In a reported meeting between Call of Duty developers and select content creators and influencers, the Warzone devs admitted that the free-to-play battle royale was in a bad state, telling those in attendance that they had “fucked up” and that the current state of the popular online shooter was “embarrassing.” The devs also mentioned their intention to fix things.
Today, CharlieIntel reported that during an Activision-hosted online meeting between Call of Duty devs and content creators, the team behind Warzone talked bluntly and openly about the many, many problems and issues the shooter has faced since launching its new Pacific-themed season and map.
“We fucked stuff up. We broke it. We’re not happy with it. No excuses,” is reportedly what Infinity Ward studio head Pat Kelly, Activision director Josh Bridge, and Raven Software’s Eric Biesmann said during the call.
Kotaku contacted Activision about the meeting and what was said during it, but received no comment from the publisher.
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Bridge said that team was “not happy” about the current state of the game, further admitting that the devs had “learned the upper limits of their technology” as the studios behind Warzone continued to integrate elements from the franchise’s most recent entries, including Call of Duty Vanguard and Black Ops Cold War, into the battle royale.
Infinity Ward’s Pat Kelly also reportedly stated that Warzone was originally only envisioned as part of 2019’s Modern Warfare reboot. But when the free-to-play battle royale exploded in popularity, it was decided that future CoD titles would be incorporated and the game would continue to be updated and expanded. Kelly also said that this decision led to “significant development challenges” and eventually led to the current state Warzone is in.
“It didn’t feel like Modern Warfare anymore, nor did it feel like Black Ops,” admitted Kelly.
It’s also reported that this bloated state made it hard to find and patch bugs and other errors because the game has become such a technical mess. Not mentioned, apparently, is another possible reason the latest season of Warzone has been so broken: Raven Software’s QA team walked out for a long period of time following layoffs at the studio and the lack of response from Activision management. They are back now, but it seems Activision is trying to stop the QA team’s unionizing efforts.
CharlieIntel reports that the devs did promise to fix and improve Warzone. The group also explained that the devs would try to communicate more effectively with players and be more transparent, while also focusing on more “quality of life improvements” over always adding new and bigger features.
It was also confirmed today by Activision that a new Warzone is in development alongside a new Modern Warfare sequel which is being developed by Infinity Ward. This follows a Bloomberg report that a new Warzone is planned to release in 2023. These next Call of Duty games will still release on PlayStation according to Microsoft, which confirmed recently that the franchise will remain multiplatform even after the Xbox company’s $69 billion deal to buy Activision is approved and finalized.