Call of Duty: Warzone celebrated its anniversary on March 10, with videos and special stat trackers released to celebrate the occasion. While Verdansk has evolved plenty over the past year, as new points of interest and mechanics have been added through every seasonal update, the map could be leaving sooner rather than later. While rumors about the nuke event’s March 11 start date will likely not be true, everything else seems to be legitimate — meaning that Verdansk could be leaving the game forever.

From voice lines and mechanics to the map that will replace Verdansk, Call of Duty: Warzone leakers have been uncovering and sharing as much as possible about the event. With the same sources leaking the arrival of Zombies in the first place, the rumors are likely to be true, and Call of Duty: Warzone seems to be setting the stage for an explosive moment in the near future. While some fans be ready to see Verdansk go, others may be sad when it leaves, so players that love the map should spend time with it while they can. Based on the following leaks, the fictional country’s days are numbered.

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The rumors began long before Zombies ever showed up in Verdansk, with dataminers finding evidence of a possible nuke event in the game’s code. Further, nuclear devices became a big focus, as a missile was found inside Verdansk. While Activision and Raven Software seemed to be building up to something with the nuke, a cutscene ending Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s Warzone storyline put the rumors to bed, as Captain Price disarmed the bomb. While this unsurprisingly caused the discussion to die down for a time, the leaks soon started up once again, and this time they were proven legitimate.

Several Call of Duty: Warzone leakers claimed that a ship would be arriving in Verdansk, and sure enough, the Vodianoy made its debut in Season 2. The rumored cargo of Zombies was shown to be accurate, as players have been killing them to complete challenges and open the yellow crate for the past two weeks. With these rumors proving true, players quickly took note of all the other nuke event leaks, and the list of rumors quickly began to pile up further. With Activision itself teasing the addition of more Zombies inside Verdansk, the another leak seems accurate.

Call of Duty: Warzone leakers @WarzoneNewz and @ModernWarzone have suggested that the nuke will be launched in response to an increase of Zombie hordes. Currently, the undead are limited to the shipwreck, with the location’s name crossed out in red on the map. Players believe that more locations will be crossed out over the next few weeks, with Zombies eventually covering most of the map. Players will then drop the bomb themselves as a last-ditch effort to contain the outbreak. Intriguingly, machines in each of Call of Duty: Warzone’s weapon silos seem to show the current infection rate, and these same terminals will likely be used to launch the nuke.

The actual Verdansk nuke event will supposedly take the form of a game mode called Plague. The leak comes courtesy of the aptly named @ZestyCODLeaks, with the mode’s description stating that “zombies have overrun Verdansk.” Players will need to “take it back,” with a nuke detonating if they fail to do so. This description lines up with several voice lines that were leaked, all of which highlight objectives mentioned in the description. The lines mention players needing to fight for their lives, failed extractions, and a 5-minute warning before the nuke goes off.

How exactly players will take back Verdansk remains to be seen, though one area players will need to fight through has been teased by Activision. Streamer Swag items sent out by the publisher mimic a Gulag prisoner’s jumpsuit, and the card attached teases a “ghoul-ag.” How exactly Zombies will function inside this reworked Gulag remains to be seen, though players do seem to know that they will be coming to the 1v1 arenas in some form. Though other areas will surely be infected, this is the first one that has been teased, with the spread making sense given the shipwreck's close proximity to the prison.

Based on the leaks thus far, it seems like Call of Duty: Warzone players will need to attempt to purge several infected areas of Zombies. If they do not do so within a certain time, the nuke will drop, giving fans a brief chance to escape before the bomb detonates. While successful and failed attempts at the Plague game mode seemingly end the same way, other leaks make it seem as if only one ending is canon. Surprisingly, it is the players’ failing, as Verdansk being nuked will supposedly lead to some massive changes going forward.

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Part of what makes the Call of Duty: Warzone nuke event rumors so interesting is the supposed aftermath of the bombs being dropped. Several leakers have stated that Verdansk being destroyed will not just be the ending of a failed Plague match, but the end of Verdansk as a whole. According to @WarzoneNewz, this shocking turn of events will be used as a way to celebrate the game’s anniversary while also ushering in a bold new era for the battle royale title.

Aside from previous leaks from the same sources proving to be legitimate, part of what makes this seem possible is the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Thus far, the only change made to Verdansk has been the Zombie-filled shipwreck, with the game not having a full map of its own in Call of Duty: Warzone. Supposedly, Verdansk’s replacement will be 80s-themed, which is the same time period in which the latest Black Ops title is set. With that game’s Fireteam and Outbreak maps seemingly being pieces of a whole, players have theorized that they will come together to form one huge Ural Mountains map for Warzone. Not only does this line up with the leaks, but given the fact that Verdansk is made up of Modern Warfare’s Ground War maps, it fits with the pattern shown thus far.

Still, taking away Verdansk is a huge risk. While fans have been wanting a new map for some time now, taking away the play space that has been expanded upon for over a year is a bold move. Still, it would surely get fresh eyes on Call of Duty: Warzone. With so much evidence in favor of the nuke event, as well as Verdansk’s removal, it seems more likely than not that it will happen soon. While it is unclear when this will all go down, what does seem clear is that Call of Duty: Warzone will never be the same if it does.

Call of Duty: Warzone is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

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