Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare's free battle royale launches tomorrow

After all the drama and hubub trying to keep things under wraps, Activision have announced a new Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare battle royale game today. It launches tomorrow and will be free to play even for those who haven't bought Modern Warfare. The 150-player matches will take you back to familiar locations all mashed up on one big map and puts a COD twist on a few battle royale features.

The big thing to know is that Call Of Duty: Warzone doesn't require that you own Modern Warfare. It'll be free to play. Everyone can queue up starting at "around 12pm PDT/7pm GMT," Activision say. Players who already own Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare will be able to jump in just a few hours early at 8am PDT/3pm GMT.

There are two game modes: a mostly traditional battle royale mode where squads battle it out to be the last alive and a mode called Plunder where you'll compete in a Cash grab to loot money, kill players to steal it, and complete Contracts during the match. Matches will have a total of 150 players on a large map that's constructed as a mashup of other MW maps: Terminal, Scrapyard, Overgrown, and Broadcast.

It sounds like vehicles will be a big part of both modes, given how prominently Activision feature them in the announcement. Earlier leaks by players who'd gone hands-on suggested that the new mashup map will be quite large, so you'll likely need some speed to stay in the game. You'll be able to get behind the wheel of an ATV, tactical rover, SUV, cargo truck, or helicopter, each with its own passenger limit and protection rating.

The one big departure from your straightforward battle royale looks to be the Gulag, only available in the Battle Royale mode (not Plunder).

"Upon your first elimination, you will be taken as a 'Prisoner of Warzone' and thrown into the Gulag. There you will await your fate and watch other prisoners fight to the death. When your turn is up, you’ll enter the Gulag and face-off against a single opponent in a 1v1 to earn the ultimate reward - redeployment. Win in the Gulag and earn redeployment back into Verdansk. Lose and hope that your squad completes Contracts and earns enough in-match Cash to redeploy you."

There's a bit more to read up on in Activision's announcement post, but those are the highlights for ya. For current Modern Warfare players whose games are up to date, Activision say the download size will be about 18-22GB.

You can find Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare on Battle.net.