Call of Duty: Warzone
A free-to-play war game with realistic violence, open voice chat and an 18 rating.
I play Warzone myself, so this advice has been field-tested. Agree an end time, not a number of rounds: rounds vary too much to count, out in two minutes or half an hour to the endgame. With a known end time the player does the steering: ten minutes left is enough for one quick, aggressive round, five means no new start. And leave five to ten minutes of slack in the agreement, so the round in progress gets finished rather than cut off.
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The most important things to know
When kids say “CoD”, they usually mean Warzone: Call of Duty free to download, played as a “battle royale” where teams drop onto a big map, the zone shrinks and the last team standing wins. With that many variables per round, no two rounds are alike, and that kind of variable reward is much of why “just one more game” comes so easily. Add that it's free, and the barrier in a school class is a single download.
The 18 rating is no formality here. PEGI gives it 18 for graphic violence against human-like characters: this violence is realistic and close up, not Fortnite's cartoon. Then there's the open voice chat, raw enough that Activision has put artificial intelligence on moderating it in real time.
At the same time, this is everyday reality in a lot of Norwegian homes: nearly half of 9 to 17-year-olds who game have played 18-rated games, and among boys of 13 to 14 the share is 63 per cent. The question tends to arrive long before 18, and you're not alone in facing it.
What's positive about Call of Duty: Warzone for your child?
The game itself is well made, and for older teens much of Fortnite's good side is here too: teamwork, communication and real skill, with the friend group in your ear. The pull to join isn't silly. It's a wish to be where the team is.
How can Call of Duty: Warzone affect your child negatively?
The violence is what the rating is for: realistic, bloody and close up, made to look like real war. It's a different experience from the cartoon shooters, and that's the entire point of it.
The voice chat puts your child straight in with unknown adults, and the tone is a matter of record: Activision brought in real-time AI moderation precisely because harassment in the chat was that big a problem.
The shop follows the Fortnite recipe: battle pass, daily tasks and bundles, built so that a day off costs something. Free to download means, as usual, that the money gets collected along the way.
Settings you set together
- Real birth date on the Activision account: it's what triggers the parental consent and chat blocks for the youngest.
- Voice chat: party or friends only, never the whole lobby. Text chat can be switched off entirely.
- Graphic content: blood and gore effects can be turned off in the menu, and swearing can be filtered out of the text chat.
- Purchases: a PIN on the platform and a standing agreement about COD Points.
Sources
- PEGI: Call of Duty: Warzone, aldersgrense 18 år ↗
- Activision: Parental Consent, samtykke og chat-sperrer for mindreårige ↗
- Activision: Call of Duty Voice Chat Moderation FAQ ↗
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