Somehow Call of Duty: Modern Warfare continues to leak more and more information about the rumored battle royale mode "Warzone," hinting at some interesting features. Along with several different vehicles, various weapon types and equipment, and an in-mode store, there's also been several significant leaks about the massive scale of Warzone and how it might be a defining factor of the Modern Warfare battle royale.
It's been leaked that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's battle royale mode is going to feature a large player count and an even larger world map. With so many players and such a massive environment, Warzone is likely going to change the squad and team dynamics in Modern Warfare to adapt to such a large player count.
Two of the most talked about leaks coming from the Warzone info drops refer to its sheer size. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's battle royale mode is rumored to support up to 200 players per match, on a massive map nearly four times the size of Blackout from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. This purported player count is larger than any mainstream battle royale game out there, meaning it's twice the size of Fortnite and more than three times the size of Apex Legends. Pair that with the gigantic environment that's been leaked, it poses some several questions as to how the gameplay is going to make use of Warzone's massive scope.
One of the main concerns is likely going to be squad size/team size and how that factors into the gameplay. Most battle royale games constrain teams to around three-to-four teammates maximum. Some limited time modes in Fortnite have had larger squads, but it's never been a permanent mode players can select. While this is likely constrained by a variety of factors, it mainly boils down to balance and how too many players could create unfair advantages. Battle royale modes are generally designed with team composition in mind, so having more than four squadmates can often complicate things.
This also partially explains why most cooperative and competitive games/game modes only support four or five player squads. From a competitive standpoint, teams can more or less become more fragile the larger the player count becomes. Assuming the environment can even support it, larger team counts leaves less room for error, which can equate to frequent and greater losses. Blackout had a similar issue being one of the smallest 100-player battle royale maps made so far, but Modern Warfare's battle royale mode may be much bigger anyway.
From a cooperative standpoint, the most impactful concern is how player counts dictate coordination and communication between teammates. Players will inevitably yell over each other if there's too many voices and things going on. Even large scale multiplayer shooters like Battlefield have always segmented squads into teams of four for similar reasons. Even Battlefield 5's Firestorm only supported squads up to four players
Bring on Modern Warfare's supposed 200 hundred player count battle royale, and that introduces a whole new can of worms. The safe assumption would be that Warzone is going to have 50 squads per full game. 50 squads of four teammates could potentially lead to a lot of smaller-scale potential skirmishes clashing together at once. Picture a squad attacking another squad in a battle royale: every once in a while another squad may come along and interrupt this skirmish in their favor. The element of surprise comes to their aid, allowing the tertiary squad to catch both enemy squads off guard and take them both down.
Now consider this happening between four, five, maybe even six squads interacting with each other all at once. Should Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's Warzone follow the battle royale convention of an enclosing space, which is likely considering Modern Warfare Season 2's teaser trailer, this hypothetical could easily become a reality. As huge as the rumored size of the Warzone map may be, it may not even matter when the more competitive squads are going to live longer. The longer they live, the closer they get to the safe zone, meaning more squads are going to face each other in tighter quarters. Squads less than four teammates wouldn't even be considered at that point.
Obviously development had to take this into consideration when implementing such a large player count. Many have since expressed concerns regarding the leaked battle royale map size, citing the likelihood of overcrowding spaces with players. A unique solution would be to make squads permanently larger, such as increasing the teams to six or eight total teammates. That way the overcrowding is condensed and purposeful, and aligns similarly with existing modes like Ground War. No other mainstream battle royale game/mode has a squad size larger than four, so it would be a solid distinguishing factor for Modern Warfare's Warzone.
Paired with some of the existing mechanics in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, it would make sense for such a large-scale battle royale mode to have larger teams. Assuming Warzone implements Modern Warfare functionality like killstreaks, equipment, vehicles, etc., smaller squads would be easily demolished by any team that gets these advantageous items first. Squads of six or eight, at the very least, won't necessarily be wiped by one single air strike or ordinance item.
Overall, assuming the leaks for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's Warzone mode are true, there are understandable concerns. Should Infinity Ward totally adhere to battle royale conventions, it may not transfer well into a battle royale mode that's double the size of its counterparts. Assuming Warzone breaks from the mold in the aforementioned ways, it could easily become one of the greatest battle royale iterations thus far.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.