Longtime Call of Duty: Warzone players will be familiar with the game’s first map, Verdansk, which was later replaced with Caldera before servers for the original Warzone were officially brought offline for good back in late September of 2023. Even though Warzone servers have officially been brought offline, Verdansk may not be gone for good. Chances are that it will be returning as the main map for Warzone 2.0 with 2024’s Call of Duty release.
As of right now, this game’s rumored title will be Call of Duty: Black Ops Gulf War. It’s set to bring the franchise back to the Black Ops series, the last of which was released back in 2020 as Black Ops Cold War. Verdansk is expected to be released for Warzone once the first season of that game launches. Up until that time, the map should stay what it is now. Urzikstan. This would fit with the time frame of other Call of Duty releases. When Modern Warfare III launched earlier this year Urzikstan wasn’t brought into the fold until the start of Season 1 just last week.
The same thing happened for MW II’s launch when it came out in 2022. It was released on October 28, and Warzone 2.0 launched with Al Mazrah as the main map on November 16. Verdansk is also playable via Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile which is currently in a small regional beta.
Verdansk returning to Warzone with Call of Duty: Black Ops Gulf War seems like a reasonable choice
With Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile launching in 2024 now, Verdansk returning to the main stage for the PC and console game seems like a reasonable choice. Activision is after all trying to have a certain level of parity between the two games. Warzone Mobile will allow for cross-progression with the main game each year. And that seems like it might be easier to do if the maps are the same. Although that’s not to say it would be required.
Verdansk also has been a fan favorite now that there have been a few different Warzone maps. And it makes sense that Activision would want to bring players back to a map they really enjoy. This kind of revival has worked well for Epic Games and Fortnite. Recently the studio brought back the original Fortnite Chapter 1 map.
Although it is expected that the new map will make its debut with season 1, Insider Gaming notes that it’s still unclear what the exact release date is.