This might be a snowy peek at Warzone's new map in Black Ops Cold War
A few pinches of salt needed
Looks like a data miner has potentially discovered footage of Warzone's new map within Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's files. Someone posted four short clips over on Reddit which show multiplayer maps coming to Cold War, but their file names each begin with "wz_" which suggests they'll be reused as locations in the Warzone map. We may need to get our skiis on.
The data miner, "MrEarthboundFan" has certainly been around for a while, having dug out camos, voice packs, and more dating back to the Infinite Warfare days. Asked where these new clips came from, they responded "PC preload files". Black Ops Cold War's PC beta runs this weekend, and you can download it in advance.
If we take a look at the first clip, titled wz_forest_loadingmovie, it certainly bears a resemblance to one of the maps featured in a new mode, Fireteam: Dirty Bomb.
Warzone's current map Verdansk is, by and large, a Frankenstein's monster of locations spliced together from Modern Warfare's multiplayer maps, so it's plausible we're seeing footage of Cold War multiplayer maps which could make up key locations in the new battle royale playground.
The next clip, wz_forest_ftdboutro, looks to be in the same place, judging by the file name and it being in - quite literally - the same neck of the woods.
We move onto two clips titled wz_ski_slopes_loadingmovie and wz_ski_slopes_ftdboutro, which is curious considering ski slopes were mentioned in a previous supposed leak of Warzone info. YouTuber "XclusiveAce" said it was going to be set in Russia, and named locations including Chemical Lab, Duga, Zoo, and, yep, Ski Slopes. He later made the video private, but you can read a TLDR on Reddit.
This definitely isn't hard evidence of the new Warzone map, but it does have me pretty excited. As much as I love dropping into Verdansk, it's starting to wear on me a bit. I'm becoming a bit too familiar with it's grey and green and occasionally brown locations. It's certainly not the most thrilling location. So I'm trying to keep level headed when seeing footage of snowy ski slopes up in the mountains and pleasant chalets nestled in the woods because it's just what Warzone needs! A proper refresh which gives the map a bit more punch.
A part of me does remain confused as to how the new map will integrate with Warzone and Modern Warfare's current setup. Too many questions remain right now, like whether it'll look like Modern Warfare or whether it'll be undergo a Black Ops makeover, what weapons setups are usable, and whether it's even arriving alongside Cold War's release in November. It likely won't be a long wait until we get answers considering it's just round the corner.
