Call of Duty: Warzone's Season 3 update is a merciful 25.2GB

cold war season 3
(Image credit: Activision)

It's new season week in the world of Call of Duty, and that means a barrage of updates from Activision about what's next for Black Ops – Cold War and Call of Duty: Warzone. We'll learn more about Warzone's changes later this week, but for now, we at least know how much disk space Season 3 will take up, as outlined in a new Cold War Season 3 blog post. Activision also confirmed that Season 3 will launch on April 22 across both games.

Call of Duty update downloads have a reputation for being enormous, but after Season 2's gigantic midseason patch that shrank the overall size of Warzone, it looks like Season 3 will go a bit easier on us. Here are the update sizes across all platforms:

Warzone

  • PC: 25.2GB
  • PS5/PS4: 25.6GB
  • Xbox Series X/S/One: 25.9GB

Cold War

  • PC: 13.1GB
  • PS5:12.3GB
  • PS4: 8.1GB
  • Xbox Series X/S: 11.6GB
  • Xbox One: 8.3GB

The meat of the blog post is Cold War's Season 3 roadmap. The four new multiplayer maps, new scorestreak, and two more vehicles are standard fare at this point, but four interesting guns are on the way alongside a few  fun surprises. In keeping with Cold War's fascination with classic Black Ops arcade modes, the crossbow/ballistic knife-themed Sticks and Stones mode is returning. Yes, that also means the ballistic knife is coming to Cold War/Warzone.

cold war season 3

(Image credit: Activision)

Here are the new Multiplayer maps coming to Cold War:

  • Yamantau (6v6)
  • Diesel (6v6/2v2/3v3)
  • Standoff (6v6)
  • Duga (Multi-Team, in-season)

New weapons are a big deal, too, especially considering they'll be arriving in Warzone at the same time. We're taking a step back to WWII with the PPSH-41, the classic square barrel SMG that I couldn't put down in World at War. Also interesting is the CARV.2, a boxy burst-fire assault rifle with a similar shape to Black Ops 1's G11 without the strange top-loaded magazines. The PPSH, K31, and Ballistic Knife are all coming in week one of Season 3, but the rest aren't coming until later (likely the midseason turnover).

Here's the full weapon list for Season 3:

Win more with these Warzone loadouts

(Image credit: Infinity Ward)

Best Warzone loadout: The gear to choose
Best M4A1 Warzone loadout: Top all-purpose AR builds
Best MP7 Warzone loadout: Effective SMG setups
Best Grau Warzone loadout: Strong AR builds
Best M13 Warzone loadout:  Attachments to choose
Best Kilo 101 Warzone loadout: Boost the punchy AR

  • PPSH-41 (SMG)
  • Swiss K31 (Sniper rifle)
  • CARV.2 (Tactical Rifle)
  • AMP63 (Pistol)
  • Ballistic Knife (Melee)
  • Baseball Bat (Melee)

Season 3 also adds four new operators, one of which is a 1984 version of Captain Price. Season 2's jungle-themed operators didn't do anything for me, so I'm excited to see the cold weather looks of Wraith and Knight. Wraith and Price are the only operators dropping with the launch of Season 3.

  • Wraith (Launch)
  • Knight (In-season)
  • Captain Price
  • Antonov (In-season)

Cold War's update is coming tomorrow, April 20 at 9PM PT and Warzone's is dropping 24 hours later on April 21 at 9PM PT. You'll have to download them separately if you're playing both games. Season 3 isn't officially set to 'begin' until April 22, so content included in these updates may be inaccessible until Activision deems it so.

Those are the Season 3 highlights, but there's still a gaping hole in all of this that has yet to be filled: the Warzone nuke event and what it could mean for its Verdansk map. Signs point to a new map being introduced this week, possibly the revamped Verdansk map that was leaked a few weeks ago.

Morgan Park
Staff Writer

Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.

Read more
black ops 6 season 1
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 3 has been delayed, as the devs say they're 'taking the time to deliver a great experience' for what will be a 'big moment' for Call of Duty
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2 will let players battle on boats and bullet-trains, with the Terminator entering the fray 'shortly after launch'
A soldier looks out over the Verdansk map, as a single tear rolls down his cheek.
The original Verdansk map is returning to Call of Duty: Warzone, to celebrate which we get a soldier crying to Nat King Cole
Squid Games soldiers in masks
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 hits peak lack of awareness with its Squid Game skins which, unfortunately, look rad as hell
Characters with guns next to a train
Call of Duty's development budget ballooned by $250 million between 2015 and 2020 to an eye-watering $700 million
Black Ops 6
Call of Duty devs admit Ricochet anticheat 'did not hit the mark for integration' at the start of Season 1, and want to do better
Latest in Call of Duty
A soldier looks out over the Verdansk map, as a single tear rolls down his cheek.
The original Verdansk map is returning to Call of Duty: Warzone, to celebrate which we get a soldier crying to Nat King Cole
black ops 6 season 1
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 3 has been delayed, as the devs say they're 'taking the time to deliver a great experience' for what will be a 'big moment' for Call of Duty
A zombie santa with six fingers leaps at the screen.
Call of Duty admits it's using generative AI to 'help develop some in-game assets', and suddenly all those poorly made calling cards make sense
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Black Ops 6.
Call of Duty's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover costs like $90 and even the die-hards are in shellshock: 'Cash cow-abunga!'
Ghost, from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022), looks bleakly at a fellow passenger in a transport.
For COD’s sake: One player’s 763-day legal quest to make Activision unban their account ends in total success: ‘Worth the effort’
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2 will let players battle on boats and bullet-trains, with the Terminator entering the fray 'shortly after launch'
Latest in News
Mechs fight on the outside of a spaceship
MechWarrior 5: Clans is getting DLC with playable Elementals and a fight on the outside of a spaceship
Aloy - Horizon
'I feel worried about this art form:' Unsurprisingly, the real Aloy from Horizon isn't a fan of AI Aloy
Crying laughing emoji with disturbing realistic elements for REPO
REPO's first update will add a new map and a 'duck bucket' so we can finally give that pesky quacker a time out
Man facing camera
The Day Before studio reportedly sues Russian website for calling infamous disaster-game a 'scam'
Will Poulter holding a CD ROM
'What are most games about? Killing': Black Mirror Season 7 includes a follow-up to 2018 interactive film Bandersnatch
Casper Van Dien in Starship Troopers
Sony, which is making a Helldivers 2 movie, is also making a new Starship Troopers movie, but it's not based on the Starship Troopers movie we already have