Call of Duty: Warzone’s Verdansk map getting an ’80s makeover, according to leak

Call of Duty: Warzone’s Verdansk map is headed to the 1980s, according to some leaked footage. While the clips did first emerge around April Fools’ Day, VGC reports that the footage is authentic, and that the retro reskin “will replace the current Verdansk at the end of the season, with an in-game event marking the transition on April 22.”

Leakers had posted the clips to social media platforms such as Twitter, but they’ve since been taken down due to copyright claims from Activision — which is further evidence that the leak is accurate. The footage is still available on Reddit for now, although it’s just the gameplay clips from the original leaked trailer.

After months of Activision teasing a new map on a new island, it appears that Call of Duty: Warzone will continue on its launch map, Verdansk, for the foreseeable future. The leaked clips — which came from what appears to be a live-action trailer featuring Young Thug and Jack Harlow — show some intercut footage of the ’80s Verdansk. The footage shows Soviet-era buildings and many areas of the familiar map still under construction.

The leaked images specifically show off some of Verdansk’s more famous areas, like the stadium, dam, and airport. All of them have been de-aged in the upcoming map overhaul, with the stadium actively under construction, and the dam replaced with a bridge — making room for more wooded areas in that part of the map. Fans also spotted an underground area that looks new.

Everything in the “new” Verdansk is as ’80s as you’d want, with big, blocky letters adorning the outside of buildings and USSR flags hanging from flagpoles. The new aesthetic is also a noticeable — albeit late — tie to Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War, the latest game in the series, released in November. As the name suggests, Black Ops: Cold War is set in the 1980s, at the height of the Reagan-era war between the U.S. and the USSR.

Fans seem to think players will end up going back in time thanks to Verdansk’s massive nuclear stockpile. That’s something that Activision, Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Raven Software have spent nearly a year teasing via various Easter Eggs and marketing materials.

Many fans on the Call of Duty: Warzone subreddit are upset that this map update seems to be a “reskin” of Verdansk instead of the new map, Rebirth, that was teased last December. Some are even hoping it’s an elaborate April Fools’ Day prank.

It’s currently unclear if or when Warzone will see a completely new map, but all signs point to an ’80s-themed season coming to the battle royale game later this month.