In the latter part of last week, it was announced that Call of Duty: Warzone Caldera — otherwise known as the original version of Warzone before 2.0 came along — would be shutting its servers on September 21st, 2023.
In a message to fans, it was explained that the focus was now on "future Call of Duty content including the current Warzone free-to-play experience". Here's a brief extract from the statement:
"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."
"All Caldera gameplay, player progression, inventories and online services will expire on that date."
As you can probably imagine, this hasn't gone down well at all with Warzone Caldera players, many of which have been pointing out that some of the money they spent on the game is basically now wasted:
It's undoubtedly been an angry reaction from Call of Duty fans over the past few days, but it seems unlikely that Activision will end up extending the lifespan of the original Warzone at this point — even despite the seemingly large player base. Ultimately, it seems the focus is on trying to migrate everyone over to the new version ASAP.
In terms of what's to come, Activision simply says that players should "prepare for even more Warzone content across consoles and PC", while the upcoming Warzone Mobile will also include a shared Battle Pass and cross-progression.