Call of Duty will have one battle pass spread across Warzone, Modern Warfare, and Black Ops Cold War
There's some big changes coming to Activision's franchise
Activision is grouping Call of Duty: Warzone, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and the upcoming Black Ops Cold War together, so all three titles share equipment, weapons, unlockables, and more.
In a massive blog post over on the Call of Duty website, Activision revealed future plans for all three games. Firstly, you can see the full slate of updates for Black Ops Cold War's crossover event with Warzone, which includes a new "experience," new Zombies modes, 2v2 Gunfight returning, and more.
Next, there's a big level syncing initiative from Activision across Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Warzone, and Black Ops Cold War. Starting in December, when Season One kicks off for the latter game, levelling progress across all three games will be shared. So if you manage to level up in Black Ops Cold War, this will be reflected on your Warzone player card. Although your rank will be reset when this happens, you'll keep all your unlockables earned so far.
Next, there are weapon crossovers for all three games. Any loadout you create in either Modern Warfare or Black Ops Cold War can be deployed in Call of Duty: Warzone, so you're going to see plenty of Cold War and modern-day-themed players running around Verdansk come December. As with player levelling, your weapon-based levels will transfer between all three games.
New Operators from Black Ops Cold War are also coming to Warzone. Starting on November 13 when Black Ops Cold War launches, Operators from that game will be available in Warzone, and any Operator-specific unlocks will carry across both games. The only exception is Frank Woods, who will remain a pre-order bonus for those who pre-purchased Black Ops Cold War.
Additionally, there'll be one overarching Battle Pass for all three games. The first Battle Pass, which debuts in December, can be progressed through Warzone, Modern Warfare, and Black Ops Cold War, with rewards shared across all three games.
Finally, you'll no doubt be familiar with Call of Duty's in-game storefronts for cosmetic items. All items purchased in the specific storefronts for all three games will transfer over, so they're locked to your account wherever you go. So if you purchase the weed-related bundles in Warzone, you'll be able to use them in Black Ops Cold War. Perfect.
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Phew, that was a lot of information to take in. Rounding out the announcement on the Call of Duty website is a commitment to cross-gen play: you'll be able to play with and against players on your current console generation and the next generation of hardware, no matter the multiplayer mode.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War launches next week on November 13, for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. On day one, it'll be available on PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.
For a full look at all the other games set to release over the rest of the year, take a look at our new games 2020 guide.
Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.