The recent Activision earnings call announced further changes to the company’s free Battle Royale. CoD: Warzone and CoD: Black Ops – Cold War is integrating soon.
Black Ops premieres on November 13 for PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series, PS5, and PC. However, both games are going to “merge” by December.
Just like Modern Warfare has in the past, the Black Ops setting will change the expanding Verdanks’ map.
Besides that, we’re also talking about the PC specs of CoD: Black Ops – Cold War.
CoD: Warzone changes
Activision announced Cold War and Warzone would work together back in September.
In particular, there’s going to be a progression system that links both titles. Plus, all post-launch updates for Black Ops – Cold War will be free for all players.
During the earnings call, Activision chairman Rob Kostich explained:
“All the awesome new Black Ops Cold War weapons and operators you unlock and your level 1 to 55 progression will be usable in Black Ops and in Warzone.”
In other words, you can unlock operators, skins, weapons, and other usable items for CoD: Warzone by playing the other game.
CoD: Warzone going to the future
Over 80 million people worldwide have downloaded the free-to-play Battle Royale. Currently, CoD: Warzone is going through its Season 6.
The way Activision is approaching the title is a landmark in live service games. As it stands, Warzone’s evolution will always be tied to the yearly CoD title.
There’s still going to be Battle Passes and buyable items, sure. Still, it’s hard to compete against a free game that goes through a yearly thematic overhaul.
That said, CoD: Warzone is set to remain relevant for years to come, just as long as the CoD franchise remains a best-seller of the fps genre.
There’s a downside, though. Playing the overhauled version will tease you the main game. And, well, the man game has some nasty system requirements.
CoD: Warzone December update
We must note CoD: Warzone is not trading its game engine to meet Black Ops standards. There’s not going to be a graphic overhaul.
According to leaks by ResetEra -and Activision developer,- Warzone will remain on the current Infinity Ward engine.
Moreover, Warzone will remain a cross-gen title. That said, moving the game to Black Ops’ visual engine would make it struggle on the PS4/Xbox One generation.
Remember, Black Ops is a Treyarch / Raven Software game. It means it looks different and has distinct gameplay mechanics than Modern Warfare / Warzone.
As far as content goes, Activision hasn’t explained what’s coming to Warzone in December. For now, we know there’s going to b a new Battle Pass, new weapons, new operators, and probably a new map area.
Moreover, you can choose your Modern Warfare / Cold War lodouts (gear) on Warzone matches. That may bring imbalance to the game, so we shall see.
here’s what Kostich said to GameSpot:
“All the awesome new Black Ops Cold War weapons and operators you unlock and your level 1 to 255 progression will be usable in Black Ops and in Warzone. We expect Season 1 for Black Ops Cold War and Warzone to launch this December. And that’s when you’re going to be able to start to see the impact of Black Ops and Warzone really starting to work together in cool and fun ways. Again, [there are] a lot more details here, which we’re going to reveal in the next week or two.”
Season 1
Warzone will get Black Ops – Cold War content on December 1. The day coincides with Cold War’s Season 1.
However, the free Battle Royale won’t cut ties with Modern Warfare. The expanding Verdanks map is probably staying, for example. Moreover, owners of the pricier counterparts can choose Black Ops / Modern Warfare loudouts for their Battle Royale matches.
More so, Warzone recently got a zombie update, which is tied to Modern Warfare. We doubt this content will fade away soon.
Black Ops – Cold War could eat your entire SSD
Activision revealed the PC specs of Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War.
Whereas the GPU and CPU requirements are accessible for 1080p gaming, it requires a lot of space.
CoD: Warzone already takes about 210 GB of storage. Most people would take days, weeks, even months downloading the file with their internet speeds.
Black Ops: Cold War is no different. The game requires 175GB of space. If you wish to enjoy it as a next-gen title, you’d need 250GB SDD storage. If you’re running on a small SDD -125/250GB – that’s a no-go.
However, you can choose to install the multiplayer mode on the SDD, ad the single-player campaign on the HDD. The multiplayer mode takes only 50GB. That’s the average amount of most modern games.
Aside from those requirements, things are getting crazier by the day. Activision is recommending Nvidia’s latest RTX 3080 GPUs for 4K, full ray-tracing, and about 90fps. The RTX 3070 would also be the right choice, but both cards are unavailable in the USA, let alone outside of the USA.
Low-end
The minimum bar does not exclude anyone as COD titles have a wide quality range. You could play with a GTX 970 or equivalent, a 2dn Intel Core i5 or equivalent, plus 12GB of RAM.
We found lower specs on the multiplayer mode. You’ll need a GTX 670, a 4th gen Intel Core i3, and 8GB of RAM.
If you’re looking to be as competitive as possible, I’d recommend playing Black Ops – Cold War on 1080p / 1440p. The same is to say about CoD: Warzone.
Be that as it may, please remember there’s an 8GB 3060 Ti coming soon. Its price point will be apparently around $450, the current MSRVP of an RTX 2060 Super.
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In Summary
CoD: Warzone and CoD: Modern Warfare has gotten a lot of heat for their storage requirements.
With the coming Warzone expand, we’re expecting its file to grow over the 250GB mark.
A recent patch did reduce Modern Warfare’s size to 170GB, down from 220GB. Hopefully, we can get a similar reduction in Cold War.
That said, its PC specs don’t look encouraging. The video-game market keeps pushing 4K as the mainstream tech. However, the latest Steam survey showed a vast majority of gamers still play on 1080p, with a modest GTX 1060 GPU. Makes us wonder, is UHD worth the money over 1080p?
It’s going to take quite some time until most of us catch up to the industry’s quality standards. For all else, we can enjoy the highest quality on the PS5 or the Xbox Series consoles for way less money.
For example, Assasin’s Creed is running at 4K, full ray tracing, and 60fps on the PS5. You’d need a $1500 gaming rig for a similar performance.
