paying more attention to this growing sector of the industry than ever before. As one of the biggest gaming juggernauts out there, Activision has already been ahead of the curve in expanding its IP across the handheld community. From Diablo Immortal to the immensely successful CoD Mobile, many of its most popular franchises have already landed on mobile devices. Up until now, however, these projects have been led by Chinese studios external to the Activision Blizzard umbrella. NetEase is largely responsible for the new Diablo entry while TiMi Studios developed and released CoD Mobile. Moving forward, the United States-based company appears eager to create new handheld titles themselves. A new Activision Mobile studio has been unveiled and its first project is an all-new CoD game to partner Call of Duty Mobile. Spotted on the Activision careers hub, the renowned developers are hiring for a Mobile Producer role. In this new environment at the Santa Monica headquarters, devs will be taking responsibility for the first in-house mobile game. “Our first project is a new AAA mobile title in the Call of Duty franchise,” the job listing revealed. It’s still early days yet, so it’s unclear what this new game might look like. It is clear, however, that it will be a separate entity from CoD Mobile. This new team will not only be focusing on AAA development but also assisting with “live operations” for CoD Mobile as well. Indicating no plans to have this new project replace the already popular handheld title. Read More: $2m CoD Mobile World Championship announced – Early development has only just begun as the new team begins to form in California. As a result, there’s no telling just how far off we might be from its eventual release — it won’t be in 2021, we’d say. Activision reportedly raked in $2.28 billion throughout the first quarter of 2021 alone. Now more than ever, the CoD franchise is helping to boost earnings through new seasonal structures and microtransaction models. With more than 500 million downloads of CoD Mobile to date, it’s no surprise that a complementary title is now in development. We’ll keep you posted right here as any further information comes to light on the new mobile title.

Activision loses 50m players in a year with Warzone decline & Vanguard disappointment ActivisionActivision has reported that its active monthly playerbase dropped by 50 million in just a year, citing issues with Call of Duty: Vanguard and Warzone as contributing factors to the tremendous downturn. On March 31, 2021, Activision was reporting around 150 million active monthly users, which was predominantly earned through their Call of Duty titles, including free-to-play battle royale Warzone, which took over after being released in March 2020. In each quarter since then, however, the number has dropped significantly, to the point that just a year later, they only have 100 million active monthly users, dropping by over 30% year-on-year. This is in contrast to the other publishers under the same umbrella, with Blizzard and King showing very minor drops in active monthly users. Activision has seen a decline in monthly active users over the last year. The company relates Vanguard’s lower sales, which also lead to lower engagement on Warzone, along with more people going out with pandemic restrictions lifting over the last year as causes. pic.twitter.com/elVOKBRZiy — CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) April 25, 2022 Activision cites Warzone & Vanguard as reasons for drop While Activision does publish other titles, they attribute these drops in numbers to both Vanguard, the current mainline Call of Duty game, and the decreasing interest in Warzone. As explained in their Q1 2022 financial results, Activision reps said: “Call of Duty net bookings on console and PC declined year-over-year in the first quarter, reflecting lower premium sales for Call of Duty: Vanguard versus the year ago title and lower engagement in Call of Duty: Warzone.” While worded carefully, the message is clear: Activision has lost a large percentage of their playerbase due to lower sales of Vanguard and a depleting engagement in Warzone. With leaks and reports slowly starting to come out about Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2, both due to arrive in 2022/23, it will be interesting to see whether this number turns back in the right direction for Activision.

Deleted Activision job listing reveals Call of Duty “CoD 2.0” subscription plans ActivisionActivision appears to be preparing for the release of a Call of Duty subscription model, following the likes of Fortnite Battle Royale, GTA, and World of Warcraft. Just days after Rockstar Games launched their new GTA+ service, a job listing from Activision is advertised a “stellar” opportunity for a Manager of Influencer Marketing. The role, which was posted to their official Careers page this March, is looking for somebody based in Santa Monica or the Los Angeles area, more broadly. The job listing has since been deleted, as of March 29, 2022. Call of Duty 2.0 service revealed in job advert At a glance, it may appear to be a position as part of the wider machine, but some of the wording will be of interest to Call of Duty players. It stated: “2022 is a stellar opportunity for Call of Duty (CoD), with an extraordinary line up of innovations in curated player experiences, multi-platform game play, subscription-based content, mobile game development, and a move to always on community and player connectivity. “We call this ‘CoD 2.0’. And in the CoD 2.0 era, this leader will extend the CoD brand authentically in ways that engage core audiences and ignite and excite new ones; they will add cultural fuel to CoD marketing overall; they will extend and add meaning to CoD creative ideas.”

Activision issuing “hardware bans” for Warzone cheaters caught multiple times ActivisionOutside of the usual account bans, Activision has confirmed that Warzone cheaters are now being locked out of the game thanks to more stringent “hardware bans”, in a bid to find a permanent solution. With hackers having been a top issue in Warzone throughout its first year, Activision has held true on its promise to finally crackdown in 2021. As the weeks go by, Raven Software continues to provide new insight on just how many accounts have been banned. At this stage, more than 475,000 Warzone accounts have been blocked from accessing the title. However, players often highlight one key issue with this approach. Given the free-to-play nature of the battle royale, fresh accounts can be remade time and time again. In order to put a stop to this, harsher punishments are required and an April 12 blog post confirmed Activision is following through: hardware bans are now being handed out for repeat offenders in Warzone. https://twitter.com/CallofDuty/status/1382031333996777472 “We do issue hardware bans against repeat, or serial, cheaters,” Call of Duty staff outlined. “This is an important part of our effort to combat repeat offenders.” In the past, hackers could simply hop over to a new account and continue their cheating ways. Some even had dozens of accounts ready to go in the case one or two were shot down. Now, that’s a thing of the past thanks to hardware bans. If hackers are hit with this harsher penalty, they’ll be completely locked out of Warzone. Making a new profile simply won’t do the trick anymore. Read More: How to fix Warzone “checking for update” bug – These hardware bans are now part of Activision’s daily enforcement. Outside of the regular weekly updates and mass ban waves, daily measures appear to be wiping more and more cheaters from the game. This obviously won’t rid the game of pesky accounts overnight. However, it should help deter more cheaters than ever before. You can stay up to date on Activision’s progress right here as we track the total number of account bans.

Activision hints at possibility of OWL franchising coming to CWL The CWL has undergone many changes since its inception in 2016, but the league could soon be taking a page out of the Overwatch League’s book with a brand-new format. With many leagues throughout esports adopting the franchise model, many have speculated that the model would be on its way to the CWL before long. During Activision Blizzard’s Third Quarter Results call on November 8, the publisher addressed the topic and gave credence to the idea of eventual changes to the CWL. It was confirmed during the call that Activision is “actively” working on ways to adopt the OWL system to Call of Duty esports. Activision says they are “actively” working to see how to apply Overwatch League’s system to Call of Duty esports. No announcements today on what that means for the future. — Call of Duty News • charlieINTEL.com (@charlieINTEL) November 8, 2018 In the Overwatch League, instead of having teams move in and out of the main League, each team receives a franchise spot that it’s allowed to retain regardless of performance. This is in stark contrast to what is currently seen in the CWL, as only a certain amount of teams gain access to the Pro League during each season. The CWL also has the additional inclusion of Open events that extend the season and allow hundreds of teams the chance to compete. Activision’s statements during the Results Call give fuel to reports from Richard Lewis and other sources that franchising is indeed coming to the CWL and that franchises already in the Overwatch League will receive first bids on CWL spots. In addition to adopting the franchise model, Activision could be looking to bring a new format to the CWL schedule to bring it more in line with what’s seen in the Overwatch League. Currently, the CWL Pro League will feature a single 12-week season that culminates with the Pro League Finals in 2019. Teams will also compete at various Open events throughout the season before ending things at the Call of Duty World Championships. On the other hand, the OWL features divisions that each team competes in, distinct stages of competition, and a single playoff that closes out the season. Activision made it clear that no announcements would be made on the matter just yet, but given that it’s being actively discussed points to this becoming a reality sooner rather than later. The Black Ops 4 CWL season officially kicked off with last weekend’s first 2K tournaments, with the first Open event set to begin on December 7 in Las Vegas.

Activision hints at new premium Call of Duty game for 2023 ActivisionActivision has hinted at a new Premium Call of Duty game in 2023 during its Q2 earnings meeting. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 releases on Friday, October 28, 2022. A Bloomberg report in February revealed that Activision planned to delay 2023’s annual CoD title. It would be the first time without an annual release in nearly two decades. the community is overwhelmingly in favor of delaying the 2023 Treyarch title. According to a February Poll by CharlieINTEL, 92% of almost 20,000 votes supported a delay of CoD 2023. Battlefield adopted a model of releasing games two or three years apart, granting developers more time to support each game. Two years of MW2 would allow the developers to flesh out the title entirely. However, based on a statement in Activision’s Q2 2022 earnings press release, the company may decide to release a new Call of Duty game in 2023. Activision hints at a possible 2023 CoD title CharlieINTEL tweeted the findings and said, “the company seems to imply that there will be a new premium Call of Duty in 2023.” Activision stated, “Across the Call of Duty ecosystem, the teams are well positioned to support these launches with substantial live operations while also continuing development of new premium content planned for 2023 and beyond.” CharlieINTEL clarified that in the past, premium equated to full-paid games. One leaker, Hope, proposed it could be an Activision standalone project coming in 2023. People in the community initially thought that Activision might release a DMZ standalone mode, but Tom Henderson reported that DMZ isn’t a F2P title launching in 2023. Instead, the mode supposedly ties into MW2. We will provide an update if Activision provides more details surrounding the statement.

