Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is fast approaching now that the traditional yearly beta test is out of the way. Included for the first time this year was a look at the next iteration of Call of Duty: Warzone, the free-to-play battle royale that ties in with a current year's game.
It's bittersweet for folks still on an Xbox One or a PS4, though, because they weren't able to try out the new Zodiac map, and they're never going to, either.
Modern Warfare 4 will be the first Call of Duty title to drop support for Xbox One and PS4, and along with it, Warzone. The announcement was made back in June, but for now, the game is still playable.
That's going to change fairly soon, though. Here's what's already happened, what's going to happen, and crucially, when we think the final shutdown will happen.
Why is Call of Duty: Warzone on Xbox One and PS4 being shut down?
The simple answer is that Warzone is shutting down on Xbox One and PS4 because Modern Warfare 4 will not be on those platforms.
Despite Warzone being free-to-play without any requirement to own the latest Call of Duty game, crucially, it integrates with each year's new game.
As Modern Warfare 4 will be taking over from Black Ops 7, and it won't be supported on the last-gen consoles, Warzone will no longer be playable.
When do we think Call of Duty: Warzone is shutting down on Xbox One and PS4?
The official documentation states:
"Call of Duty: Warzone on PlayStation 4 and XBOX One will be available to play through the end of Season 06 for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7."
Activision hasn't given an exact date yet, but we can make an educated guess based on how the new games have rolled out in previous years.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will release on Friday, October 23, 2026. The assumption may be that this is when the Warzone shutdown will happen, but it's not that straightforward.
Traditionally, the Warzone integration doesn't go live when the new game launches. It follows on when Season 1 of said new game begins.
In the case of Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, Season 1 began 20 days post-launch of the game, and this is when Warzone was updated with the new game's integration. In the case of Modern Warfare III, it was actually almost a week longer.
We expect Season 06 to begin on September 17, given it's both a Thursday and the date the Season 05 battle pass expires. Unlike the jump from Black Ops 6 to Black Ops 7, where there was a month without a seasonal update, it looks like this year's transition will leave us with content right to the very end.
This year isn't an in-house transition like the past two Treyarch releases. Given how long the seasons in Black Ops 7 usually are, we could be looking at Season 06 ending after Modern Warfare 4 launches.
This means Xbox One and PS4 players could have until around November 12 to keep playing Warzone. But we'll know for sure once Season 06 begins when we can expect it to end.
But it wouldn't be crazy to assume that Black Ops 7, the Season 06 content, Battle Pass, and Warzone that is linked to it all could remain live this long. It would be about 20 days after the Modern Warfare 4 launch, too.
Can I still get Call of Duty: Warzone on Xbox One and PS4?
For now, you can only play Warzone on Xbox One or PS4 if you have previously added it to your library.
No new downloads are being offered on either console, but if you're a past player, you can still reinstall it and play until the shutdown date.
The store is also disabled now, despite showing up in the launcher. You're unable to spend anymore money or redeem COD Points.
What happens to all the stuff I've bought in Call of Duty: Warzone on Xbox One and PS4?
The in-game store has been closed for a while now, preventing players from spending real money via the Xbox One and PS4 versions.
But your purchases aren't disappearing. Because you have an Activision ID in order to play, all those purchases are tied to your account.
As such, if you log in on another platform at any time, you'll have everything there waiting for you.
I don't have an Xbox Series X|S, PS5, or gaming PC, so how can I keep playing Call of Duty: Warzone
If you don't have more current hardware to move to or don't want to upgrade, you're all but out of options.
You do, however, have the ability to play Warzone via the cloud, either through Xbox Cloud Gaming or NVIDIA GeForce Now. The former, you can use on your Xbox One.
Is it the same experience? Not totally. The visuals and frame rate will certainly be an upgrade (especially on GeForce Now) but you do have to consider that you will have some additional latency concerns.
The game will be playing on a piece of hardware that's in someone else's building. While server latency in the game won't be too bad, you then have to stream the game to your own device. Cloud gaming has come a long way, though, and unless you're the absolute most competitive player, it might well be good enough.
The downside is that you're going to have to pay, even though NVIDIA does have a free tier. This one is limited to an hour's play, and you have no priority access, so if the servers are full, you'll be in a longer queue. And who wants to be chucked out in the final circle?
Likewise, you can't play Warzone via the cloud for free with Xbox Cloud Gaming, either. Ultimate gets you the best quality stream, but you can play via the cheaper tiers, too.
So, that's where we're at. While Warzone has indeed been playable on Xbox One, it's hardly been the best experience. The Xbox One X still does OK, but being attached to the Xbox One generation it has to say goodbye, too.
But there's still probably a couple of months at least left to play from the time of writing this, so enjoy.
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