Activision Just Killed Call of Duty’s DMZ Mode — and No-One's Surprised

ign.com:

Activision has announced Call of Duty DMZ will no longer receive new content updates, sounding the death knell for the mode.

The Infinity Ward-developed DMZ launched last year as part of Warzone 2.0, and went down well with fans and critics. Its sandbox extraction gameplay riffed on the likes of Escape from Tarkov, and offered something a little different for Call of Duty. "It’s a really fun and refreshing change of pace between rounds of battle royale," we said in IGN's Warzone 2.0 review.
However, fans of DMZ have complained about a content drought this year, with some lamenting a lack support compared to Modern Warfare’s traditional multiplayer and the battle royale. It didn't help that Activision called DMZ a “beta”, which raised further questions about its status and whether or not it would launch proper. Fans feared the worst after DMZ skipped the recent COD Next reveal event, although Activision insisted it planned to continue support.

DMZ players’ fears were realised yesterday when Activision issued a statement that confirmed DMZ will be relegated to the bowels of the much-maligned COD HQ launcher, and progression in Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone will not sync or carry back to the mode. Similarly, DMZ progress will not apply to new battle passes with the launch of Season 1 next week. It’s worth noting that DMZ remains free-to-play and accessible through Warzone.

Here’s Activision’s statement in full:

Perhaps the only glimmer of hope here for DMZ fans is that Activision suggests extraction gameplay is something that may make it into future open world experiences, whatever they may be. Modern Warfare 3 launched with an open world Zombies mode, which is now the priority.

The DMZ community is now in mourning, although