Call of Duty’s free Warzone spinoff is the newest (and maybe last) magnificent battle royale

When Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 launched in 2018, I thought its “Blackout” mode would become the third big battle royale game. Splitting the difference between Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite, between hardcore and cartoony, Blackout felt like a more refined take on those already well-trod ideas, with snappy gunplay and a streamlined interface.

Problem was, you had to buy Black Ops 4 to play it—and then Apex Legends released a few months later, for free, and took all the wind out of Blackout’s sails (and sales).

Activision’s back for round two though, and this time it’s being smarter about it. Warzone, released on March 10, is the next evolution of Call of Duty’s battle royale—but this time it’s free-to-play. owners can launch it from within the usual client, but anyone can download direct from Battle.net.