Call Of Duty's Standalone F2P Battle Royale, Warzone, Rumored To Arrive In March

Activision has toyed around with the notion of a Call of Duty battle royale for some time now. The Blackout mode made its debut in 2018 and was free for a weekend in early 2019, and later that year, Activision hinted at changes to the "overall business model" of Call of Duty, which had us thinking "free-to-play," at least for its battle royale mode.

Now we're hearing that will be the case, according to a source exclusive to according to Video Games Chronicle. It reports that the new battle royale mode will be called Warzone, and that it will not only unlock for owners of the most recent CoD title, Modern Warfare, but will also launch as a standalone free-to-play title on the estimated date of March 10.

VGC reports that Activision will begin marketing efforts for the game next week, inviting content creators to try out the game, a move similar to what Respawn Entertainment did for Apex Legends last year. The game "will likely share unified progression with the existing Modern Warfare battle pass, with cosmetic unlocks also made available in the battle royale mode" and will offer the option to upgrade to the full, paid Modern Warfare game.

So, there's yet another AAA-caliber battle royale on the way. Before you say "ew," keep in mind that Apex Legends launched at about this time last year, and it was well-received, so maybe Warzone won't be awful either. What do you think? Will you give Warzone a shot?