Modern Warfare battle royale mode reportedly releasing post-launch, free-to-play

Joe Craven

Rumors of a battle royale mode in the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare have been hanging around for a while, but new details appear to have surfaced, suggesting it will come as a free mode in 2020.

On August 7, reputable leaker LongSensation, who was the first to leak the game’s title as just ‘Modern Warfare’, tweeted that the game will indeed have its own battle royale mode. 

However, while Black Ops 4 saw Blackout as a default game mode included on release, Modern Warfare’s own version will apparently not be coming until early 2020, when it will be free for players to download.

This follows previous discussions that have taken place at Activision, concerning tapping into the ‘free-to-play’ gaming market, that Fortnite seems to have kicked into overdrive. 

LongSensation also stated that a potential battle royale game “will be downloadable as a separate game, but also will still be connected to the core game”. 

If the rumors are to be believed, it sounds like Modern Warfare’s battle royale will feature weapons and mechanics from the game, but will be available as a separate entity, differing from Blackout in Black Ops 4.

The leaker also suggested details of the how the game will load in, indicating they have seen or heard about the game’s loading process. 

These rumors fit with previous comments made by Infinity Ward developers, who stated that they are “really focused on core multiplayer”. 

The game is set to be released on October 25, 2019, while a battle royale mode would come at least a few months later, in line with Infinity Ward’s suggestions that their focus is on the three confirmed modes: Multiplayer, Spec Ops and Campaign. 

It is key to remember that these reports are not yet confirmed by either Infinity Ward or Activision, and things can always change in game development.