Call of Duty: Warzone gameplay leak confirms release date is imminent

Gameplay footage for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's battle royale mode Warzone has been leaked, confirming several new gameplay details, including the revelation that a free-to-play, standalone game with full crossplay could launch very soon.

The YouTuber Chaos posted a video early Monday morning giving a thorough overview of Warzone with his gameplay impressions, except the video was published long before any official announcements about the game even happened. But this seemingly confirms many major leaks from February about Warzone's existence as a free-to-play standalone experience that should be launching very soon. The additional presence of Twitch ads for the game also imply it should be launching this week.

Even though the video was quickly removed from YouTube, it still revealed a ton of vital, previously unknown info about the battle royale mode catalogued by IGN. In addition to the confirmation that it is a standalone free-to-play title, crossplay was confirmed along with many important details regarding map size, player count, and more.

Matches of Warzone will take place on a large original map containing elements from previous Infinity Ward maps like Terminal, Scrapyard, and Broadcast, which isn't too dissimilar to what Treyach's Blackout mode did in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Matches will support a staggering 150 players, and players can launch matches in teams of three, two, or solo.

Outside of the typical last man standing battle royale formula, Warzone will also reportedly feature a mode called Plunder that's focused on collecting cash scattered throughout the map. In the standard battle royale mode, cash also plays a part as it can apparently be used to buy both killstreaks and revive tokens. Like Apex Legends, Warzone tries to make revivals a more crucial part of each match. If players die, they can revive themselves by winning a 1v1 match on Gunfight's Gulag map, though Chaos claims this feature doesn't activate later in matches.

Ars Technica notes the video also highlighted Warzone's differences from Blackout, namely that it doesn't put much of an emphasis on gadgets. The video also showed several vehicles that players could use during the mode, including tanks and trucks. The game will be free-to-play for those that don't own Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and players from all platforms will play together to ensure the large player count remains sustainable.

All of this follows several leaks that emerged in February following the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Season 2. VGC reports from February 2020 highlighted how players have been able to glitch into parts of the Warzone map since Season 2 began. Warzone will be available both as a standalone game and from within Modern Warfare.

Additionally, VGC reported that Warzone "will most likely release in early March" and are now claiming that March 10 is Warzone's launch day. If that is true, one hopes that Infinity Ward can get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's no XP glitch fixed before then.

By all accounts, it sure looks like Warzone might launch this week.

The Inverse Analysis

Warzone has been the subject of so many leaks at this point — ads are even starting to appear on Twitch — that Activision just needs to blow the lid off the whole thing. The company may have been trying to drive up hype to mimic Respawn Entertainment's surprise-release of Apex Legends last year, but at this point, Warzone's release strategy just feels frustrating for everyone involved.

Hopefully, an official announcement and release will just happen on Tuesday, March 10 so we won't have to wait too much longer to finally get our hands on Warzone. Either way, Warzone's launch already feels a bit bungled, so let's hope Activision can stick the landing on this one or otherwise run the risk of losing the battle royale for battle royale games.