Warzone devs explain why Season 1 Reloaded update completely broke the game

Liam Mackay
Warzone operators performing covert exfil mechanic

Warzone’s Season 1 Reloaded update on January 17 was branded the worst Call of Duty update ever after it made the game unplayable, and the devs have explained what happened.

There was a ton of excitement for Warzone and MW3’s Season 1 Reloaded update as it was set to bring new weapons, the Champions Quest nuke contract, and Ranked Play for multiplayer. Unfortunately, due to several game-breaking issues, the game was practically unplayable, and much of the content was delayed.

Players branded it “the worst update in Call of Duty history” and it wasn’t until several hours later that Warzone players were able to play. But what went wrong? Raven Software who lead Warzone’s development addressed the Season 1 Reloaded update in an X post on January 17.

“We’ve been laying the groundwork for the return of some fan favorite features in upcoming seasons, which has required a degree of preemptive setup in our live environment,” they said. “Yesterday’s update shipped with some of that work, and we unfortunately encountered a conflict between live player data and our servers.”

Raven said they became “immediately aware of the issues” and “rallied teams from around the world” to work on fixes. The most game-breaking of these issues were fixed in the early hours of January 18 and they’ve continued to push updates since.

“We – as devs – love this game and apologize for the disruption that resulted from these events,” they wrapped up. “Please know that we hold ourselves to a high standard and yesterday’s issues did not align with that.”

Players and content creators alike took to the replies to thank Raven Software for their transparency and speed in fixing these issues and hoped for more of the same going forward.

After apologizing, the devs gave players a little treat by announcing Specialist Bonus’ return alongside a sneak peek of Rebirth Island, which was already confirmed to arrive sometime in 2024.

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