Activision hint at next Call of Duty and tease new remasters on the way ActivisionThroughout a February 6 earnings call, Activision commented on the next Call of Duty title set to release in 2020 and also teased a number of remasters could be in the works. It’s no surprise that a new Call of Duty title is set to release in 2020 following on from Infinity Ward’s launch of Modern Warfare in 2019. Yet throughout a recent earnings call, also Activision shed new light on a few other plans for the calendar year, and unveiled new details regarding other titles that could be arriving in the juggernaut FPS franchise. While it’s a given at this point a new Call of Duty title will be released in the fourth quarter of each year, Activision confirmed in the earnings call that the next entry in the series will indeed follow suit. No other information regarding the upcoming entry was disclosed throughout the conversation, but that confirms there is no official developer that has been attached to the upcoming 2020 fourth-quarter release just yet. Typically operating on a three-year development cycle, Call of Duty projects alternate between Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games, and Treyarch. Infinity Ward launched Modern Warfare in 2019, which eliminates them from the new release, but there has been no clear indication from Activision in regards to whether the next iteration will be helmed by Treyarch or Sledgehammer. Additionally, Activision hinted that a number of ‘remastered’ and ‘reimagined’ titles are set to be revealed later in the year. While this could indicate that beloved Call of Duty titles of the past are being remade for the next generation of console hardware, the publisher did not explicitly state the Call of Duty franchise would be the focus of these new projects. Only time will tell if a Modern Warfare 2 or Black Ops remaster is on the way. Given the rerelease of Modern Warfare in 2016 however, it could be a safe assumption that at least one CoD specific remaster is in the works. With the next Modern Warfare season beginning next week, Activision highlighted impressive sales for the title and teased new surprises could be on the way. Leaks have pointed to a potential battle royale mode being introduced. Perhaps that’s the next big surprise coming to Modern Warfare in the near future.

Activision hint at possible change to Call of Duty League’s annual cycle ActivisionActivision have hinted at possible changes coming to the annual Call of Duty League cycle in the future. As with the regular Call of Duty cycle, the CoD esports scene switches to the latest CoD game each year. So, while the 2020 season saw pro players on Modern Warfare, they’re now on Black Ops Cold War. For a long time, some competitive fans have been calling for more longevity in the games being played, akin to more popular esport titles like League of Legends or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. A longer life cycle allows games to develop and players to truly master what they’re playing. Even now in the aforementioned games, we see new strategies play out and evolve the game to the next level. Obviously, for esport purists, an annual life cycle is perceived to be detrimental to a title’s competitive scene — and it looks like these conversations might be occurring at Activision, too, in regards to the CDL. In an interview with Inverse, Activision Blizzard CRO Brandon Snow was asked about the annual cycle, and gave a response that will definitely raise some eyebrows. “If you’re asking if we’ll play Cold War for four years, possibly; If it made sense for us, the player base supported it, and viewership supported it,” he said. “We’ve been shifting our esports based on the latest title to keep it as relevant as possible. But could there be a world where we stick with a title for multiple years? We’re not sold on any specific strategy there.” While this isn’t confirmation of anything, it definitely suggests that there’s a possibility that the annual cycle is dropped entirely for the CDL. Whether it happens this year or sometime in the future is impossible to tell; as Snow himself says, they’re not sold on any specific strategy yet. But it’s very telling that the idea wasn’t shut down completely. Elsewhere in the interview, Snow discussed the possibility of Fortnite-like live events coming to Warzone, and how the battle royale title can be integrated into the esports scene. Needless to say, there could be some huge changes coming to the future of Call of Duty, but we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Activision Blizzard head of esports Johanna Faries named general manager of Call of Duty franchise Activision BlizzardJohanna Faries continues to earn responsibility within Activision Blizzard, as the former NFL executive has been announced as Call of Duty’s franchise general manager alongside her duties as esports commissioner. After nearly 12 years with the NFL as an executive focused on marketing and club development, Faries joined Activision as the Call of Duty League’s commissioner in August 2018. Then, in October 2020, she was promoted to Activision head of esports — overseeing both the CDL and the Overwatch League. Now, Faries continues to earn greater responsibilities amidst Activision’s properties, being named as CoD’s general manager on April 23, 2021. In this role, she will be taking on a more active presence working with the game franchise that she also manages on an esports level. In a statement to GameInformer’s Daniel Tack, Faries elaborated on her motivations for CoD moving forward: “I can’t wait to help usher the franchise into its next chapter, and to continue to unlock the power that Call of Duty holds for the future of competitive entertainment.” Following mentions of possible integration between CoD’s battle royale, Warzone, and the CDL’s competitive structure — this new role bears interesting potential for the game’s future. Many have beckoned for stronger ties between CoD and its esport scene, so, at face value, this may be a step in that synchronized direction.

Activision haven’t ruled out cross-play for Call of Duty and other titles Activision, the publishing company behind the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, put out a statement on the possibility of cross play between consoles in some of their games going forward. Yesterday, Sony announced it would begin to support cross-platform play between the Playstation 4 and other consoles, and that Fortnite would be the first game to test out this new service. Responding to questions from IGN, a spokesperson for Activision said the company was “watching the upcoming test and will assess what the potential impact of this feature would be for our players and our games.” A long way from confirming anything, Activision, which includes Blizzard Entertainment, did leave the door open to the possibility that their popular franchises, like Call of Duty and Overwatch, could eventually see cross platform play. Read More: PlayStation announce cross-play and cross progression for Fortnite on PS4 with all other platforms – It’s unlikely cross play will ever be featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 when it comes out on October 12. “There’s still a lot of work to do on both our side and the platform side to understand whether cross-play might be integrated into our other games,” the spokesperson shared. However Blackout, the new battle royale mode in CoD, could be another story, since it will be an ever-evolving game mode that could be present in CoD beyond just this year. The mode’s recent beta was very well received and produced a lot of hype in the community, and a cross play announcement would certainly take things to whole new level.

Activision has reportedly sold AI-created skins to Call of Duty players ActivisionActivision has sold AI-generated skins to Modern Warfare 3 players, according to a report that claims many game devs are being forced to use AI tools to aid in their workflow. WIRED has published an investigation into how the biggest game developers like Activision Blizzard and Riot Games are integrating the use of generative AI into their game development pipelines. According to the report, Activision Blizzard started the process of using AI in their games in early 2023, and by July of that year they had secured access to GPT-3.5 and “approved the use of certain generative AI tools in creating concept art and marketing materials”. By late 2023, Activision had reportedly sold an AI-generated cosmetic through Modern Warfare 3’s in-game store. Although WIRED did not explicitly convey which cosmetic bundle was created with the help of AI, they provided a link to the Yokai’s Wrath bundle, insinuating this is the design in question. The Yokai’s Wrath Operator bundle was released in December 2023 as an in-store bundle that players could purchase. It retailed for 1,500 CoD Points, which is roughly equivalent to $15. It’s unknown which part of the bundle used generative AI in its conception, as it comes with an Operator skin, a weapon Blueprint, a Calling Card, a Weapon sticker, and a loading screen. It’s also unknown if Activision has released any other cosmetics using AI art. According to WIRED, CoD’s developers were approved to use generative AI programs like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion when producing AI art. Just over a month after the bundle was released, Microsoft laid off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees. According to an Activision employee WIRED spoke to, remaining concept artists were “forced to use AI to aid in their work”. Riot Games was also implicated in the investigation, reportedly experimenting on an in-house generative AI, however, it supposedly never gained “traction internally”. Activision Blizzard has yet to comment on the report.

Activision forces LA Thieves to take down Call of Duty League card opening video YouTube: LA Thieves / ActivisionThe Los Angeles Thieves posted a lighthearted YouTube video on May 27 where their players opened custom-made Call of Duty League trading card packs. Just 24 hours later, all traces of the content have now been removed. No different from most other CDL teams, the LA Thieves are constantly pushing out original content on their social platforms. From reaction videos to power rankings and regular behind-the-scenes interviews, there’s at least one new piece of content on YouTube every week. For the latest upload, the popular franchise gathered its players to open CDL trading card packs in a similar vein to Pokemon Box Breaks. These cards were made for the video by prominent community designer ‘vLionMan’ of BreakingPoint. A mere 24 hours after the video went live, it has since been taken down. All traces of the content across social media have also been removed. “The vid got taken down, very cool,” the designer shared on Twitter a day after announcing his collaboration with the LA Thieves. The content was originally set to unlisted on YouTube but has since been erased altogether. On top of that, official LA Thieves social accounts have removed all traces of promotional material for the video. As to why it was all taken down, initial speculation pointed towards Activision’s partnership with Upper Deck. The trading card company previously released packs for the Overwatch League and recent leaks suggested official Call of Duty League packs weren’t far off either. “Maybe something to do with the Upper Deck thing,” a fan said in response. “Yep,” vLionMan confirmed. “Takes my content and then silences mine. Bold.” It’s evident a lot of effort went into this week’s LA Thieves video. For the time being, there’s no telling if the work will ever see the light of day again. Due to Activision’s partnership with Upper Deck, any similar creations may be seen as direct competition. The CDL is yet to officially announce the existence of any upcoming trading cards, however. Dexerto has reached out to both Activision and LA Thieves for further comments.

