Opinion: How Warzone Ruined Call of Duty

Image Credit: Activision, Call of Duty Warzone

Remember when Call of Duty was all about those intense multiplayer matches and a solid campaign? I do, and it's hard not to miss it. While Warzone did bring some excitement initially, it feels like the final nail in the coffin for what used to make Call of Duty a great game.

When Warzone dropped, it was during a time when we were all stuck at home back in 2020, and to be honest, it hit just right. But over time it started feeling less like an extension of Modern Warfare and more like a takeover of the whole Call of Duty experience as a whole. Now it feels like everything in Call of Duty revolves around Warzone — from the multiplayer, which feels like an afterthought these days, to the ridiculous weapon balance changes and cosmetics made just to fit the Warzone meta and theme.

Warzone didn’t just introduce battle royale to Call of Duty, it majorly changed the franchise’s entire focus. The mainline multiplayer modes were once the backbone of the series, and people loved grinding out their prestiges, unlocking weapons, and finding the best setups. Now? It's all about what's going on in Warzone, with multiplayer seemingly just a vehicle to support it on the side.

The issue is that Warzone isn't what Call of Duty should be. It's a free-to-play game with battle passes, cosmetics, and meta-chasing loadouts. It turned what used to be a competitive and fun multiplayer experience into something somehow more sweat-filled, with more focused on keeping up with the latest overpowered gun than just enjoying the game.

Image Credit: Activision, Call of Duty Modern Warfare

Let's not even get started on battle passes. When battle passes first started popping up, it felt like we were moving away from the loot box era — a good thing, right? Sure, but battle passes bring their own set of problems and frankly I’m tired of them being forced into every single game. Now, instead of unlocking cool gear just by playing, you’re stuck grinding through a linear (often premium/monetized) track or missing out forever. And don't even get me started on the absurd skins — Nicki Minaj and Messi in Call of Duty? What happened to any sense of immersion and being a badass soldier?

It feels like Activision has forgotten what made the older games fun. They’re pushing FOMO harder than ever with exclusive skins and limited-time rewards, and people keep opening their wallets, keeping this frustrating cycle alive.

Warzone also brought another problem to the table: the dominance of loadouts and meta weapons instead of looting around the map. In Warzone, if you're not using the best gun with the best attachments, you're at a disadvantage. The whole system revolves around loadouts, which kills a lot of the excitement of looting and improvising with whatever you can find in games like PUBG (which was one of my all-time favorites). Blackout, the battle royale mode from Black Ops 4, did this way better I think. It forced you to scavenge and adapt, rather than rushing to the nearest loadout drop or be forced to work with whatever you could find.

Even in regular multiplayer, Warzone’s influence is painfully obvious. Balance patches revolve around what's broken in the battle royale, not what's actually fun or competitive in the 6v6 modes. And Ranked Play? Good luck. It's filled with Warzone-style movement and the same meta-dominating garbage.

Image Credit: Activision, Call of Duty Black Ops 2

Warzone has also dragged Call of Duty into a weird place where the games don’t know what they want to be and trying to do way too much on their own. Do they want to be gritty, military shooters? Or do they want to be Fortnite-style skin showcases with crossovers from Attack on Titan and The Terminator (ugh…)? Warzone’s popularity has turned Call of Duty into a painfully obvious marketing machine first instead of a game, and the original charm, if you could call it that, that made games like Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops so iconic has been lost underneath.

Call of Duty used to have a clear identity, and now it feels like a Frankenstein of whatever is trending. Battle royale, FOMO marketing, meta-chasing—it’s all here, and none of it feels like Call of Duty anymore.

Can It Be Fixed?

Look, Warzone unfortunately isn’t going anywhere. It makes too much money. But maybe there’s still hope for the rest of the series. Black Ops 6 is around the corner, and I can only hope they don’t tie it the same way into Warzone the way they have with every other recent release. Call of Duty desperately needs to get back to what made it good — tight multiplayer maps, balanced gameplay, and the joy of unlocking stuff just by playing, not by grinding battle passes or dropping money on ridiculous skins.

The saddest part? There’s still a dedicated group of fans that just want that old-school experience back, but as long as Warzone is here we’re being pushed out more and more each iteration of the game.