With the Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 launch on the horizon, the first battle royale will take a short break. Activision is taking Warzone offline for 12 days to focus on keeping the sequel stable and has confirmed cosmetics will not carry over in the new game.
In the latest Call of Duty blog, patch notes outline how the studio will handle the next big release over the holidays. On November 16 at 8 am PT, Call of Duty: Warzone servers will temporarily go offline, and developer Raven Software estimates service should return on November 28 at 10 am PT.
Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 will launch on November 16 at 10 am PT as part of Modern Warfare 2 Season 01. With the downtime, developers at Raven Software “will be focused on ensuring the new Warzone 2.0 free-to-play ecosystem is running effectively.”
The blog also notes this gives them time to observe an upcoming US holiday and ensure everything is “fully stable” with both games.
The original Warzone will relaunch later on as Call of Duty: Warzone Caldera, and players can check out the 2.0 release for free during the outage. There are also “a few items” that will be gifted to Warzone players to use in Warzone 2.0.
However, the item bonuses end there, and player cosmetics will not carry over from the original Warzone. The Caldera relaunch is still considered a separate game and not tied to Modern Warfare II progress like Warzone 2.0. Weapon XP, Inventories, Battle Pass content, weapons, and store bundles will only be available in Caldera. Activision explained this is due to the culmination of a few obstacles in its patch notes:
“This is due to a combination of feedback from the community, technical limitations, and a need to simplify the next and newest Warzone to create a seamless player experience moving forward.”
The first battle royale won’t have an in-game store anymore, but COD Points can be transferred into Warzone 2.0. Unfortunately, those handy buffs in 2XP and 2WXP Tokens can’t move between games, either.
For more on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, make sure to check out our breakdown on everything new with the shooter.
Andrea Shearon is a freelance contributor for IGN covering games and entertainment. She’s worn several hats over her seven-year career in the games industry, with bylines over at Fanbyte, USA Today’s FTW, TheGamer, VG247, and RPG Site. Find her on Twitter (@Maajora) or the Materia Possessions podcast chatting about FFXIV, RPGs, and any series involving giant robots.
