Warzone fans say good riddance to “terrible” Caldera map

Ryan Lemay
Warzone Caldera artwork

September 21 marks the end of an era as Activision shuts down Warzone Caldera’s servers, yet some community members have already moved on to what lies ahead.

Warzone 2 launched in November 2022, but Activision left servers open so players could go back and revisit Caldera. Several content creators such as ZLaner, bbreadman, and JoeWo flocked back to the jungle map in March 2023 because of their frustration with WZ2.

However, Caldera became nothing more than an afterthought as Activision went on to add three more battle royale maps. And even when Caldera replaced Verdansk in December 2021, it quickly became abundantly clear that the player base preferred MW 2019’s sprawling city landscape over Vanguard’s remote island.

So as Activision officially turns off Caldera’s lights for good, the farewell appears to be much sweeter than bitter on the way out.

Warzone closes Caldera chapter but fans don’t bat an eye

On September 20, CharlieIntel confirmed: “It is officially the final full day of Call of Duty: Warzone Caldera.”

The Call of Duty insider elaborated that Modern Warfare 2019, Black Ops Cold War, and Vanguard multiplayer servers will remain active, but Warzone 1 servers are being shut down for good on September 21.

Instead of spending Warzone 1’s final day sending Caldera off in style, community members weren’t too eager to revisit the jungle map again.

One player responded: “Good, we can bury the worst map ever and never speak of it again.”

A second user added: “In my final game on Caldera I got downed three times inside 30 seconds by a bomber plane before quitting the application and deleting it.”

Despite not sharing any sympathy for Caldera. WZ1 shutting down brought up good memories of playing Verdansk during the battle royale’s heyday in 2019. “The end of an era. Caldera won’t be missed, but Warzone 1 will be. WZ arguably got most gamers through lockdown,” a third commenter argued.

Players quickly turned their attention from Caldera to whatever Sledgehammer Games has been brewing up for Modern Warfare 3 Warzone.

About The Author

Ryan is a former games writer for Dexerto. Ryan graduated from Ithaca College in 2021 with a sports media degree and a journalism minor. He gained experience as a writer for the Morning Times newspaper before joining Dexerto as a games writer. He mainly writes about first-person shooters, including Call of Duty and Battlefield, but he is also a big FIFA fan.