Warzone devs reiterate promise to fix cheating and “improvements” to anti-cheat ActivisionWarzone has reiterated its promises to players to overcome the game’s hacking issues and make significant “improvements” to its anti-cheat system. Warzone’s first year has been an unmitigated success, with millions of players around the world dropping into Verdansk and enjoying CoD’s second attempt at a battle royale, after Black Ops 4’s Blackout. However, certain aspects of the game have become common targets for criticism. The strength of skill-based matchmaking and the prominence of hackers in games of all standards have been incredibly frustrating for fans. What has worsened both issues, though, is the lack of a tangible response from Activision. Players have been incredibly frustrated by the silence from the billion-dollar company, which they argue has more than sufficient resources to solve the cheating issue and implement a robust anti-cheat system. While there has still been no major public announcement – from a Twitter account or senior staff member – an in-game daily message that was originally from April has resurfaced, being displayed to players once again. The message, highlighted by Redditor ‘SSMKh’, is titled “Cheaters Not Welcome”. The player’s own caption of “Are you sure about that Activision?” tells us much about the scepticism and frustrations among the community. “We work aggressively to keep Warzone fun and fair,” the in-game communication says. “24/7 security monitoring, ALL possible cheats, hacks reviewed, Planned improvements to in-game cheat reporting, 50,000+ global perma-bans to date, More updates coming soon.” The message is originally from April of 2020, but appears to be being shown to players in game in January of 2021. It goes some way to explain why the number of permabans stated in the message is so low. It’s unclear whether messages of the day are chosen specifically or on some kind of automatic rotation. With Activision’s inactivity already under scrutiny, the reiteration of a 7 month old message seems all the more bizarre. We’d like to think that the number of permabans is now far higher, especially given the incredible amounts of people who have dropped into Verdansk. The re-statement of improvements coming will be welcome, but the sceptical responses make clear that many believe the issue has already got out of hand, and been allowed to go on for far too long.

Activision finally respond to CoD Modern Warfare 3 remaster rumors Activision / Infinity WardFor a while now fans have been speculating that there will be a remake of the classic Modern Warfare 3. Activision have confirmed to Charlie Intel that a remastered version of MW3 doesn’t exist. People started to hear rumors of the Remastered MW3 after Modern Warfare 2 saw a remastered version of its campaign released. These rumors came earlier this year in March, when CoD leaker ‘TheGamingRevolution’ claimed that Modern Warfare 3 was confirmed to be in development to be remastered. Although there was no confirmation from Activision about these rumors that didn’t stop the community from digging deeper to try and unveil secrets to the community. Another leak came from a known Call of Duty leaker ‘MW2 Ghost’ and reported back in May that they were told the MW3 campaign was definitely getting remastered and coming later in the year. Was told that MW3 Campaign remastered is definitely coming this year, and should be coming Q2 which is the original plan, one month exclusive to PlayStation — MW2 OG (@TheMW2Ghost) May 2, 2021 Rumors of Modern Warfare 3 Remastered shut down Activision has come forward to set everyone straight on the rumors that are floating around MW3. An Activision spokesperson said in a statement released to Charlie INTEL that, “A remaster of Modern Warfare 3, campaign or multiplayer, does not exist. Any reports otherwise are incorrect.” This sets the record straight and despite any rumors or fan’s hopes of a possible rework of MW3 the company has said there will not be one. Previously there have only been 2 CoDs remastered, which were the Modern Warfare 2 Campaign and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare which saw a full rework from campaign to multiplayer. There have been no other announcements from Activision regarding future plans to remaster any previous titles. For now players are expected to see a new title every year with an integration to CoD Warzone, the company’s popular Battle Royale game.

Activision finally clamp down on Warzone hacked account sellers ActivisionActivision has reportedly introduced fresh security measures to tackle the sale of hacked Call of Duty Warzone accounts, which could be a major win for players. Raven Software, which works on Warzone, have announced some really positive changes to the game in recent times, to help prevent hackers from appearing in the popular battle royale game. In August alone, following a mass boycott of the title ahead of Season 5, they have introduced a new feature that shows you if cheaters have been banned in your session and tweaked the way ban waves work – targeting spoofers. Following on from that, a report from VICE‘s gaming division opens up on further measures being taken by Activision, this time to stop hacked accounts at the source. The company has reportedly introduced an improved “captcha” system, which targets spoofers. According to the report, it also allows devs to track down hacked accounts easier, leading to more immediate bans. Hacked Warzone accounts are now “sold out” For those who are not aware, there has been a black market of sorts where people have been selling hacked Warzone accounts operating beneath the surface. Some of these have been known to sell for $2,000, according to VICE. These hacked accounts have all content unlocked, meaning the player doesn’t have to grind their way through weapon levels. Unlocked content can include weapons, skins, camos, and Operators – all available via hacked accounts. Activision have since clamped down on the issue, with several online markets now claiming to be “sold out.” However, Discord messages revealed in the report say different. “Since accounts are in short supply due to security measures changing, we’ll now be offering a variety of unlock services. In short, we can help you unlock pretty much anything in [Modern Warfare / Cold War],” read a message in the Discord, reviewed by VICE. Another Discord admin wrote a message saying, “I wish I got any good news, so far none 🙂 [Call of Duty] market is pretty much f**ked in terms of lobbies and accounts.” Read More: Best Milano 821 Warzone class loadout – When asked about whether or not stocks will be returning soon, for hacked accounts, one admin replied: “Never.” With fewer hacked accounts on the market and an improved captcha system to ban cheaters in a speedier fashion, it looks like a series of serious anti-cheat measures are already having a big impact on Warzone. Many fans will hope it stays that way, too.

Activision finally adds CDL Moshpit and fans are ecstatic ActivisionThe CDL Moshpit playlist is finally live in Modern Warfare 2, scratching a long-overdue itch for competitive fans. The CoD esports season started turbulently, to say the least. The CDL maps changed dramatically after massive backlash from pros, and private match issues made it a headache for pros to practice. Issues also plagued competitive fans. Activision developed a CDL Moshpit playlist to help bridge the gap for players before Ranked play launches in 2023, but the mode was delayed. The Moshpit playlist features the same map pool, game modes, and ruleset as Ranked Play without an official ELO system. Players can start officially earning ELO points when Ranked Play launches in 2023. Finally, after a two-week delay, Activision released the Moshpit playlist, perfectly coinciding with the start of the 2023 CDL season. The CDL Major 1 qualifiers begin on December 2, and what better way to celebrate the occasion than playing the CDL Moshpit playlist with friends? Treyarch confirmed on December 1 that the Moshpit playlist is live in MW2. The developers noted that the Moshpit and CDL Private matches share loadouts. “We recommend players create their preferred loadouts in a CDL Private Match lobby.” So what makes CDL Moshpit different from standard quick play? as part of the CDL ruleset, all shotguns, LMGs, Battle Rifles, and Marksman Rifles are banned. Not to mention a long list of equipment and perks are banned as well. Games are 4v4 instead of 6v6, and the only three supported modes include Hardpoint, Search and Destroy, and Control. Lastly, the ruleset cuts out a few maps from the rotation. Fans were over the moon after seeing the announcement. One user commented, “such an enormous W from Treyarch.” A second player added, “W move. Thanks, crew. The weekend just got busy.”

Activision explains why they’re not remastering MW2 multiplayer ActivisionActivision have plans to include more maps from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 into the latest installment of the franchise instead of a direct remaster of 2009’s multiplayer mode. The publishers for the legendary CoD series were quick to address any potential concerns that could arise after the surprise release of MW2’s remastered campaign on March 31, which didn’t include a polished version of the renowned multiplayer component. “Starting today, players can relive one of the most hallowed and talked-about story campaigns in gaming history with Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered,” Activision said in a Games Blog. Though their plans don’t extend to a revamped multiplayer mode, MW2 fans shouldn’t give up all hope to see spruced-up versions of popular maps. “Beginning with Modern Warfare last year, the focus has been to bring players together seamlessly in one unified online multiplayer playground,” according to Activision. Activision subsidiary and Canadian studios, Beenox, were the force behind the remastered version of MW2’s campaign that is now available on PS4 for about $20. Meanwhile, Infinity Ward and Activision could have something else in store for the release of the title’s beloved maps. The developers will continue with their intentions of bringing “more classic map experiences to new life within the [Modern Warfare 2019] universe.” Their approach, so far, has resurrected popular maps like Rust, Shipment, Crash, and Vacant into the 2019 title’s multiplayer. At the same time, various classic settings have also been repurposed as locations in the recently-released Warzone battle royale. It isn’t a stretch to imagine that IW will be exploring which additional MW2 maps to directly remaster into Modern Warfare’s multiplayer and new expansions of Warzone’s immense battlefield. The Games Blog suggests the devs will be integrating elements from MW2 into 2019’s release “rather than release a separate, multiplayer experience as a standalone pack.” Activision even mentioned MW2’s Special Ops, a mode where four players form a strike-team to complete multi-phased objectives, which are also not included in the Campaign Remastered. It’s unclear if developers plan to bring back missions from 2009 in 2019’s mode, but a venture like that would be on track for the Special Ops April 30 release on Xbox One and PC.

Activision explain meaning behind Call of Duty League logo Activision BlizzardActivision Blizzard have officially confirmed the branding for Call of Duty League in the 2020 season and it features a brand new logo, which they have now explained the meaning behind. The announcement of the much-anticipated Call of Duty League has finally arrived, with twelve city-based teams confirmed to kick off the 2020 season on Modern Warfare. As part of the October 9 announcement, Activision also revealed their new branding for the upcoming Call of Duty League and explained the meaning behind their new logo. “The Call of Duty League’s logo is made up of three elements, each representing critical levels of its competitive structure.” Activision explained, highlighting each aspect of the new logo, “together, these levels create an aspirational staircase that culminates with the height of elite skill: the professional tier.” The first layer of the logo was dedicated to the pro players who make up each of the teams in the league. “The apex of the logo represents professional players from around the world who compete on city-based teams for the Call of Duty League Championship. Pro players are the lifeblood of the league and embody the greatest skill, strategy, and competitive excellence.” The second step was focused on the aspiring players within the amateur system, highlighting those that will be competing at the open bracket events in the 2020 season in their path to pro. “The second level of the logo represents the league’s amateur system, where aspiring players who seek to “go pro” can compete for dedicated prize pools. The amateur system will resemble the professional system’s gameplay and will feature both online and LAN (Local Area Network) open bracket events throughout the year.” And finally, the third layer is a representation of the fan community around competitive Call of Duty, who have shown incredible support in recent years for all of the teams and players competing. “The third and foundational level represents the Call of Duty League fan community, whose incredible passion for the game and desire to connect and compete in dynamic ways makes the Call of Duty League experience truly unique.” It was also revealed that more details on the upcoming league, including the competitive structure and events for the Modern Warfare season, would be shared in late October.

