Summary
Call of Dutyis one of the longest-running and most successful AAA gaming franchises of all time. Over the past several years, Activision has carefully steered the direction of the franchise with the help of Treyarch, Infinity Ward, andSledgehammer Gamesto make it a live-service juggernaut. Still, the popularity of the older games is undeniable, which has causedCall of Dutyto regularly lean into nostalgia and reference beloved maps of the past.
Call of Dutyplays into nostalgia not only by routinely remastering classic maps like Nuketown for each game in theBlack Opsseries, but also by incorporating smaller maps or nods to those maps in newer, larger ones. Multiplayer examples of this trend includeBlack Ops 2’s Cove featuring Hijacked in its out-of-bounds area, or more recently, Highrise being visible when looking outside the play space ofModern Warfare 3’s version of Das Haus. However, multiplayer and Zombies maps have also been re-used in the series' battle royale modes, with Zombies itself also incorporating some of its maps inside newer releases.
Call of Duty: World War 2’s Headquarters modefeatures a version of the classicModern Warfaremap Shipment.
Call of Duty: Warzone Incorporates Many Maps In Verdansk and Rebirth Island
The biggest map ever featured in aCall of Dutygame was produced forWarzone, as the game needed a playing area big enough for dozens of players to have their own experience at once. This means that all-new areas were created and carefully designed to fill outmaps like Verdansk, while iconic older maps, integral toCall of Duty’s legacy, were reintroduced to take center stage. SinceWarzonehas close ties to theModern Warfareseries, many maps fromMWgames were picked to fill out the map.
These maps include Terminal fromModern Warfare 2, a map so popular in the community that it is often regarded as one of thebestCall of Dutymultiplayer maps. There’s also Broadcast, integrated into the TV Station point of interest, as well as Overgrown and Scrapyard.
This theme continued in the game’s recently released sequel,Warzone 2as well, which also integrates Terminal and Quarry maps fromModern Warfare 2in the primary mapAl Mazrah. The following is a more precise overview of map integrations withinCall of Duty: Warzone:
Industrial and residential area combo.
Industrial Area
Sprawling battleground with strategic depth.
Verdansk 84 also featured some classic Call of Duty maps, with Black Ops 1’s Summit and Black Ops 2’s Standoff being integrated into the 1980s-themed version. Additionally, the Gulag has featured Gunfight multiplayer maps like Gulag Showers as well as “new” homages to maps like Nuketown.
Call Of Duty’s First Battle Royale Map Incorporated Older Maps, Too
ThoughWarzoneis by far the franchise’s most popular and successful attempt in the battle royale genre,Call of Duty’sfirst outing in this genre came in the form ofthe Blackout modeincluded inBlack Ops 4.Besides offering a solid gameplay experience and making a case for why the games can easily transition into a bigger map, Blackout incorporated parts of many older maps to fill out the playing area, with enough changes to the layout to make the map more compatible with bigger, slower-paced combat.
The area on Blackout’s map that is sectioned off is calledNuketown Island, an obvious reference to another famousCODmap, Nuketown. It was expanded upon to fit in better with the new game mode, featuring more cover/houses to loot, more distance between the two main houses, and a bridge that leads to the main playing area available in Blackout. Another older map, Asylum fromCall of Duty: World at War, was reimagined for the “Asylum” section of Blackout’s map and was based on the classic Zombies map Verruckt. The Lighthouse from Call of the Dead, underground town from Buried, and Diner from TranZit are other re-used locations from the iconic round-based mode. Blackout’s map cameos are as follows:
The Alcatraz Blackout map reuses a vast majority of Mob of the Dead/Blood of the Dead, as the Zombies maps were set in Alcatraz prison.
Maps From The Zombies Game Mode Also Show Up In Newer Titles
Call of Duty’sZombies modebecame a breakout hit upon its first appearance inWorld at Warand has subsequently reappeared in every game in theBlack Opsseries, as well as non-Treyarch games likeCall of Duty: WW2. The mode features maps that are so intricately designed and developed that only a handful are made for each game in the franchise, withBlack Ops 3receiving a total of five brand-new maps throughout its life cycle.
Since these maps gain their own cult following with time,Treyarch, the primary developer of theCall of DutyZombies mode, tends to reintroduce them in some form in future maps. Below are examples where specific segments of classic Zombies maps are visibly incorporated into larger maps from the newer games.
Appears in
Moon(Black Ops)
Classified(Black Ops 4)
Reintroduced as a bonus area where players can teleport to for Pack-a-Punch.
Alpha Omega (Black Ops 4)
Adapted as a standalone Zombies map for Black Ops 2.
Forms the core of the larger map, integrating classic and new elements.
World at War
Der Anfang (Vanguard)
Shi No Numa is one of the places gamers teleport to for objectives.
