6 days Ago By Brad Norton
Warzone developers made it a priority to keep CoD’s ‘craziest’ skins available for use in the returning Verdansk, explaining that it was all out of ‘respect’ for the community. Despite saying Warzone ’s original map would “never” be seen again, Verdansk indeed returned to the CoD BR. April 3, 2025 marked the comeback for the iconic location as Warzone players could drop back in for the first time in three years and some change.
While much of the original experience was kept intact, a few new tweaks were certainly noticeable and perhaps none quite as pronounced as the evolution of cosmetics. Back during the initial run of Verdansk, weapon and Operator skins were fairly ordinary. The most visually striking collabs were still humane, be it Die Hard skins or horror movie icons, they were all rather tame.
In the years since, skins across CoD titles have gotten a bit more outlandish. From anime weapons to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , it’s a huge jump from what Warzone once was. But with the return of the classic map, devs didn’t want to turn back the clock in every possible way.
Thus, all the weird and wacky modern skins are still in effect out of ‘respect’ for the players. Warzone devs explain why ‘crazy’ skins were kept in Verdansk return Speaking with IGN , Warzone Game Director Pete Actipis stressed how the team wanted to “create the best version of Verdansk possible. “Part of that is just understanding the reality of where we’re at.
We’re in a Black Ops 6 year. So at the end of the day, we still are dealing with differences in loadouts and weaponry and even operators.” Had the team instead chosen to disable all manner of newer skins in Verdansk, aiming for a more realistic approach like the original version of the map, it may have been seen as ‘disrespectful’.
As Actipis explained, “part of [it] was respecting players’ purchases” throughout the years. Related Warzone veterans believe Verdansk map return is a “waste” without this staple feature “As a player, I’ve invested X amount of time, money, whatever it is, and this is who I like to play with. Okay, we could have restricted weapons and operators, but then it creates this big friction moment for players who are like, ‘I just want to play the game.
I want to have fun in my mode.’ “I know some players might have more of a stance on it, like, ‘I want it to be pure mil-sim.’ But the spirit was to make it welcoming for all players.
” Raven tells IGN they do not intend to restrict crazy skins in Warzone "Part of that was respecting players’ purchases...
we could have restricted weapons and operators, but then it creates this big friction moment for players...
I know some players might have more of a stance on...
pic.twitter.com/bYIOOd35FR So if you’re upset seeing otherworldly TV show characters or literal teddy bears with guns in your lobbies, tough luck.
Devs have made the decision to uphold years of purchases in the CoD store. This is the complete opposite of how the situation was handled with Warzone’s transition into Warzone 2 in 2022. At that time, all previously purchased cosmetics were left behind , much to the dismay of the community.
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