Activision exec responds to rumors that Warzone will get live events like Fortnite Activision/Epic GamesActivision Blizzard CRO Brandon Snow has responded to the neverending rumors of Fortnite-like live events coming to Warzone. In the eyes of many, Epic Games’ battle royale phenomenon Fortnite paved the way for the future of gaming. One big factor in that was the live events that brought in new seasons, with players able to drop in on the island and watch the map fall apart. This has also been bolstered by live concerts from the likes of Marshmello and Travis Scott, making Fortnite as much a social and entertainment platform as it is a video game. For a long time, players have been wanting to see the same from Warzone, but not to much avail. Now, we’ve got a little more clarity on the situation. In an interview with Inverse, Activision Blizzard’s Chief Revenue Officer Brandon Snow was asked about the possibility of live events hitting Verdansk. As well as discussing the idea of Warzone as an esport, here’s what Snow had to say about live events possibly coming to the game: “We certainly see Warzone as a very large ecosystem that can continue to engage players and provide places and spaces for people to gather.” He continued: “In the upcoming seasons, you’re going to see some really cool new stuff that Warzone has never done before. It’ll be really exciting and done in a Call of Duty way.” While this isn’t strictly a direct answer to the question, Snow did go on to say that “Only Warzone could do things that we have planned in upcoming seasons.” Although it doesn’t promise live events, this certainly points towards something exciting coming to the game. Read More: Top 20 highest earning Warzone players – There could be far more development for Warzone down the line, too, with Snow saying they “see an opportunity for Warzone to play a part of our esports product… We plan to bring that to the table pretty soon.” While Snow is remaining tight-lipped on the future of Warzone and the possibility of live events within the game, there definitely seems to be a lot for players to look forward to.

Activision discovers destructive malware hidden in Warzone hacks ActivisionActivision has revealed a piece of malware circulating right now, which the publisher says was “masquerading” as Warzone cheating software, which had the ability to install a “more destructive” program without the user knowing it. At this point, it’s abundantly clear how connected Warzone and hackers/cheaters are. Pretty much ever since the game launched, hackers and cheaters have been extremely prevalent in the first-person battle royale, primarily on PC. While these hacks generally give people who use them unfair advantages like aimbots, it now seems like at least one cheat that’s been circulating includes another feature: full-blown malware. According to a brand-new report by Activision, as originally reported by VICE, a “cheat” has been circulating through the PC community right now, which actually includes a piece of malware called a “dropper.” While this phishing software, which is called “COD Dropper v0.1“, doesn’t actually include anything destructive in-and-of itself, it installs other malware, which does the main damage. The types of software that the dropper in question can install is “customizable” according to the report but one specific example Activision uses is “credential stealing malware.” According to the report by Activision, this cheat has been around since at least April 2020, only a month after the game was originally released to the world, and has been spreading through the community ever since. This means that it’s been spreading for around a full year, as of March 2021. The report also says that this dropper has actually been advertised and that there are multiple YouTube videos online showing how one can install it, just lending more evidence to the fact that it’s been circulating for a while. Currently, it’s unknown the current state of the hack itself. Activision’s report says the cheat was most recently posted on a forum at the beginning of March 2021 so it sounds like it’s still around to some extent. Here’s hoping that it’s not as widely as distributed as it was before and that there’s an easy solution for those who already have it installed.

Activision disables Modern Warfare 2 family sharing feature on Steam without warning Activsion/SteamActivision has removed the Steam family sharing feature for Modern Warfare 2 without notice just three days after the game made its debut on the service. The move has quickly caused a big uproar throughout the CoD community. Despite only having landed on Steam three days ago, Modern Warfare 2‘s family sharing feature has already been disabled. Call of Duty developer Activision switched off the popular option on Steam for Modern Warfare 2 without notice, leaving fans extremely frustrated. While the change was made without notice, it is believed that it was switched off on October 31, according to SteamDB. For any families or housemates who utilize the family sharing feature on a daily basis, this will no longer be possible. First properly established back in 2014, Steam’s family sharing feature allows different computer users to have their own saved games, achievements, and more on a single digital copy of a game. In essence, it means a household only needs one copy of a game rather than each person having to pay full price for a separate copy to play on their own devices. The family sharing FAQ does state that “due to technical limitations, some Steam games may be unavailable for sharing.” However, given MW2 was originally compatible, gamers are now taking to Reddit to express their disappointment at the sudden backflip on the feature. “I feel like this was done on purpose. You already put in two hours of gameplay so now you can’t get a refund,” wrote on Reddit user. “If game share was not allowed from the beginning I would have bought it on console instead and the family would have had fun.” And while some are hopeful that Activision will “revert” the decision, others are less optimistic. Meanwhile, another user in the same thread wrote that, “I own the game on Steam and I work, I can’t play as much as my younger cousin can and neither of us want to play on the same account cause we got our own level, classes, friends, etc,” adding that, “this is just pure stupid, this works on PlayStation and Xbox why not on Steam?” Activision is yet to comment on the surprise removal of MW2 Steam family sharing. However, We’ll be sure to keep you updated if and when they do.

Activision confirms new Black Ops Cold War & Warzone Season 5 release date ActivisionBlack Ops Cold War and Warzone Season 5 was set to go live on August 12, but its launch has been slightly delayed. Activision have now confirmed when the Season 5 update should be rolling out. Update: August 11 Activision have revealed the new release date for Warzone Season 5, as well as BOCW, which is now slated for an August 13 release. Of course, depending on time zones, players can start to downloading the BOCW & Warzone Season 5 patch starting Aug 12 9pm PST / Aug 13 12am EST / 5am BST. We’re giving everyone an extra day to unlock tier 100… but can you get there? Season 5 is now launching Thursday 8/12 at 9 PM PT. pic.twitter.com/tE8NhlnYm9 — Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) August 11, 2021 That’s nearly a 24-hour delay of when players expected the patch, but can still go into the weekend with a whole new season’s worth of content to explore. The original story follows below… In line with previous seasonal updates, the latest CoD patch was initially locked in for Thursday, August 12 with Season 5 going live across Cold War and Warzone. Hours out from the regular Cold War patch notes, however, and a delay now appears to be imminent. Despite the initial target, no solid release date appears to be set in stone at the time of writing. The reason behind this potential delay also remains a mystery, though players began noticing some peculiarities ahead of any official announcement. Early messaging across social media assured August 12 was the intended date. Though before long, the official CoD website changed to a vague message hinting at a release later ‘this week.’ For PlayStation users specifically, seasonal patches often allow for pre-downloads of the sizable update files. This time around, the preload dates have already shifted three times, with no end in sight. Obviously, new seasons bring the meatiest updates every few months so there are a ton of moving parts. From fresh map changes to additional weapons and of course, a new Battle Pass, the Season 5 update comes packing the typical assortment of new content. If any single element is causing issues under the surface, it could have led to this uncharacteristic delay. Without any clarification from the developers though, the state of the Season 5 rollout remains unclear. At the time of writing, no new release date is set in stone. If plans change once again, however, we’ll be sure to keep you updated with all the latest. * Dates Changed Again 😐😂 🟨 (1/3 Users) : 11 August – 11 AM UK 🟪 (2/3U) : 11 August – 5 PM UK 🟫 (All) : 11 August – 11 PM UK ⬛ installable date : 12 August – 5 AM UK— PlayStation Game Size (@PlaystationSize) August 10, 2021 Before the Season 5 update rolls out, be sure to brush up on everything we know thus far. Whether you’re exclusive to Warzone, a Cold War multiplayer fanatic, or even a hardcore Zombies player, there’s plenty to sink your teeth into.

Activision defends skill-based matchmaking in CoD and has no plans to remove it ActivisionAfter testing less strict skill-based matchmaking in Modern Warfare 3, Activision found that players were more likely to quit, therefore justifying the system’s existence moving forward. In April 2024, Activision shared an 18-page report explaining Call of Duty’s matchmaking process. The report revealed more information about skill-based matchmaking would be released in June. However, after the devs missed that deadline, players voiced their frustrations. Activision heard the complaints and revealed a corresponding blog explaining the results of a test in North America with loosened skill consideration in MW3 matchmaking. “The test showed that players with a wider skill gap were more likely to quit matches in progress and did not return to the game at a higher rate than players with unchanged matchmaking,” Activision claimed. CharlieIntel posted a graph from the study showing that lower-to-mid-level players stopped playing more frequently than higher-skilled players. Activision added that the likelihood of a player quitting during a match increased by 80%, and 90% of players in a loosened skill group did not return at a higher rate than the control group. “Playing a better opponent may push players to become more proficient over time, but being severely outperformed in their matches, our testing has shown, instead leads players to quit matches in progress or to not play multiplayer,” Activision argued. There were also tests with tighter skill-based matchmaking. Results showed that the quit rate was down 90%, but it negatively impacted high-skilled players, and that idea was scrapped. The Call of Duty development team has considered launching a multiplayer playlist that doesn’t include skill as a factor in matchmaking. However, testing showed that low and mid-skill players would be less interested in the playlist, resulting in primarily high-skilled players filling lobbies. So, while ping remains the number one factor in matchmaking, skill is also a key component and will continue to play a role in future series entries. For more on skill-based matchmaking, check out why the system is so controversial and why some FPS titles, such as XDefiant, ultimately decided against using it.

