Rumour: Activision to shut down Warzone in November, release Blackout 2

Everyone who has been following Captain Price, Ghost, and the rest of Infinity Ward's combat squad since they took their first tentative steps into battle royale will remember that Warzone was called Blackout before it became Warzone.

Call of Duty insiders are now spreading a rumour on Facebook that Activision intends to shut down Warzone in conjunction with the release of Black Ops 7 (in November) in order to release Blackout 2, based on an updated version of the IW engine that has been optimised for PS5/Xbox Series X/S for the first time, thereby completely excluding "last-gen support" entirely.

It was in April that Activision rolled out the 2019 favourite Verdansk in Warzone as part of a serious attempt to lure back all the millions of fans who had left the game over the past year, and although we have not been given any figures regarding Verdansk, rumour has it that only 30% of the players the developers aimed to win back have actually returned.

This rumour suggests that Activision, led by Infinity Ward/Raven, wants to start afresh, redo things and get it right. Rumour has it that the new Avalon map will be the main map in Blackout 2.