Warzone Season 5 opens up a Verdansk location with, erm, a massive space laser

Black Ops 6 and Warzone Season 5 is almost here, and even though eyes are starting to swivel towards the reveal of Black Ops 7, the new season is set to deliver plenty of content to both COD experiences. While BO6 receives its final round-based Zombies experience and a remaster of a classic map from the original Black Ops, things are getting pretty wild in Verdansk. As Call of Duty Warzone continues to relive iconic moments from the first Verdansk era, Season 5 will once again open up the doors and roof of Stadium, allowing players to explore inside. However, all narrative responsibilities appear to have been tossed in the trash, because Warzone is picking a rather unusual way to blow the roof off this iconic POI: a massive space laser.

For those like myself that've been playing Call of Duty Warzone since the beginning, you'll no doubt remember how Stadium was initially opened up to players. A squad of Shadow Company mercenaries, led by Lerch, flies a chopper onto the top of the arena and detonates a bomb, causing the roof to cave in. The soccer pitch and all the interior rooms of Stadium then became accessible to players during a match, with loot and secrets scattered inside. This was a golden era for one of the best battle royale games around, and now we're about to relive it all over again. However, this time things are a bit more… unusual.

In the new trailer released for COD Season 5, we see the roof of Stadium being blown apart not by a bomb, but by some kind of laser weapon that's hidden above the clouds.

This isn't just a cinematic explaining why the roof is now open either - this is going to be an in-game event that players can trigger by completing the new Satellite Hijack contract. Available in the first week of the season only, this "multi-step" contract will allow you to fire the Death Star-esque laser from orbit and grant you (and the rest of the lobby) access Stadium's interior. From week two onwards, this contract goes away and Stadium remains permanently opened up. A small-scale Resurgence LTM taking place just in Stadium will also arrive at this point.

I suspect - similarly to how the Stadium initially played a big role in helping Activision reveal Black Ops Cold War with an in-game event - this laser of doom is connected to Black Ops 7, somehow. Maybe some tidbits and secrets will be unearthed in Stadium once we've blasted a hole in the top of it?

When Season 5 drops, Warzone players will also be able to try out some new weapons from the battle pass. There's the PML 5.56 light machine gun, which has a huge 100-round magazine and a rapid rate of fire, and the ABR A1 assault rifle, which is clearly a homage to the AUG from older COD titles.

There's a bunch of events and extra content coming mid-season, and there'll no doubt be a sizable balancing patch too, but you can get the full rundown on what's being added to the game right here.

Warzone Season 5 kicks off on Thursday, August 7.

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