Raven Software to re-enable the Champion's Quest for Call of Duty: Warzone after disabling the challenge to 'protect the integrity of the experience'

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone Season 1 Reloaded content reveal
(Image credit: Activision)

What you need to know

  • The Champion's Quest is a special challenge contract offered to Call of Duty: Warzone players who have had 5 consecutive wins or earned 30 wins overall.
  • Completing the quest allows the squad to activate an endgame scenario as a win condition. 
  • A new Champion's Quest challenge was added to Warzone as part of the Season 1 Reloaded update on january 17, but then disabled by Raven Software to "protect the integrity of the experience."
  • Players will once again be able to attempt their Champion's Quest challenges on January 18 when the contract goes live again at 10AM PT/1PM ET.

Call of Duty players are all too familiar with the phrase Update requires restart. When they see that message today at 1 PM ET (10 AM PT), however, it will be because Raven Software has flipped the switch to re-enable the Season 1 Reloaded Champion's Quest in Call of Duty: Warzone. Warzone and its adjacent premium title for the year, which is currently Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, receive ongoing updates on a large scale every 30 days. 

On January 17, the development teams behind Call of Duty (including Sledgehammer Games, Treyarch Studios, and Raven Software) released Season 1 reloaded. This update was a halfway point between Season 1 and the upcoming Season 2, and it was expected to introduce a few new mechanics to the Warzone experience. One such addition was the reintroduction of a fan-favorite win condition known as the Champion's Quest. 

This special contract is a challenge that can only be available to players who have won 5 games of Warzone consecutively or 30 games collectively. Earning the contract gives the squad with a Champion's Quest token an opportunity to complete challenges while in a Warzone match. Complete all the challenges, and your squad can initiate an endgame sequence that declares you the victor.

Shortly after the Champion's Quest was launched with Season 1 Reloaded, Raven Software disabled the new challenge. At the time, Raven Software shared on social media that "the current state of the update does not meet our standards for quality and gameplay, and we are committed to addressing the issues promptly to ensure that all players can enjoy #Warzone to the fullest extent possible." Raven Software reiterated this statement with its follow-up tweet announcing the return of the Champion's Quest, further stating that the decision to disable the Champion's Quest feature was made "to protect the integrity of the experience while chasing those Ws."

For those who had already made progress in their Champion's Quest contracts, progress has been saved, and those squads will be able to pick up where they left off when they launch Warzone after 10 AM PT/1 PM ET.

Player response to the Season 1 Reloaded update has been critical. Players reacted so negatively to a planned Covert Exfil mechanic that would have allowed for a secondary win condition without reaching the end of the battle royale that the option was removed before the update was even launched. A third feature heavily promoted for the Season 1 update, Treyarch's Ranked Play mode, has also been delayed. A lengthy list of weapon balance adjustments was also released with the Season 1 Reloaded patch notes. Despite Call of Duty's update woes, Modern Warfare 3 was recently declared the best-selling game of December 2023.

Cole Martin
Writer

Cole is the resident Call of Duty know-it-all and indie game enthusiast for Windows Central. She's a lifelong artist with two decades of experience in digital painting, and she will happily talk your ear off about budget pen displays.