Activision upset many of their Warzone players on Thursday, when they turned the entire Warzone game into an advertisement for Vanguard and turned off normal modes during the duration of their event.

They hosted an event called "Battle for Verdansk" where players could engage with what amounted to an experiential ad for Activision's upcoming Call of Duty title Vanguard.

In the reveal event, players dropped into Verdansk in a PvE mode where they were tasked with taking out a heavily armored train in Verdasnk, which then ended with the trailer to Vanguard itself. While many players enjoyed their first run taking out the World War 2 era train, players tune quickly changed when they were forced to wait for the return of the normal mode.

The fact that Activision blocked access to all of Warzone's typical modes like Battle Royale and Plunder throughout the early afternoon on Thursday upset many players who just wanted to play the game, not engage with the advertisement. Even players who did enjoy the event complained that they only wanted to destroy the train once before being ready to return to the normal fare of Warzone content.

The decision to take over their BR title with an event is reminiscent of similar events that Epic has featured in their BR title Fortnite. Those events often happen at the end of a season and involve the recreation or alteration of the map in various ways. Activision Blizzard clearly took inspiration for these types of events with this Vanguard event.