Activision confirms Verdansk’s return to Warzone in 2023 ActivisionVerdansk is set to make its way back into the game in 2023 following the release of Warzone 2.0 according to one Activision employee. It has been nearly a year since the original map was nuked and replaced with the retro-themed Verdansk ’84 but the game’s first map is set for a major 2023 comeback. This change will come along sometime after the release of the next entry in the main franchise and the brand-new Warzone 2.0 experience in late 2022. Verdansk officially returning to Warzone While it’s not clear exactly what fashion the beloved battleground will be showing up, we do know that it will be a limited release. When discussing the future of the game during a LegionFarm livestream, Alex Summers of Activision noted that Verdansk would only be appearing on “certain platforms”, which might link it to the Warzone Mobile leaks from earlier in the year. If the map was to return to Warzone as a whole it would be the first time players have dropped into any version of the classic setting since Caldera was released in December of 2021. He also mentioned that Warzone 2.0 will feature a “new, big map” as part of its release later this year. This is promising news for fans who may have been turned off by the new state of the game, but the studio hasn’t yet confirmed the accuracy of this statement, so there’s still time for things to change before either day comes.

Activision confirms next Call of Duty game for 2023 with big promise ActivisionActivision’s latest financial release has confirmed a new Call of Duty game entry for 2023, promising fans a more robust live experience than ever before. Modern Warfare 2 launched on October 28 and smashed records, topping $800 million in revenue after only three days on the market. In a press release on November 7, Activision shared the game surpassed $1 billion in sell-through revenue in only 10 days. Infinity Ward’s latest series entry became an instant hit, and we expected the game to break CoD’s annual release cycle. Industry insider Jason Schreier reported on October 10 that there will be no new CoD game until 2024. There were also reports of DLC coming to Modern Warfare 2 in 2023 for Campaign and Multiplayer. However, Activision’s phrasing in its latest financial release made things less clear. Activision confirms new series entry in 2023 CharlieINTEL reported on November 7 that Activision’s financial release confirmed a new, full premium Call of Duty release in 2023. Activision stated, “With plans for next year including the most robust Call of Duty live operations to date, the next full premium release in the blockbuster annual series.” Treyarch is scheduled to work on the next CoD game. The development team hasn’t released a game since Black Ops Cold War in 2020. Schreier responded to CharlieINTEL and stood by his original report; “the next game, by Treyarch, is coming out in 2024.” He also reported, “next year, there will be a Modern Warfare 2 paid expansion by Sledgehammer. Maybe that’s why they call it a “full” release. But it’s more MW2.” We will provide an update when we learn more about CoD 2023’s development plans and the future of Modern Warfare 2.

Activision confirms Modern Warfare 2 phone number requirement despite OW2 issues ActivisionFans are eager to finally get their hands on Modern Warfare 2, but a new roadblock may prevent players from accessing the game. Activision Blizzard introduced a controversial phone number verification system to Overwatch 2. Unfortunately, players with certain phones or plans couldn’t access the game. After a wave of backlash, the developers decided to scrap part of the system. Players no longer have to provide a phone number to play, but still need to meet SMS Protection requirments, which only prevents the use of pre-paid phones or VOIP. Modern Warfare 2 will require a phone number to access the game, and if the response is anything like we saw with Overwatch 2, fans won’t be happy Modern Warfare 2 will require a phone number A big question that most players will be asking is why Activision Blizzard is requiring a phone number to play Modern Warfare 2? Modern Warfare 2 has a skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) system to create matches that include players with similar skill levels, but loopholes are revealing SBMM’s flaws. “Reverse boosting” by killing yourself or letting yourself get killed repeatedly allows players to trick the SBMM system into placing you into easier lobbies. But with SMS verification, it will be easier to ban and prevent reverse boosters from creating these imbalanced and unequal games. Players also create new accounts to weasel around SBMM, but linking a phone number to an account theoretically solves that problem. Activision Blizzard revealed elgibility and limitations for the phone number verification system. Messaging apps like iMessage (iOS) or WhatsApp (iOS, Android) are not supported. – Mobile phones with prepaid plans may not work with the phone notification service. – Phone notifications cannot be used with Voice over IP (VoIP), and VoIP numbers that are transferred to a local provider are not eligible for the service. – We will provide any updates if the developers back track like they did with Overwatch 2.

Activision confirms delay for MW2 & Warzone 2: Season 2 ActivisionActivision has now confirmed the rumors, announcing a delay for Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 Season 2. Warzone 2 is in the midst of a player count decline, and content creators have threatened to jump ship if conditions don’t improve. Community members have particularly raised issues with the battle royale sequel’s new looting system, Gulag, and Loadout Drop prices. Only compounding concerns, a datamine on January 17 revealed a potential delay for MW2 and WZ2’s second season. It’s already been over two months since Season 1 began, and the player base’s patience is waning thin. The development team confirmed the community’s worst fears by announcing a delay for Season 2 but reassured players by teasing major changes. WZ2 and MW2 Season 2 delayed Activision issued an official statement on January 18, delaying Season 2 until February 15, meaning MW2 and WZ2’s first season will be roughly three months long. The statement finally confirms the addition of a brand-new small-scale Resurgence map, Ranked Play, and new multiplayer maps and weapons. Modern Warfare II and Warzone Season 2 will be launching on February 15. Our studio teams are focused on major quality of life changes and fixes for our players. Season 2 includes all new content, with the return of Resurgence and a brand new small map for Warzone 2. Ranked Play is also back, along with new Multiplayer maps, new modes, weapons and MUCH more. Stay tuned for additional intel. Activision Infinity Ward also teased changes to Warzone 2’s Gulag, looting, and loadout system, which will be further explained in a deep-dive blog sometime next week. We will provide an update when the developers provide more clarity on the upcoming changes.

Activision confirms city-based franchised league for Call of Duty CWLAfter weeks of hints and teases from various members of the Call of Duty community, Activision have finally confirmed that they are launching a franchised league for Call of Duty. The CWL has been growing since it began in 2016 and numerous clues in recent months had all but confirmed the league’s next step into becoming a permanent fixture in esports. During their Q4 2018 Earnings Call on February 12, Activision gave official confirmation that the Call of Duty World League will be moving to a franchised format. Activision confirms they are going to launch a city-based franchised league for Call of Duty. — Call of Duty News • charlieINTEL.com (@charlieINTEL) February 12, 2019 Under the current system for the Black Ops 4 season, most Call of Duty teams had to compete in a grueling qualifier before the start of the season just to play in the CWL. Under a franchise system, teams would be locked indefinitely and wouldn’t have to compete for their spot. Hours before Activision’s official announcement, a Hitmarker listing for a new Brand Manager who “will help manage the look and feel of the Call of Duty World League with franchise owners, broadcasters and other external partners” appeared, lending more credence to the coming arrival of franchising. The Hitmarker listing gives good confirmation that franchised Call of Duty will look to create a unified structure much like what has been seen so far with the Overwatch League, which was also confirmed by Activision Blizzard’s CEO during the Earnings Call. We also intend to build on our experience with the Overwatch League to launch a professional, city-based Call of Duty league that drives franchise engagement and represents a size-able incremental economic opportunity. Although switching to a franchise might make it harder for up-and-coming teams to compete at the highest level, those already in the league can enjoy long-term development that could give way for expansions in the future. Being a part of a franchised team in an esport as storied as Call of Duty will be a coveted tag for any organization owner to acquire if the price is right. Read more: How to watch the Black Ops 4 CWL Pro League – streams, schedule, scores, standings, and more – The current season of the CWL Pro League is currently in its second week and will be the last chance for teams and players to compete in a non-franchised setting.

Activision confirms Call of Duty Mobile is officially bigger than mainline CoD in 2023 ActivisionCall of Duty Mobile continues to be an unstoppable juggernaut. Activision Blizzard’s latest financial report has confirmed the handheld port is officially bigger than mainline CoD entries on PC and console in 2023. Although CoD on the whole has seen its overall player count dip again in 2023, a fate also shared by Overwatch 2 in the latest quarter, one particular area continues to thrive for the publishing giant: Handheld gaming. Through the company’s Q2 2023 financial earnings report, Activision announced CoD Mobile had exceeded the $3 billion mark in terms of revenue. It soared to this milestone in under four years on the market. Not only that, but with its staggering income comes a colossal rate of player engagement too. In fact, CoD Mobile now accounts for the majority of CoD’s entire player base. With an average of 90 million players jumping into CoD titles on a monthly basis, “over half of all engagement” comes from mobile platforms, Activision revealed. Making its first leap into the handheld market at the tail end of 2019, CoD Mobile has since gone on to leverage much of the series’ most popular features over the years. From a full-fledged Zombies mode, the return of countless fan-favorite multiplayer maps, and plenty more added with each passing month, there’s seemingly always something to keep players hooked. Despite being a free title at its core, with anyone able to download and jump in without spending a dime, the handheld release has helped drive the biggest portion of revenue for Activision Blizzard thus far in 2023. Over the past six months, mobile gaming was the biggest cash cow for the publisher, generating $1.9 billion in total revenue alone. This far exceeds PC revenue at $1.25 billion and console revenue at $1.19 billion. It’s obviously worth keeping in mind, however, that King’s efforts in the mobile industry are also factored in here, with the likes of Candy Crush still proving monstrously successful to this day. With CoD Mobile evidently only soaring to new heights and going from strength to strength, further focus has been committed in the handheld space. We already know Warzone Mobile will be launching in full later this year, with the iconic Battle Royale marking the return of the beloved Verdansk map.

