Call of Duty’s Season 5 update to clash with Esports World Cup

Call of Duty‘s fifth seasonal update of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Warzone cycle is set to clash with the Esports World Cup.

Following the launch of Season 4 on May 29th, 2025, the in-game battle pass timer says Season 4 will release on August 7th.

As a result of the August 7th release date, the update for Call of Duty‘s multiplayer and battle royale offerings will go live during the Warzone tournament taking place as part of the multi-title event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

It’s unclear if the launch of the update will impact the tournament, which will begin on the final day of Season 4. In previous Call of Duty tournaments, the build used for qualifiers is used throughout an event.

The Esports World Cup Foundation, organiser of the Esports World Cup, has yet to reveal whether the event will switch once the update goes live.

The Warzone tournament at the Esports World Cup is one of the biggest events of the battle royale’s esports season. Twenty-one teams from across the world will compete using the Resurgence format for the lion’s share of a $1m (~£737,955) prize pool.

Despite Warzone’s esports scene continuing to grow, it is rarely prioritised when an update takes place. Instead of developers pushing a release date back to a later date in order to avoid a clash, the update will go live regardless of whether a high-stakes tournament is taking place.

With the majority of the title’s audience playing on a casual basis, Activision prioritises its larger player base, which makes sense to avoid widespread backlash.

Considering Warzone esports is experiencing renewed interest, it will be interesting to see whether the Esports World Cup will remain on the Season 4 build to maintain some kind of continuity.