Tag: Call of Duty Warzone

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Microsoft says it’s ‘confident’ it can get Call of Duty: Warzone on Nintendo Switch

Microsoft is optimistic that it could overcome the technical limitations of the Nintendo Switch to bring Call of Duty to the platform.

In a filing to the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Microsoft outlined what could be done to make good on its 10-year “binding” agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty games to Nintendo platforms should its acquisition of Activision Blizzard be approved.

According to Microsoft, the engine powering the popular battle royale series is “mature and has been optimized to run on a wide range of hardware devices.” This includes the Xbox One, a nearly 10-year-old console, and PC GPUs “released as far back as 2015” — both of which predate the Switch’s 2017 launch. Further, Microsoft notes that Activision also offers a (yet-to-be-released) mobile version of Warzone that “runs natively on mobile phones which have much lower performance specifications than the Nintendo Switch.”

More specifically, Microsoft said there are “standard techniques” that have been used for Switch ports of the likes of Apex Legends, Fortnite, Doom Eternal and Crysis 3. On top of that, Microsoft says it’s “confident” in Activision Blizzard’s developers, who have a “long history of optimizing game performance for available hardware capabilities.”

Of course, this is all hypothetical until Microsoft actually owns Activision Blizzard. As it stands, European regulators are still deliberating on the deal, although Reuters reported last week that Microsoft’s deals with the likes of Nintendo and Nvidia have helped stave off governmental anti-competition concerns. Sony, for its part, has staunchly opposed the acquisition, arguing that Call of Duty would give Microsoft an unfair advantage. Most recently, the company expressed concerns that Microsoft might release inferior versions of games on PlayStation.

We’ll know for sure which argument ultimately wins out when the CMA delivers its final ruling on April 26th.

Image credit: Activision

Source: Microsoft

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Mobile Syrup

Call of Duty: Warzone is heading to mobile in 2023

Activision’s Call of Duty: Warzone is one of the top battle royale games currently, alongside Apex Legends and Fortnite. The latter two can boast their availability for gamers on the go, as both titles are available on mobile.

Fortunately, Call of Duty: Warzone players would also soon be able to brag about being able to play their favourite battle royale game on the go, as the title is heading to iOS and Android in 2023.

Information regarding the title was shared during the CODNext Showcase Event. The mobile title will feature the original fan-favourite Warzone map Verdansk. Everything you’ve come to expect from Warzone on PC and consoles will be ported over to the mobile version, including kill streaks and the Gulag.

Up to 120 live players can join a single match, and the mobile title will share the same weapons and operators as the PC and console title. On the other hand, the title will also bring mobile-specific gameplay experiences, playlists, events and content.

The mobile title will also share battle pass progression with PC and console, so you can play the game on either platform and work towards progressing, alongside a shared friends list and chat.

Pre-registration for the mobile title is now open on the Google Play Store.

Image credits: Call of Duty

Source: Call of Duty

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Mobile Syrup

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Warzone reveals coming September 15

Activision has confirmed that a special ‘Next’ event will be held on September 15th to provide more details on the next installments in its Call of Duty series.

The main highlight of the showcase will be the reveal of the multiplayer mode of this year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. Additionally, Activision announced that the early access beta will immediately follow on September 16th and 17th on PlayStation consoles and Xbox consoles and PC starting September 24th alongside cross-play support.

Further, the Next stream will offer a look at the “next Call of Duty: Warzone,” its free-to-play battle royale game. We’ve known about a sequel to 2020’s popular Call of Duty: Warzone for some time, an official reveal has yet to be made. The previously confirmed mobile version of Warzone is also set to be featured in the stream.

All eyes are on this next wave of Call of Duty titles after Vanguard, last year’s entry in the annualized franchise, underperformed. In its most recent earnings report, Activision Blizzard had 94 million monthly active users across all of its Call of Duty titles, down 28 percent from the 127 million in June 2021.

News of the Next stream also comes as Activision Blizzard is embroiled in its own controversies. Amid widespread allegations of a toxic “frat boy” work culture that CEO Bobby Kotick reportedly worked to cover up, employees and contractors have worked to unionize, only for the company to attempt to squash these efforts. Microsoft’s planned takeover of Activision Blizzard is also still undergoing regulatory approval worldwide.

Source: Activision

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Call of Duty’s Ricochet anti-cheat now prevents cheaters from seeing opponents

Raven Software and the Call of Duty development team are releasing new anti-cheat measures.

As the kernel-level Ricochet system continues to evolve, it’s now hitting Call of Duty: Vanguard. With that, the teams have announced that a new cloaking countermeasure is also rolling out.

The new cloaking “mitigation” makes it so that any player known to be cheating is unable to see opponents while in-game. Thanks to the cloaking anti-cheat measure, all honest players are invisible to the hacker. This even extends to sounds made by footsteps and notifications created by bullets. This measure aims to make it so the hacker gets frustrated and stops cheating altogether. Additionally, the leaderboard no longer displays hackers who face a ban.

A Ricochet update blog post published by the Call of Duty team confirms that cheaters will still be visible to regular players. Theoretically, this could be a somewhat humorous way for those players to grief cheaters. In a similar fashion, the Ricochet system includes a damage shield mitigation technique that prevents cheaters from dolling out damage to opponents.

