Warzone PS4 and Xbox One Shutdown: What to Do Now

You turn on your PS4 after work, pick up the controller, and Warzone simply will not let you in. No patch notes, no countdown. The squad you have played with for years is already on a newer console, and your locker of skins feels like it went dark with the servers.

That is the Warzone PS4 and Xbox One shutdown in practice. Activision switched the game off on last-generation consoles on November 6, when Modern Warfare 4 Season 1 went live. If you are still on old hardware, you now face a real money decision with prices higher than they have ever been. This guide covers what you keep, what you lose, and the cheapest way back in.

How the Warzone PS4 and Xbox One Shutdown Unfolded

The shutdown did not happen overnight. Activision wound the game down in stages over five months, and each stage removed something different.

• June 4: Warzone left the PS4 and Xbox One digital stores. New downloads stopped.
• June 25: The in-game store closed on both consoles, so COD Points could no longer be spent there.
• November 6: Modern Warfare 4 Season 1 launched and Warzone stopped being playable on last-gen hardware.

Those dates come from Activision's own Warzone platform update page. Insider Gaming and GGRecon both reported November 6 as the switch-off date, with November 5 as the last full day to play.

Modern Warfare 4 skipped last-gen entirely. Thurrott reported in May that the new game would launch October 23 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, with a Switch 2 version also announced and no support for last-gen consoles. Once the new game skipped PS4, the free battle royale tied to it was always going to follow.

What Moves With You and What Stays Behind

This is where most players get confused. Activision splits your stuff into two buckets, and they follow different rules.

The bucket that travels

Your full progression and every item you bought with COD Points live on your Activision account, not on the console. Sign in on a PS5, Xbox Series X|S or gaming PC with the same linked account and they show up. Your levels, weapons and operator skins come with you.

The bucket that is locked to a console family

Two things are tied to your PlayStation or Xbox account instead:

• Unspent COD Points. Whether you bought them or earned them through the Battle Pass, they only work on the current console in the same family.
• Content bought with real money on the console store. Bundles you paid for in dollars, not points, follow the same family rule.

So a PS4 player's leftover points appear on a PS5. An Xbox One player's points appear on an Xbox Series X or S. Neither set moves to PC, and neither crosses from Sony to Microsoft or back.

The Console Family Rule Decides Your Cheapest Path

Here is where it gets practical. The family rule means your cheapest upgrade is not always the cheapest console on the shelf. It is the cheapest console that keeps your points.

Think of it as a hidden switching cost. If you have a pile of unspent COD Points on an Xbox One and you buy a PS5, those points stay behind on Xbox. Your skins still come along, because you bought them with points. But the unspent balance does not.

PC is the other branch. Progression and point-bought items carry over there too, but unspent points and console store purchases do not. A PC also costs far more to build right now, as our breakdown of why graphics card prices keep rising explains. For a player who only wants Warzone back, a console is usually the simpler buy.

What an Upgrade Costs After the Latest Price Hikes

The timing is rough. Both Sony and Microsoft raised console prices in recent months, so an upgrade costs more than it did when these consoles launched.

According to Game Informer's report on Sony's April increase, US prices became:

• PS5 Digital Edition: $599.99, up from $499.99
• PS5 with disc drive: $649.99, up from $549.99
• PS5 Pro: $899.99, up from $749.99

Microsoft followed on August 1. Game Developer reported that the Xbox Series S 512GB rose $100 to $499.99 and the Series X 1TB rose $150 to $749.99. Microsoft blamed memory costs, saying console storage and memory prices had climbed more than 2.5 times.

That makes the Series S the cheapest current console that runs Warzone. For PS4 owners, the PS5 Digital Edition is the floor.

A worked example with real numbers

Say you play Warzone on an Xbox One, about six hours a week, and you have 1,000 unspent COD Points sitting in your account. You plan to keep your next console for three years.

• Option A, Xbox Series S 512GB at $499.99: your progression, skins and all 1,000 points come with you. Six hours a week for 156 weeks is 936 hours, so the console costs about 53 cents per hour of play.
• Option B, PS5 Digital Edition at $599.99: progression and skins come with you, but the 1,000 points stay on Xbox. You pay $100 more up front and lose the balance. Over the same 936 hours, that is about 64 cents per hour, before counting the stranded points.
• Option C, stay put: $0, but no Warzone at all.

The gap between A and B is $100 plus whatever those points cost you. If your friends all moved to PlayStation, that may be a fair price for playing with them. If they did not, staying in your family is the clear winner.

Should You Wait for Black Friday Before Buying?

Probably, if you can stand a couple more weeks without Warzone. Last year set a clear pattern.

Sony's PlayStation Blog listed $100 off PS5 consoles, including the Digital Edition and PS5 Pro, starting November 21 last year, with offers varying by region and retailer. If Sony repeats that, a $599.99 PS5 Digital Edition would land at $499.99.

A repeat is not guaranteed, and deals can change by retailer and region. Before you buy, check the official PlayStation and Xbox Black Friday pages and compare them with what big retailers list. Game sales on the console stores do not lower the price of the hardware itself, so look for the console discount specifically.

If you buy before Black Friday and the price drops, some retailers will refund the difference. Our guide to which stores pay you back on Black Friday price drops lists how each policy works. Keep your receipt and check the price daily for the first two weeks.

If You Stay on Your PS4 or Xbox One

Not everyone needs to upgrade. Activision says every other Call of Duty game released on PS4 and Xbox One stays playable. The shutdown only covers Warzone.

That still leaves a warning. Warzone is free to play and runs on servers, so it can disappear the moment the publisher stops paying for old versions. Games you bought outright are safer, but online modes on aging consoles carry the same risk over time. We covered why in our explainer on how games you paid for can vanish.

A simple rule for last-gen owners: before you spend money on a live-service game for an old console, ask whether the publisher still ships new games for that console. Once a series' newest entry skips your hardware, its free companion game is living on borrowed time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you still play Warzone on PS4?

No. Warzone stopped working on PS4 and Xbox One on November 6, when Modern Warfare 4 Season 1 launched. It remains playable on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Do my Warzone skins transfer from PS4 to PS5?

Yes, if you bought them with COD Points and sign in with the same linked Activision account. Your progression carries over too. Items bought with real money on the PlayStation Store follow your PlayStation account to the PS5.

Can I move my COD Points from Xbox One to PlayStation 5 or PC?

No. Activision ties unspent COD Points to the platform account. Xbox One points only work on Xbox Series X|S, and PS4 points only work on PS5. They never cross brands or move to PC.

What is the cheapest console that runs Warzone now?

The Xbox Series S 512GB, at $499.99 after Microsoft's August price increase. On the PlayStation side, the cheapest option is the PS5 Digital Edition at $599.99.

Will Black Ops and other Call of Duty games keep working on PS4?

Yes. Activision says all other Call of Duty games originally released on PS4 and Xbox One will remain available to play. Only Warzone was switched off.

Your Next Move

Start by checking which bucket your stuff sits in. Link your console account to Activision if it is not linked already, and note how many unspent COD Points you have. That number tells you how much a brand switch really costs.

Then pick your path. Stay in your console family if your squad does, wait for Black Friday if you can, and keep the receipt either way. The old console still plays everything else in your library. Warzone just is not one of them anymore.