Zodiac Is Live — Our First Look at the Next Warzone

Activision dropped Warzone into an open beta for the first time ever this weekend — no preorder, no beta code, just log in and play. The new Resurgence map is called Zodiac, and it's our first real look at the Warzone that replaces the one we're on right now.

It's live August 28 through September 1, running inside the Modern Warfare 4 beta. Zodiac is a 44-player Resurgence map built around a drone manufacturing HQ — offices, rooftops, an underground tunnel network for rotations, and a shoreline. Comparable in size to Rebirth Island, built for the same fast-respawn chaos. Custom loadouts aren't available in the beta — everyone's on hand-crafted default kits and ground loot, so gunskill matters more than your usual loadout crutch this weekend.

What it means for us: this isn't a cosmetic test, it's the actual next Warzone getting stress-tested in public. Movement's tuned tighter than current Warzone — sprint speeds up 3-5% depending on weapon class, ADS strafe speed up 6-10%. Weapons are tuned specifically for Warzone TTK rather than ported straight from Multiplayer.

Zodiac's exact size, full POI list, and whether squad sizes beyond Quads are coming stay unconfirmed — Infinity Ward's holding the rest back for launch. MW4 drops October 23, and the full Warzone integration is expected to follow a few weeks after, going by past years' pattern. Treat this beta as a taste, not the finished product.

Get in before it closes at 10AM PT on September 1 if you want first-hand intel before the rest of the playerbase is stuck playing catch-up.