Warzone’s botched Black Ops 6 update proves it doesn’t need to integrate

A new era of Warzone is underway after Black Ops 6 weapons and movement arrived in Season 1. But if this latest integration proves anything, it’s that the game needs to forge an identity of its own.

Warzone completely changed the Call of Duty series forever franchise when it launched in 2020. It took the best of Modern Warfare 2019 and blew it up into a full Battle Royale experience, complete with familiar weapons and the now iconic Verdansk map.

Since then, the game has integrated with every new multiplayer entry, bringing a fresh set of guns and mechanics each time, along with cross-progression. But while there have been some high points in the years that followed, every iteration has been a shadow of the first version we played half a decade ago.

The latest era, Black Ops 6, has got off to a rocky start, with players already criticizing the way the game feels since the Season 1 update dropped. One of the biggest issues is the sluggish movement, as many of the Perks that were applied as standard are now locked behind the same progression system as multiplayer in an effort to make the integration more seamless.

So, despite omnimovement offering more fluidity overall, sprinting, sliding, mantling, and changing guns feel slower than the previous version. Plus, when you consider that this is all taking place on Urzikstan, the map that launched with MW3 and wasn’t designed with this system in mind, it all just feels wrong.

Activision

It’s not just in-game that the specter of old Warzones loom large. When you head into the menus and try to put together a loadout, you’re greeted by weapons from the last three Call of Duty games; Black Ops 6, MW3, and MW2. They all have their own game-specific attachments, too, so your favorite Barrel from MW3 can’t be applied to BO6 guns and vice-versa.

Then, if you want to select a different character, you’ll find yourself on a screen full of Operators from the last three years, all with drastically different designs and tones. There’s everything from a grizzled soldier from the launch version of MW2 to Art the Clown from Terrifier.

What you’re left with is a bloated mess; a mish-mash of different ideas and design philosophies coming together with no sense of cohesion.

The problem is that Warzone is constantly having to evolve alongside the latest release. But the difference is that multiplayer is developed by a rotating group of studios who have different visions. Treyarch’s games are always on the more arcadey side, while Infinity Ward are more interested in realism.

Dexerto / Activision

With all this said, the best thing Warzone could do going forward is break off from the series and build something of its own. Instead of having to cram ideas and systems from multiplayer into BR each and every year, this would let it carefully create its own world.

Without being tied to whatever the current CoD is, Raven Software could handpick the weapons they want to introduce into their game, resulting in a curated selection of balanced guns rather than the list of 177 currently available.

This is something that rival titles like Fortnite have done very well over the years. With each new season, Epic Games introduces a host of new loot and mechanics that fit the overall vibe they’re going for with that particular era. Anything that doesn’t make sense is vaulted and doesn’t return until it does.

Imagine entire Warzone seasons inspired by the most iconic Call of Duty games of all time. A season where all of the guns are from the original MW2, or another where the jetpacks from BO3 make a comeback. None of this is possible while ever the routine of yearly integrations continues.

I understand that Activision is likely keeping BR and multiplayer together out of fear of splitting the player base too drastically, and developing the games completely separately would no doubt increase the workload. But if Warzone could break away from the band and go solo, not only would it make both sides cleaner and easier to navigate, but it would also offer more freedom to experiment and, ultimately, make the game better.