When Warzone first dropped players into Verdansk in 2020, it redefined the battle royale landscape with Call of Duty’s trademark intensity. Since then, the mode has cycled through maps, mechanics, and even a full reboot, but with Black Ops 7, the franchise is promising its most intentional evolution yet when season 1 rolls out.
Raven Software’s Francesco Galletti described their approach to us during the Call of Duty NEXT briefing as simply this: the team’s “guiding star this year is to evolve carefully and intentionally.” Warzone isn’t being reinvented; it’s being streamlined and optimized in addition to getting new content.
Like last year at Call of Duty NEXT where the Area 99 resurgence map was first revealed to the world, and where I won the first ever round of it at the event, a new resurgence map is coming to Warzone when it gets its Black Ops 7 integration shortly after it releases.
Haven’s Hollow: Warzone’s All-New Resurgence Map
The headline addition to Warzone in 2025 is Haven’s Hollow, an entirely new Resurgence battleground set in the heart of the Appalachian mountains. Expanding outward from Liberty Falls, the setting mixes rural Americana with Black Ops intrigue, resulting in Warzone’s most colorful and visually striking map to date.
Smaller than Fortune’s Keep but slightly larger than Rebirth Island, Haven’s Hollow was designed around clarity and fast-paced engagements. Its nine points of interest balance competitive flow with nostalgia, even nodding to Shattered Veil’s mansion.
It’ll be familiar for Zombies players since it’s based on reimagining existing assets, but it’s the first time these areas will be used in a battle royale scenario. Highlights from the POI descriptions provided by Matt Krystek, Creative Director at High Moon Studios, include:
- Main Street – Dense interiors capped by the bank rooftop, a natural hot drop.
- Riverboat – A multi-level combat zone with two ziplines and rooftop control that minimizes long-range sniping threats.
- Research Center – A modern complex built around a risky courtyard station.
- Coal Depot – A crossroads ambush spot with no windows, forcing players into high-stakes rooftop decisions.
- Mansion (Redesigned) – Expanded interior routes and an attic connecting rooftops, minus the zombies’ underground section.
The result aims to deliver players a vibrant new sandbox for Resurgence, and we got a little hands-on time playing trios (45 players total) today that certainly encouraged tight, aggressive skirmishes. The largest structures stand only 3-4 stories tall, and rooftops provide some notable hot drop spots. In our two rounds we were not able to fully explore each POI.
Verdansk Lives On, With a Twist
Verdansk has always been the heart of Warzone, so much so that it returned and took over once again as the game’s one and only large battle royale map, and in Black Ops 7 it continues with more than just nostalgia. Season 1 introduces two significant points of interest that reshape how players move through the iconic map.
- Factory (Reimagined): Once known for airplane manufacturing, Factory now houses a rocket. Factory’s interiors that you may recall from its 1984 version, have been overhauled with simplified materials for improved enemy visibility, and numbered buildings make callouts cleaner for squads under fire. It remains a hot drop, but the redesign encourages faster reads and more tactical control.
- Signal Station (New POI): South of Military Base on the frozen lake, Signal Station stands out as one of Warzone’s more innovative additions yet. This radar complex introduces a new layer of strategy with objectives that, once completed, upgrade the tactical map itself. The reward is a live heatmap showing player density across zones, triggered by a sonar pulse that emits from the player and lights up a grid, revealing enemy player density by zone. It’s not just a POI, it’s an information advantage that could decide late-game rotations.
These updates ensure give Verdansk a bit more life. Factory caters to aggressive early-game squads, while Signal Station’s unique mechanic could tilt the balance of power in high-level matches. Although the heatmap system won’t be available at Call of Duty Next, it is set to debut with Season 1.
Warzone Gameplay is Evolving With Black Ops 7
Rather than overhaul Warzone’s DNA, Raven and Treyarch are tightening its mechanics around competitive clarity and meta stability, using data and feedback to make some notable changes.
- Weapons: Back to five attachments, with Overkill made default, meaning you can always have two primaries in your loadouts. More importantly, for the first time ever, Warzone weapon tuning is separate from multiplayer, meaning faster meta updates and adjustments without disrupting the broader COD ecosystem. Ground loot is stronger, more consistent (no RNG builds), and even themed seasonally. Expect suppressed loadouts during a stealth-driven season, as an example.
- Movement: Tactical sprint is removed by default, but folded into the Sprinter perk, while a new combat roll ties to the Mountaineer perk for both mobility and fall survivability.
- Perks: Rebalanced to encourage variety beyond Ghost and Tempered. You can have hybrid builds and still receive bonuses, and some perks have been buffed across the board.
- Equipment: The new Needle Drone joins the arsenal, while legacy items like throwing knives are gone (combat axe stays). Powerful items such as the Pinpoint Grenade must be found in-world, not equipped in loadouts. The most Black Ops-flavored addition might be the Echo Unit, a holographic clone of your operator that copies your stance and weapon, designed to draw enemy fire.
- Quality of Life: Over 140 improvements from last year carry forward, joined by new tools like weapon build sharing that I discussed in my Black Ops 7 reveal cover story.
Looking Ahead to The Future of Warzone And The Return of Blackout
At Call of Duty NEXT in Las Vegas, hundreds of us, creators and media, got our first taste of an early version of the revised Warzone: Verdansk trios with 150 players and Haven’s Hollow Resurgence trios with 45 players. But the real story will be how Season 1 and beyond evolve Warzone’s foundation.
During the broadcast, a few surprise but vague announcements were made, including a “refreshed take on Rebirth Island coming to Resurgence in early 2026,” but zero details on when or what. They also teased more stuff coming to Verdansk coming in the spring, but again, there’s not much coming in season 1 and no details on what’s next.
The biggest surprise through Qa a tease that in 2026, Blackout (the first Call of Duty battle royale experience that was included in Black Ops 4) is making a return within the Avalon map featured in the Black Ops 7 co-op campaign. It’s meant to be a new mode that’s an alternative to classic battle royale on Verdansk. I feel like a broken record in saying the obvious: no details were revealed and viewers were told to “stay tuned for more information on these in the next year.”
I was able to livestream gameplay throughout Call of Duty NEXT and you can catch that stream VOD on Twitch or YouTube.
- Released
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March 10, 2020
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs, Violence
- Developer(s)
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Infinity Ward, Raven Software
- Engine
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IW 8.0 & IW 9.0 (Warzone 2.0)
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
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PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S
- Cross Save
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YES
UPDATE: 2025/09/30 16:08 EST BY ROB KEYES
More Details and Surprise Warzone Announcements
During the Call of Duty NEXT live broadcast, while I was playing, a few surprises teases were made about what’s coming to Warzone in 2026. These include the return of Blackout on the Avalon map featured in the campaign, more updates coming to Verdansks, and something big for Rebirth Island. This article was updated to include these details, to add a video and map for Haven’s Hollow, and to update links to my livestream from the event.
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