Cover-Credits:
Call of Duty Warzone Season 1 Reloaded launched on 17th January 2024, bringing new content including the Champion’s Quest, the Gulag Night Vision Public Event and new features like Covert Exfil. Covert Exfil has been a highly anticipated feature, which lets players exit a match early. Covert Exfil goes hand in hand with the new single Weapon Case feature also added to Call of Duty Warzone Season 1 Reloaded. However, both these new additions were pulled from the game soon after. Here is all you need to know about Covert Exfil in Warzone and why it was removed.
Covert Exfil in Warzone
With the Warzone Season 1 Reloaded update, players could now exfil (exfiltrate) the match early with the help of a Covert Exfil. Players only had five exfils available to purchase per match from Buy Stations before the Gulag closes. When you use an exfil, a helicopter would appear and fly you and your squad out of the battlefield, with a Weapon Case in your inventory hopefully.
The Weapon Case, also added to the game with the update, spawns in a small search area at the start of every match. Once found, the player holding the Weapon Case is marked for all enemies in the match. If a player holding the case manages to stay alive at the end of the match or their squad exits the match using a helicopter called in by purchasing a Covert Exfil, they and their teammates earn exclusive rewards. Raven Software set up the new Covert Exfil leaderboard stat, where players could compete to earn the most successful Covert Exfils. According to Raven Software, using the Covert Exfil successfully, "does not count as a traditional win but rather as a separate stat, and will not count towards Champion’s Quest progress.” Given that it is considered as a secondary win condition, a dedicated Covert Exfil leaderboard will be established for players who achieve the most extractions using this method. Getting a Covert Exfil is not only a difficult challenge, but given the high cost, it is not worth it unless you fail to secure the Weapon Case during your match.
Why was Covert Exfil Removed?
The feature was subsequently removed soon after the update went live. Following the announcement of the Covert Exfil mechanic, fans expressed disapproval, with several asking it to be limited to LTMs.
The feature would have allowed up to five teams to purchase a Covert Exfil and leave the match early, awarding them a win in the new Covert Exfil leaderboard section. Following the backlash, Raven software decided to pull the plug on both Covert Exfil and the Weapon Case.
According to the developer, Covert Exfil and the Weapon Case feature will be held back as well until this new mode launches.
