Warzone Players Aren't Happy About This Rebirth Island Change

Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War kicked off a series of changes and integrations for the franchise's battle royale game, Warzone, including adding the mode's first new map, Rebirth Island. While modifications to Warzone's meta and the new battleground have received mixed reactions, it seems the community had grown attached to Rebirth Island's trios game mode, judging from the negative fan response to its replacement by a new mode.

While the addition of 29 new weapons and a revamped progression system that came with Black Ops – Cold War have taken some getting used to for fans, many appreciated the change of pace that Rebirth Island brought. The much smaller map hosted only 40 players, but it also placed them in close quarters firefights from the moment that squads hit the ground. The Resurgence Trios game mode featured unlimited free respawns for squadmates, creating a fast-paced atmosphere that combined elements of battle royale and traditional multiplayer matches.

As with most new Warzone gameplay modes, Resurgence Trios was rotated out and replaced to encourage players to try something new. Now players hoping to experience a faster-paced Warzone match will have to join Rebirth Island Quads Mini Royale, which tightens the map even further with a smaller circle and removes unlimited respawns.

Warzone players took to Reddit to express their dissatisfaction. One post, which has received over 2,200 upvotes, says, "Just when I started to enjoy the game again (since the Cold War integration curse happened) with the new casual game mode and racked up some wins, they have to remove it." Another fan expressed their agreement and general frustration, asking why the mode had to go and imploring the developer to "give the people what they want."

One area of particular contention is introducing the Gulag mechanic to the map, which doesn't guarantee teammate respawns. This can, in turn, make it harder to find teammates who will stick around through the entire game. One Redditor appeared to actually be in favor of this change, writing, "it's my favorite [limited time mode] yet because randoms don't back-out after they instantly die."

While eliminating a fan-favorite game mode is distressing for players, Infinity Ward has a long history of experimenting with different gameplay approaches in Warzone. Veteran Call of Duty players may remember that in Season 3, the standard trios mode was removed from Verdansk altogether to encourage players to use the much-requested Quads mode. Fan reaction was negative at that time as well.