CoD fans might have missed out on first Warzone and got a different game

It appears that Call of Duty players were about to witness Warzone in a different mode by Treyarch back in 2018 — Call of Duty players were reportedly about to witness the first Warzone in the form of an ambitious mode by Treyarch over six years ago (Image via Activision)

It appears Warzone was originally intended to be the name for a mode by Treyarch Studios in Black Ops 4. This lesser-known fact was recently disclosed by a reliable insider who mentioned that WZ was reportedly the actual name for Treyarch's ambitious Blackout battle royale mode from 2018. Interestingly, this info is based on a past conversation among the CoD developers themselves.

This article provides key details regarding Blackout's original title of WZ which was eventually changed.

Warzone was reportedly Blackout's original title before 'Call of Duty Warzone' came into existence

Trusted scooper @Nocturnal2002 recently dropped a post on X while sharing a secret detail about Treyarch's BR mode Blackout, which was part of Black Ops 4.

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According to the insider, Blackout wasn't always going to be the title for Treyarch's battle royale mode. In fact, its original name was supposed to be Warzone. This claim is based on a discussion that took place between the developers, Treyarch, in 2019, several months after Black Ops 4's global release.

For those unaware, Treyarch conducted a livestream for BO4's Operation Grand Heist back in February 2019. Towards the end of the session, the host who was also Treyarch's Director of Communications, John Rafacz, was joined by the studio's Senior Designer Matt Scronce, and former Studio Design Director David Vonderhaar.

During the discussion, Matt Scronce provided a build-up for David Vonderhaar to mention a name (presumably for Blackout mode).

Vonderhaar then said "Warzone" without elaborating anything. Looking back at the aforementioned post from the insider, it appears that Warzone might have been the actual name for Blackout. However, due to Infinity Ward working on a proper battle royale iteration in the franchise, since 2017, Treyarch reportedly had to use a different name for its BO4 mode.

A still from WZ's latest iteration (Image via Activision)

While Blackout debuted in October 2018, the WZ battle royale was eventually launched in March 2020 during the lifecycle of the rebooted 2019 Modern Warfare.

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Edited by Dinesh Renthlei