Activision confirm plans for rewards for watching CDL and OWL on YouTube Google/ActivisionActivision Blizzard Esports CEO, Pete Vlastelica, has announced that they are exploring ways to offer rewards for fans that watch the Call of Duty League on YouTube. Prior to the Call of Duty League’s Launch Weekend kicking off, it was announced that Activision Blizzard had teamed up with YouTube Gaming in a multi-year deal that gives competitive Overwatch, Hearthstone and Call of Duty a home on the Google-owned platform. Mere days after the announcement, Vlastelica has revealed that Activision are working closely with YouTube to provide exclusive rewards for their viewers in a bit to make the viewing experience much more immersive. The ability to claim desired in-game drops for watching competitive action has resulted in viewership numbers skyrocketing for many esport titles. Players have been rewards with supply drops in past Call of Duty titles when watching on Twitch. During the Overwatch League’s 2019 season, players had the opportunity to claim exclusive loot as a reward for tuning into the competitive action on Twitch — and this resulted in a sharp increase in viewership on the Amazon-owned platform. With the OWL, CDL and Hearthstone all jumping ship over to YouTube, fans were left in the dark regarding the aforementioned loot system which had previously proven extremely popular. However, per Vlastelica’s Tweet, Activision Blizzard are: “exploring ways to offer rewards for watching our broadcasts on YouTube in the future.” Also, we’ve heard your questions about how drops might work on YouTube. It’s important for fans to know that we’re exploring ways to offer rewards for watching our broadcasts on YouTube in the future. @overwatchleague @YouTubeGaming @CODLeague — Pete Vlastelica (@PeteVlastelica) January 28, 2020 Former Call of Duty caster and the current Global Head of Gaming for YouTube, Ryan ‘Fwiz’ Wyatt shared further insight into their plans for in-game drop integration in an interview with Wired on January 24. Wyatt stated that embedding the feature for CDL and OWL streams is “very much on our roadmap,” but failed to divulge any information relating to when fans can start to claim their exclusive rewards. Players have previously been able to redeem rewards for watching the Game Jam Hollywood premiere exclusively on YouTube. This came after Epic Games partnered with Google’s video-sharing platform to “level up” the viewing experience. While only time will tell how the Activision and YouTube partnership will fare, it appears to be in safe hands with both Pete Vlastelica and Ryan Wyatt at the helm.

Activision confirm new plans to clamp down on Warzone cheaters ActivisionActivision have confirmed that they’ll be devoting more resources to rooting out cheaters in Warzone and also opening up better lines of communication with frustrated players. Like pretty much every other multiplayer game around, Warzone has had quite a fair few issues with cheating and hacking since it launched. Everything from god mode to aimbots have been seen in games on Verdansk, and players have demanded that Activision and Raven Software get their house in order and make changes. The developers have been clamping down on hackers and cheats, going after cheat sellers and sending out multiple ban waves across the different in-game seasons. They’ll also be ramping up their security in the future. Speaking following the launch of Verdansk 1984 and the Warzone nuke event, Activision president Rob Kostich confirmed that the Warzone devs have banned nearly 500,000 players for using cheats, but they’re not stopping there. The team is going to ramp up security and also communicate clearer with players too, given that has been one major frustration that has lingered for quite some time. “We have a dedicated security team. We’re investing more resources there to make sure we provide the best possible experience for our fans,” Kostich told GamesBeat. “We have to take action, and also communicate about that, which we’re going to do.” Communication was a point Kostich harped on too, as it’s not just in regards to cheating where players criticize the devs, but also in regards to leaks and also surprise weapon changes. He again reiterated that changes are coming. However, in terms of what exact changes are coming for anti-cheat, nobody knows. It could just be Activision hiring more members to work on their security team to process reports, or even coders to come up with better anti-cheat software. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Activision confirm Infinity Ward will lead Warzone 2 & CoD 2022 development ActivisionActivision Blizzard have officially confirmed that Infinity Ward, who developed Modern Warfare 2019 and Warzone, will be leading development for both CoD 2022 (titled Modern Warfare II) and Warzone 2. Despite pro players’ issues with Modern Warfare 2019, it was one of the most popular titles in the franchise’s history. With an engine so highly esteemed that it provided the basis for MW19, Warzone, and 2021’s Vanguard – it’s clear that Infinity Ward built something people enjoyed. Following on MW19 and Warzone’s massive successes, Activision Blizzard have now formally announced that IW will also be heading up development for CoD 2022 and Warzone 2. In a February 2022 earnings release, the company explained their plans for CoD in the upcoming year. Likely to the delight of many fans, they confirmed earlier rumors about Modern Warfare II and Warzone’s sequel. Activision announce Infinity Ward as developers for CoD 2022 & Warzone 2 Per Activision Blizzard’s earnings release, development on the Call of Duty 2022 AND Warzone experiences for later this year are “”being lead by Infinity Ward studio.”” pic.twitter.com/o6844yjzGL — CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) February 3, 2022 In the earnings release, Activision dove into the upcoming plans for both CoD’s paid and free-to-play titles: “Development on this year’s premium and Warzone experiences is being led by Activision’s renowned Infinity Ward studio.” Elaborating, the company claimed that Infinity Ward are “working on the most ambitious plan in franchise history, with industry-leading innovation and a broadly appealing franchise setting.” CoD fans thrilled by return of Infinity Ward for MWII & Warzone 2 In response to the news, the community seemed ecstatic. Some have called IW their “saviors,” with others calling the developers “legendary” and hoping they’ll be able to “save us.” Earlier leaks have already tied IW to the next CoD title, even discussing the maps players should expect in Modern Warfare II and details about the next Warzone map’s features. Still, this is the first official confirmation of those earlier reports. With Activision also explaining that Vanguard and Warzone have struggled recently, there is data to support the sentiments of those fans hoping for saviors. As the year progresses, we’re likely to hear more about what Infinity Ward are planning to deliver. On their end, they’ve simply told players to “stay frosty.”

Activision confirm Call of Duty player count has dropped again ActivisionWhile Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 suffer a decline in player count, Call of Duty: Mobile has quietly taken over the community. Season 3 aimed to inject some life into Warzone 2 with the introduction of Ranked Play. Despite the competitive mode receiving praise from community members, player count numbers dropped off by over 17,000 players on Steam in May. Warzone 2’s 20% decrease in active users only accounts for Steam and not every other platform, but they typically indicate the bigger picture. According to SteamCharts, Season 4 helped slightly boost the battle royale sequel’s numbers in June, but not enough to stave off the decline. In their July 19 quarterly report, Activision confirmed that Call of Duty’s inability to retain users extends beyond PC users. Call of Duty: Mobile outperforms MW2 and Warzone 2 On July 19, CharlieIntel stated: “Despite higher revenues for Activision in Q2 compared to Q1, Activision’s monthly active player counts fell in Q2 to 92M (compared to 98M in Q1).” That means around six million players shelved MW2 and Warzone 2 between March and June. Activision stated: “Call of Duty approaches its 20th anniversary in October with around 90 million monthly players, with over half of all engagement on the mobile platform.” COD Mobile generated over $3 billion in revenue since its October 2019 launch, and Activision Blizzard now makes more money from mobile than PC and consoles. Activision reported that COD Mobile generated $1.9 billion over the first six months of 2023, compared to $1.25 billion from PC and $1.29 billion from consoles. Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile has the potential to capitalize on that momentum. The battle royale game is finally bringing back the fan-favorite map Verdansk, and rumors suggest Rebirth Island could also come as a playable map. It will be interesting to see how much of an impact the upcoming mobile game has on Modern Warfare 3’s player count.

Activision confirm Call of Duty League branding, system and prize money ActivisionActivision have officially revealed the brand-new name and logo for the upcoming Call of Duty franchised league will which kick off in 2020, alongside news of the overall prize pool for the competition. Call of Duty is moving to a franchised model for the first time in 2020, marking the biggest paradigm shift in the popular first-person shooter’s esports history. 12 teams have reportedly spent upwards of $25 million on a location-based franchise spot, and now Activision have revealed the official branding for the competition as players gear up for the start of the Modern Warfare season. The franchised league will officially be called the Call of Duty League, matching the Overwatch League, which is the sister competition which is also operated by Activision Blizzard. The logo three rectangles rising up from the left-hand side of the image, with the official Call of Duty logo inside a white box, with the word “League” written underneath in a futuristic font. 12 professional teams. One championship title. The Call of Duty League is here. https://t.co/xa46UzdEv5 #CallofDutyLeague pic.twitter.com/lJZS5IqXsR — Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) October 9, 2019 On the official CoD League website, there is also news on the official prize pool for the competition, along with how the league format will actually take place. With teams purchasing franchises based on a single location, the website states that the CoD League will travel “from city to city,” indicating that rather than hosting home and way matches live the OWL plans to next year, all 12 teams will move around the world together, and compete in each of the 12 cities that they represent. The website also reveals the cash that teams will be battling for, with Activision confirming that “over $6 million” will be on the line, alongside the overall Call of Duty League Championship. Activision have yet to announce an official start date for the competition, but it is widely expected that the league will kick off in early 2020, with a first-quarter launch likely. Teams are already moving quickly to fill up their rosters ahead of the Call of Duty League, with London and New York announcing their starting line-ups. You can keep on top of all the latest moves using our Call of Duty Rostermania hub.

