Activision
Call of Duty Warzone Caldera will close forever in September, taking your progress with it
Three years and six months later, Activision will close the first free-to-play battle royale in the Call of Duty saga.
It’s the end of an era. Activision has unexpectedly confirmed the shutdown of Call of Duty: Warzone Caldera, the franchise’s first standalone free-to-play battle royale. The servers will be shut down on September 21, 2023, on PS4, Xbox One, and PC; on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S via backwards compatibility. After three years and six months, we say goodbye to one of the outstanding games of the end of the last generation.
Closing the game involves a number of actions that have a direct impact on players. Your progress and inventory will be lost. Your in-game cosmetic purchases will remain tied to their respective games. In other words, if you purchased a piece of content from the Black Ops Cold War inventory, you can only access it in that game. The same applies to Modern Warfare (2019) and Vanguard, the other two installments that influenced the battle royale.
Activision explains the closure of Warzone Caldera
The company released a short press release on the official website of the franchise, in which they explain the reasons for the move: “As of September 21, 2023, Call of Duty®: Warzone Caldera will shut down, as our teams focus on future Call of Duty content including the current Warzone free-to-play experience.”
Among the content they refer to is Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile, which continues its expansion into more regions and allows for cross-progression with its big brother, Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 (currently titled Call of Duty: Warzone). Finally, Activision notes that the closure of the first installment has “no impact” on gameplay, inventory or progression in Al-Mazrah and the other available maps.
Released in March 2020, Call of Duty: Warzone was one of the games released at the gates of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. This, combined with the game’s groundbreaking take on Call of Duty: Black Ops 4′s Blackout, allowed it to skyrocket in its first few months. Verdansk is already part of the history of the series.
Source | Activision