The Call of Duty teams continue to monitor and bans known cheaters daily and in bulk. During the most recent wave of bans, 54,000 accounts were prohibited from playing. Though they are consistently monitoring the landscape and utilizing Ricochet, the development teams encourage players to use in-game reporting tools as well.

Last year, Ricochet hit Call of Duty: Warzone as a kernel-level driver. The anti-cheat is only active when the game is running. In theory, this decreases any risk of interruption or issues with other games and software. However, it’s not a guaranteed solution to hackers using auto-aim bots and wallhacks to gain the upper edge.

Image credit: Activision

Source: Call of Duty Via: Engadget

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Snoop Dogg arrives as a playable operator in COD: Warzone and Vanguard

A few weeks ago, news broke that Snoop Dogg will soon be available in Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Warzone, Call of Duty: Vanguard and Call of Duty: Mobile. While the American rapper has been present in Call of Duty: Mobile since April 1st, he is now available as an operator in Warzone and Vanguard as well.

The new Snoop Dogg Operator bundle comes with a usable Snoop skin, a “Bong Ripper” gun blueprint, a “West Coast Bling” gun blueprint, a “Tha Shiznit” blueprint, “The Original Gangsta” emblem, a “Tactical Toke” highlight intro, “Finishizzle Movizzle” finishing move, “Hit this, fam” MVP highlight, a “Mellow Metal” charm and a “High Art” spray.

As one would imagine, the bundle is full of pot references, from the “Hit this, fam” highlight to the marijuana leaf-shaped “Mellow Metal” charm and “High Art” spray. The “Bong Ripper” gun blueprint has weed nugs instead of bullets, and all weapons in the bundle come with green weed Tracer Rounds.

The bundle costs 2,400 CP, which is $26.99 CAD.

The Snoop operator agent will have his own in-game voice lines, progression path and a biography. Like other operators, Snoop’s character can be levelled by getting regular and headshot kills, hipfire kills and wins while using him.

Additionally, through Snoop’s progression path, COD players can unlock “several XP and PPSH-41 Weapon XP rewards, as well as two Sprays, two Operator Quips, a Calling Card, a Sticker, an Emblem, a Weapon Charm, a Vanguard-exclusive Killcam Vanity, and four alternate Operator outfits.”

Image credit: Call of Duty

Source: Call of Duty

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Snoop is coming to Call of Duty as a playable character

Big Snoop Dogg, who recently joined Faze Clan’s board of directors, is now making his way to Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Warzone, Call of Duty: Vanguard and Call of Duty: Mobile, the franchise announced via Twitter.

This isn’t the first time Snoop has been part of a Call of Duty game. He voiced add-on content for Call of Duty: Ghosts, but this time around, he’ll be a playable character.

“The D O Double G is back in Call of Duty and this time I’m in the freakin’ game! Excited to be working with the COD team to bring some fly features for you all to enjoy. It’s dope….. y’all can play as me and get these sick items that have Snoop written all over them. Check it out,” said Snoop in a COD release.

The franchise is releasing a special Operator bundle that the Snoop skin will be a part of, along with a “new signature weapon based on a fast-firing Legendary SMG that’s gold-plated and diamond-encrusted.” The bundle will release first for Call of Duty: Mobile users on April 1st, though it won’t be a purchasable bundle. Rather, a lucky draw will decide who gets the bundle. COD says more details regarding the lucky draw would be shared next week.

The Snoop Operator bundle on Vanguard and Warzone will be different from the mobile one, and will include ten items. The bundle will release in-game on April 19th at 10am PT/1pm ET.

To be blunt, it would have been better if the Snoop bundle came a day later, on 4/20.

Learn more about the upcoming bundle here.

Image credit: Call of Duty

Source: Call of Duty

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Mobile Syrup

Activision confirms Call of Duty: Warzone is coming to mobile

Activision has officially confirmed that Call of Duty: Warzone is coming to mobile.

Notably, the announcement came via a tweet from the official Activision Twitter account about job postings.

Specific details on the battle royale game weren’t provided, although the wording in Activision’s blog post — an “all-new, AAA mobile experience” and “built natively for mobile” — suggests it will be standalone and different from the console and PC version of Warzone.

That said, Call of Duty Mobile still offers a robust, fully-featured multiplayer suite that’s quite similar to its console/PC peers. COD Mobile also has its own battle royale mode which draws inspiration from the mainline games but is otherwise its own experience.

Notably, one of the studios that Activision lists are hiring for the untitled Warzone mobile game is Beenox, the Quebec City-based team behind Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered. The Canadian developer has also helped out on other COD titles, including 2019’s Modern Warfare and 2020’s Cold War.

A release window for the mobile game wasn’t revealed, but we do know that a new Warzone title for consoles and PC and a sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare are set to release sometime this year. No gameplay has been shown from either title.

The bigger question surrounding Activision, however, pertains to how it handles its ongoing controversies. With Microsoft’s planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard facing investigations and regulatory approval, all eyes are on the Call of Duty maker and its alleged toxic workplace environment. Last year, the company was sued by California over allegations of a “frat boy culture,” which CEO Bobby Kotick reportedly tried to cover up. More than 1,000 employees soon called for Kotick to step down, although he’s set to remain with the company through the Microsoft acquisition and receive a massive payout.

Source: Activision