Activision provides CoD Vanguard update: “Significant” post-launch content planned ActivisionCall of Duty Vanguard is still on track for a 2021 release, Activision confirmed during its Q2 Financial Earnings call, also revealing that a “significant” post-launch roadmap is already locked in. We’re already in August yet Activision has remained tight-lipped on this year’s annual CoD release up until now. While countless Vanguard leaks have given us early intel, an August 3 earnings call provided the publisher’s first real comments on the upcoming Sledgehammer Games title. Weeks out from a potential reveal in Warzone, Vanguard is officially locked in for a 2021 release. No specific date was revealed, though it was confirmed the next CoD will launch across both new-gen and last-gen consoles, no different from Black Ops Cold War. Moreover, Activision president & chief operating officer Daniel Alegre assured a more robust post-launch roadmap is already taking form behind the scenes; one that is set to deliver “an incredible amount of content” after Vanguard’s launch. “We believe this release will be incredibly well-received,” Alegra said during the August 3 earnings call. “In addition to launching a great, seamless experience for both current and next-gen console players, we are focused on continuing to integrate Warzone and engaging our direct relationship with our player base through even deeper content integration between the premium and free experiences and substantial innovation coming within Warzone itself.” In order to accomplish just that, Activision is currently working on “an extensive live ops schedule.” Read More: Everything coming in Warzone Season 5 update – This could point towards a more expansive post-launch rollout than anything we’ve seen thus far. From more in-game events to bigger seasonal updates, we’ll have to wait and see what this actually translates to. “Across all modes of play, development is coming along really well,” Activision president Rob Kostich added. Despite the lack of Vanguard teasers at this point in time, he promised new “details” are coming “very soon.” “Content-wise, it’s a really robust game at launch across all the modes. The good news for us right now is we’ve gotten farther ahead on our live ops planning for supporting the community post-launch. “The community should expect that support to be very, very significant. We’ve learned a lot over the last couple of years, and that is all in our plans.” Call of Duty 2021 is a “really robust game at launch.” “We’ve gotten farther ahead at supporting post launch. We’ve learned a lot over the last few years.” — CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) August 3, 2021 It’s early days yet, with Cold War and Warzone Season 5 still the current focus. It is clear, however, that Activision already has lofty goals in mind beyond the release of Vanguard — ones that will make Call of Duty fans very excited.

Activision claim “high-profile” streamers use Warzone cheats in EngineOwning lawsuit ActivisionActivision have revealed that “high-profile” streamers have been known to buy cheats for Call of Duty games in their new lawsuit against EngineOwning, one of the biggest cheat sellers around. While cheats have always been prevalent in Call of Duty games in some form, Activision has been in a constant game of whack-a-mole with them when it comes to Warzone. When the battle royale first launched, cheats popped up from time to time, but they become even more widespread as time passed. Some players straight-up abandoned Warzone for other games, urging the game’s developers to implement an anti-cheat. They have since done so with Ricochet, which is only supposed to improve with the release of Warzone 2. In the meantime, Activision have been trying to fight cheat providers in the courtroom, filing a lawsuit against one of the biggest websites around: EngineOwning. And, in that filing, they’ve revealed an interesting tidbit about who buys cheats. CoD devs reveal “high-profile” streamers have used Warzone cheats Activision has been attempting to sue EngineOwning since last January, but registered a fresh claim against them in late September in the central district of California, seeking damages and the shutdown of the site. In the suit, though, the CoD publishers confirm that “high-profile” streamers in the United States have been found to purchase these cheats and use them. There are no specific names mentioned in the lawsuit, nor are there any further references to who they might be. As noted, the lawsuit isn’t just limited to Warzone either, but every Call of Duty game going back to the original Black Ops title, all the way through to Vanguard. Cheating has constantly been a hot topic in the Warzone community, with plenty of players absolutely certain that streamers are cheating despite no real proof being offered. While this lawsuit does confirm that some streamers have been known to use cheats, Activision will likely have already banned anyone that they can prove is cheating, meaning that active big streamers will have passed security checks — especially those who work under the CoDPartner umbrella. It remains to be seen what’ll happen should Activision win the case, but they’re still locked in an ongoing battle with cheaters as a whole.

Activision changing how they reveal new Call of Duty games due to Warzone success ActivisionWhile Activision has generally revealed new Call of Duty games in first-half of the year in the past, it seems like the publisher might is looking to shift that window and it might be due to the success of Warzone. If you’ve been wondering when the reveal of Call of Duty 2021 might happen, it sounds like you’re going to have to be patient and wait until later in the year. In a brand-new interview with VentureBeat, President of Activision Rob Kostich hinted that the company is looking to shift the reveal for new games, similar to how they revealed Black Ops Cold War much later than the community anticipated. Specifically, Kostich seemed to attribute the shift to the fact that they want to bring the community together, specifically bringing up the reveal of Black Ops Cold War, within Warzone itself, something that was unprecedented at the time. “Those are the things we want to orchestrate and provide to our community, letting them discover Call of Duty themselves in their play experience,” Kostich said. While not exact confirmation per se, this seems to imply that Activision will be holding similar events Warzone to reveal new games, which shouldn’t be all that surprising given their past success. The timing of these reveals would represent a pretty major change for the company going forward. Generally speaking, each Call of Duty game gets revealed in April or May, shown off to a certain extent at E3, and then released to the world in October or November. It should be noted, however, that the timing for these announcements has been getting shifted slowly over the past few games. 2018’s Black Ops 4 was revealed in mid-May, 2019’s Modern Warfare was in late May, and BOCW’s was in August – and with the success of the latter’s reveal, this change shouldn’t be all that surprising. The current rumors surrounding Call of Duty 2021 say that it’ll be titled WWII: Vanguard and is being developed by Sledgehammer Games. If this game follows last year’s schedule again, fans should expect the reveal for the title around August 2021.

Activision CEO explains why Black Ops 4 was released a month early Call of Duty publishers Activision have revealed why they decided to release the new Black Ops 4 title about a month earlier than usual. CoD titles have traditionally launched globally in the mid to early parts of November; the average release date for the last three games has been November 4. However, Black Ops 4 was released on October 12, something which had been announced during the first reveal of the game back in May. During the November 9 Financial Call for Activision Blizzard’s third quarter, CEO Robert A. Kotick revealed that the game was released when it was to allow “more players” to be online going into the holiday season. The December-January period has traditionally been an important one for Call of Duty, especially with the recent trend of introducing themed promo events during popular seasons. By releasing the game earlier than usual, the player-base will have an extra month to build up in advance of what is expected to be a content packed Holiday season. This decision also has an impact beyond the winter as well, especially with Activision also revealing that they have a lot of content set in store for CoD in 2019. If Activision decide to revert back to the more usual release schedule for the next CoD title, releasing Black Ops 4 early also gives it a whole extra month of being the main title on the back end.

Activision make a bold prediction about Call of Duty 2019 Activision believes the next Call of Duty game, due in 2019, will be one of their biggest releases in CoD’s 16 year history. After the success of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 last year, they are looking to capitalise on this with a huge new release. Black ops 4 doesn’t include a single player story mode, although this may have enabled the developers to create one of the best multiplayer experiences yet. Activision have promised that plenty of in-game content is on the way to Black ops 4, although they’re also currently creating a supposed masterpiece to be released towards the end of 2019. Rob Kostich, Activision president, states that he wants to capitalize on Black ops 4’s impressive reputation. Speaking during Activision Blizzard’s 2018 Q4 results call, Kostich stated: “It’s going to feature an entirely new campaign, a huge and expansive multiplayer world, and of course, some fun co-op gameplay. I think it’s going to be really worth it. We can’t wait to share with the world.” This confirms that players will see the return of a single-player campaign. This will come as great news to all the campaign enthusiasts that felt abandoned in Black Ops 4. CEO Bobby Kotick said Kostich was underselling the new release stating: “[I haven’t] seen this much enthusiasm that I can remember almost ever.” Activision Blizzard’s CFO, Dennis Durkin, stated that the Activision team is creating what they believe will be “the best Call of Duty we’ve ever built.” Despite these revelations, lower sales have been predicted, probably due to an increasing number of competitor games on the market. Nonetheless, Call of Duty’s 2019 release could be the biggest yet. It’s been rumored that this could be Modern Warfare 4 or Call of Duty: Ghosts 2, with the former being more likely. In terms of commercial success, MW4 would seem a better option than a second Ghosts game. For Activision’s next Call of Duty to be the biggest ever, it seems reasonable to assume that this will indeed include a battle royale mode. With the biggest games belonging to this genre, Activision will almost certainly follow suit as they have done with Black Ops 4’s Blackout. What do you think Activision will be releasing later this year? Could MW4 be on its way? Get in touch with us via twitter @DexertoINTEL.

Activision Blizzard QA testers made employees with better pay after Warzone strike Activision BlizzardActivision Blizzard have informed their staff that all of their quality assurance testers will be promoted to full-time employees with increased pay, after Warzone workers went on strike in December 2021. Initially reported on December 4, 2021, Warzone QA workers had been promised higher pay “for months” but instead, “valuable members” were fired from the company. This led to about 40 QA testers going on strike in hopes of seeing change and justice for the people that lost their jobs. It had been quiet from the company, with the only news being Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard for a hefty price. However, fast forward to April 7, 2022 and AB is recognizing the work of these people and have revealed that their near 1,100 QA testers will now be full-time employees with increased pay, bonus opportunities, and benefits. NEW: Activision Blizzard just told staff that all of its 1,100 quality assurance testers will be 1) converted from contract to full-time and 2) bumped up to at least $20/hour. A big win for QA in the wake of several worker revolts and a burgeoning union effort. Story soon — Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) April 7, 2022 Activision Blizzard giving QA testers increased pay In an official statement made to Dexerto, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson said: “We have ambitious plans for the future and our quality assurance (QA) team members are a critical part of our development efforts.” In recognition of their hard work and the key role they play, they will increase “the minimum hourly rate for these team members [QA workers] to $20 per hour or more, effective April 17.” On top of this, all of the workers will be transitioned into “permanent full-time employees” starting on July 1. While some people speculated Microsoft played a role in this, it was confirmed they had no say whatsoever. Jason Schreier said, “Microsoft is not legally allowed to have anything to do with the company until the acquisition goes through.” With that deal not expected to go through until 2023, the company finds it necessary to keep their QA testers on board. These people can play a huge part in success, and while games like Warzone have been plagued with issues, many believe that the QA team can help eliminate the problems.

