The next major issue with proximity chat is that you can turn it off. The game's settings do not make it clear what that means exactly, but it probably means that those disabling the feature will not be able to hear other players outside their party, nor be heard by anyone else. If players are somehow able to talk without their comms registering on proximity chat while still hearing other players, that would be a huge advantage for players disabling the feature. There's also the possibility that some PC and Xbox players are using a third-party client such as Discord for their voice chat, which could allow them to eavesdrop without being heard themselves. Much like the third-person mode, which I haven't sampled yet, this might be a feature that warrants its own playlist rather than serving as a toggle bar in the game settings menu.

In previous linear versions of the battle pass, the new weapons (which were and remain unlockable to non-battle pass purchasers) would regularly appear in Tier 15 and Tier 31. In this new battle pass model, the earliest players can unlock the BAS-P is after 15 tokens/tiers. It will require a minimum of 20 tokens/tiers to unlock the Victus as soon as possible. The earliest players can unlock both new weapons together requires 30 tokens/tiers. In short, if players prefer one of the new guns over the other, they could earn it a little faster than in the previous battle pass model, and will get the second gun one tier earlier if they charge after both new guns as quickly as possible.

When the development team at Infinity Ward rolled out the massive playing area of Verdansk for "Call of Duty: Warzone," they viewed it as a starting point. After what game director at Infinity Ward Jack O'Hara describes as a short break, they turned their attention to building their next map -- Al Mazrah, the sprawling environment that is Call of Duty's biggest battle royale map to date, and serves as the battleground for "Warzone 2.0," which releases Nov. 16. "We started on this map straight after Verdansk," O'Hara said. "We kind of rolled from that one to a little bit of a breather and then we started laying the foundations for the next map, which is Al Mazrah. It's a chance to refine what we did last time and a chance to build on all the lessons."

Again, the logic would dictate that Activision wants to migrate all its old "Warzone" players into "2.0," While Activision may have allowed players a way to continue to access all of their old unlocked/purchased content, it's doubtful the company would want its old free-to-play game to compete with its new one.

Call of Duty's importance to Activision Blizzard, and to the gaming industry as a whole, is indisputable. It is one of the best-selling game franchises of all time. Scrutiny around Activision Blizzard's proposed acquisition by Microsoft for $68.7 billion has centered around the potential for the Xbox-maker to mark Call of Duty as an exclusive title, pulling it away from PlayStation -- a threat that recently drew PlayStation and Xbox CEOs into a rare public sparring match. Following the release of "Call of Duty: Mobile" in 2019 and "Warzone" in 2020, shares of Activision Blizzard stock spiked to a high of over $103 per share in February 2021. Over the past two years, the company reallocated studios and resources from around the globe to fuel the Call of Duty franchise. Then in the summer of 2021, a sexual harassment lawsuit against Activision Blizzard filed by the state of California on behalf of company employees sent share prices careening under $60 by December, reportedly leading to the proposed sale to Microsoft in January 2022.

This time around, some of the things you unlock for one gun can carry over to another. These are universal attachments such as optics, muzzles, ammunition types and underbarrel attachments. For example, if you unlocked a suppressor or 4x scope on an M4, it'll be unlocked and ready to use on another gun that's compatible, such as an AK-47. Then there are attachments such as barrels, lasers, stocks and receivers that are platform-specific. A platform is a subcategory for variants of a gun modeled after a base design: The AK-47 platform includes the default AK-47 (assault rifle), RPK (light machine gun) and AK-74u (submachine gun).