Is Warzone 1 shutting down?

Call of Duty first launched Warzone in early 2020 before rocketing to success thanks to its free-to-play model. Over the two years since, it’s maintained a player base of dedicated fans who enjoy what the battle royale has to offer. But with the launch of Warzone 2.0, many fans of the original are curious about how much longer it has left.

With Warzone 2.0 being billed as the evolution over the original, it’s unlikely that Infinity Ward will want to keep both servers going. Here’s all the information you need to know about if Warzone is shutting down its servers.

Is Warzone 1 shutting down?

Unfortunately for fans of the first Call of Duty battle royale, Warzone began shutting down its servers starting at 10am CT on Nov. 16 ahead of the Warzone 2 release. Around the same time, some players for Warzone 2 were posting that they were getting into games early.

But Activision is calling this temporary shutdown of the Warzone servers an “intermission,” according to a blog post. “Once the Warzone 2.0 ecosystem is fully stable, and after a small development break for Thanksgiving for the developers who observe this U.S. holiday, Warzone is planned to be relaunched as Call of Duty: Warzone Caldera as a separate experience,” Activision said. The developers initially intend to have Warzone Caldera available around 12pm CT on Nov. 28.

While this “intermission” might not be the best news for fans of the original, there’s a silver lining in that they can hop into the sequel now. At time of writing, Warzone 2 is open for all players across the world, allowing for an alternative to the original. While it will take some time to get used to the new systems, much of the gameplay will feel familiar to players of the original.

With Warzone 2 being an entirely different game, none of the original players’ cosmetics or weapons will transfer over. This was a frustrating realization for the community who’d spent a lot of time in the last game grinding for their weapons and attachments. On the other hand, some applauded this fresh restart for the game, allowing everyone a new opportunity in a new game.

With Warzone Caldera essentially being the same as the first Warzone, all players’ cosmetics and gear from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), Warzone, Black Ops Cold War, and Vanguard will be available. This means that all the gear players worked and paid for will still be accessible in Warzone Caldera for the foreseeable future.

Although Warzone 2 is the evolution of the first game, Warzone Caldera should be available later this month.