Activision Blizzard’s Johanna Faries shifts to managing Call of Duty franchise exclusively ActivisionActivision Blizzard’s Johanna Faries is shifting her focus to the Call of Duty franchise exclusively, and away from her role’s additional responsibilities as Head of Leagues for the CDL and OWL. Faries has steadily added to her duties at Activision Blizzard since joining in 2018. As SVP, Head of Leagues and Commissioner for Call of Duty Esports – and later Commissioner of the Overwatch League – Faries oversaw the development of the CDL as it transitioned to a franchise format with buy-in slots that were reportedly worth around $25 million. She was also named General Manager for Call of Duty back in April 2021 to oversee the publisher’s largest brand. As a result, her presence in esports league operations has reportedly subsided with her working more on CoD. Since the change, Faries has focused her attention exclusively on CoD as The Esports Observer’s Kevin Hitt reported that esports leagues noticed “that when a meeting takes place and it has not been cancelled, Faries hasn’t been on a call in quite some time.” A few months ahead of its next title launch, Call of Duty: Vanguard, Fairies replaced Byron Beede as GM for CoD, who left the company after 19 years. The job’s reach also extends to Warzone, CoD Mobile, and the CDL. Former Chief Revenue Officer for Brand Media, and Esports Partnerships, Brandon Snow was promoted to Head of Activision Blizzard Esports back in July and will take charge of CDL and OWL. Activision Blizzard have been restructuring their leadership lately in light of the lawsuits they face dealing with harassment and discrimination. Faries will now have more oversight on the company’s flagship franchise. As the company looks ahead to the third season of the CDL, CoD esports expects to have another format change with Vanguard out soon that will impact players and teams. Meanwhile, the OWL has been struggling to capture audiences as of late, according to data from ESCharts, and is expected to make the switch to Overwatch 2 as soon as it can. For now it seems like Snow will head up the leagues’ day-to-day, while Faries will create the vision for where Call of Duty will go from here.

Activision Blizzard executive posts meme mocking Sony for losing CoD to Microsoft Treyarch/ActivisionActivision Blizzard executives have poked fun at Sony for their lack of action and response to the recent Microsoft deal with Call of Duty developer Activision Blizzard. Lulu Cheng Meservey, the CCO of Activision Blizzard, posted on Twitter about the recent partnership between Microsoft and Call of Duty. The meme includes three images, the first with a person riding a bike. The second then the same person struggling on the bike with the caption “refuses to accept guaranteed long-term access to CoD.” The third then has the person having fallen off the bike with the words “what if we lose access to CoD.” This slapback is just another example and development in the drama surrounding the Microsoft deal with Activision/Blizzard and Sony’s pushback on the deal. At the beginning of February, we reported that new claims indicate that Sony has cut off communication with Microsoft in regards to discussing the potential Activision Blizzard merger. The meme comes after Meservey also fired back at Sony for trying to put a stop to the future Merger. “Microsoft is doing exactly what they said they’d do…whereas Sony continues to rebuff the opportunity to get a long-term agreement for Call of Duty and is trying to undermine the deal to protect its two-decade dominance in gaming.” The CCO then went on to add in a follow up Tweet how, “we’re confident regulators will find that our proposed merger will promote competition and create more opportunities for workers and better games for our players.” For all the latest gaming news and updates, be sure to check out Dexerto’s full coverage here.

Activision Blizzard confirms home/away matches for Call of Duty League’s first season MLGThe new Call of Duty franchised league will have a home-and-away format right from launch, Activision Blizzard announced on July 25. It’s no longer news that Call of Duty esports will be transitioning to a franchised league format for the next competitive season. The new league will be city-based, meaning that all of the organization that purchase a spot will field teams that represent a major city either in the United States or abroad. On July 25, CoD Esports Commissioner Johanna Faries confirmed in a statement to Sports Business Daily that the home cities of these teams will host competitive events. “We’re thrilled that the future of ‘Call of Duty’ esports will bring more competitive events to fans in cities around the globe,” Faries said. “With seven teams already signed on, we anticipate a robust slate of events held in all home markets.” What she is essentially saying is that matches will be held in each team’s home city, with there presumably being some sort of home/away system throughout the season to balance out the schedule. This is slightly unexpected, since Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch League didn’t transition to a home/away format until its third year of existence, with most of the matches being played at the Blizzard Arena in California until then. This was done to ensure that franchises had time to set up their facilities, bases of operation, and local fanbases in time for the teams to move in to the city, which the Call of Duty League will skip in order to have a city-based format in place right away. This then leaves the Blizzard Arena and the MLG Arena in Columbus, OH in a state of limbo, since both the OWL and CDL will no longer require centralized facilities to host matches. Confirmed cities for Call of Duty franchised league As for the host cities themselves, Activision Blizzard have confirmed seven locations so far that teams will call home in the inaugural season of the CDL: Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York, Paris, and Toronto. According to ESPN’s reports, the price tag on each of these league spots has been set to $25 million, with there being plans in place for the CDL to have at least 12 cities for its first campaign. As always, we will continue to bring you the latest on the CDL as more information is made available.

Activision Blizzard announce new Overwatch League and Call of Duty League commissioners Activision BlizzardAcitivision Blizzard have confirmed that Johanna Faries will take on the newly formed role of Commissioner of Call of Duty Esports and that Pete Vlastelica is officially the new head of the Overwatch League. Call of Duty’s World League is expected to switch to the Call of Duty League in 2020 with seven teams already announced for the inaugural season. The Overwatch League is already in its second season, but fans were shocked by the surprise departure of Commissioner Nate Nanzer in May when he left to head over to Epic Games. Big plans for new CWL Plenty of key details are still up in the air like the new CWL’s official starting date, how many more teams will join or where games will take place. But with former NFL executive Johanna Faries as the first ever Commissioner of Call of Duty Esports those answers might come sooner rather than later. In the same week as being appointed commissioner, Faries was named in FORTUNE’s 40 Under 40 list as one of the most influential young people in business, as well as Adweek’s ’30 Most Powerful Women in Sports’. While Faries didn’t open up on any spicy details regarding the new league in a release from Activision on July 9, she did speak about her goals as commissioner for the upcoming year – “Now that we have a strong product vision and business model to share, we can now shift gears toward the planning and execution phase of our work.” Faries said she and her team are working with the Call of Duty franchise team and partners at Activision for CWL “with an eye toward being the best league in the world.” Meet the new OWL boss Blizzard’s release about new OWL commissioner Pete Vlastelica on July 9 confirmed previous reports that he would be taking the helm after Nanzer left. Vlastelica also serves as CEO and President of of Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues, a position he’s held for almost three years, following more than five years as a vice president at Fox Sports. For the remainder of the 2019 season, Vlastelica said he was most looking forward to the OWL Grand Finals in Philadelphia – “Last year’s event at Barclays Center was one of the best live events I’ve ever been to, in any category of entertainment: music, sports, esports… but I think we’re going to top it this year in Philly.” How exactly Vlastelica and the OWL team plan on topping the performance of DJ Khaled at the Grand Finals in 2018 remains to be seen. Read More: Black Ops 4 July 9 update patch notes – Operation Apocalypse Z, new Blackout modes, Reaper and more – He also spoke about the challenges facing the league as it prepares for teams to play in their home cities next season. “Nobody’s ever really done this before, so no one knows what works best to get fans fired up to come out and support their team,” Vlastelica said about localization. “That evolution is going to take a few years to settle, but it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch and be a part of. Both of Activision Blizzard’s flagship esports leagues now officially have commissioners, which means fans will hopefully get some answers to long-standing questions before too long.

Activision bans over 350,000 Warzone and COD accounts for racism & toxic behavior ActivisionActivision has announced that over 300,000 Call of Duty accounts spanning multiple titles such as Warzone and Black Ops Cold War have been banned in a new toxicity report. Call of Duty has announced they are taking aim at toxic behavior in-game with the use of new tools to better monitor player antics and deliver a “fun gameplay experience for all players.” The report, published on May 26, details the gaming juggernaut’s plans to combat in-game toxicity, such as racism, and the effect their current efforts have had to make their games less hostile. Specifically, they state that over the past year, 350,000 Warzone, Black Ops Cold War, COD Mobile and Modern Warfare accounts were banned for racism and toxic behavior. All of the bans for toxic behavior were supposedly based on player reports and a review of the player name database. Speaking of which, the anti-toxicity, enforcement and technology teams have deployed special in-game filters to identify names, clan tags and even profiles that could be seen as offensive. The technology applies to 11 languages so far and also extends to text chat. That said, it’s unclear to what extremes COD has gone to remove any potential offense as they didn’t share a list of the filtered words in the report. “We know we have a long way to go to reach our goals. This is just the start,” the report says. Additionally, the team has promised an enforcement approach to combat sexism, hate speech and other forms of harassment in-game. They state that they plan to increase resources to detect toxic behavior, increase their communication with the community and have a consistent, fair review of the enforcement policies. The report comes a month after a viral video surfaced showing Grammy award-winner T-Pain dealing with racist trolls in a Black Ops Cold War lobby. It will be interesting to see how Activision continues to deal with the situation, especially leading up to Call of Duty 2021.