- Primary Subject: Call of Duty: DMZ
- Key Update: DMZ is returning alongside Modern Warfare 4, prompting comparisons with ARC Raiders and renewed debate about the extraction shooter's legacy.
- Status: Opinion
- Last Verified: June 12, 2026
- Quick Answer: While many players are comparing DMZ's return to ARC Raiders, some criticism overlooks the fact that DMZ was already experimenting with PvPvE encounters, player-driven interactions, extraction mechanics, and squad diplomacy years before ARC Raiders became an extraction shooter.
Call of Duty's DMZ is returning alongside Modern Warfare 4, with Infinity Ward said to be revisiting the extraction shooter formula it first introduced back in 2022.
The new version is expected to feature deeper progression systems, a stronger economy, expanded mission structures, dynamic world events, and a greater emphasis on long-term player investment.
Naturally, comparisons to Arc Raiders have already started appearing. What I didn't expect, however, was how many people seem eager to dismiss DMZ before it has even returned.
The strange part is that some of the criticism feels completely backwards.
Are Some Arc Raiders Fans Forgetting What DMZ Already Accomplished?
Spend enough time reading discussions about DMZ's return and you'll eventually run into somebody insisting that Call of Duty could never deliver the kind of experience Arc Raiders offers.
Usually the conversation revolves around player interactions, atmosphere, PvPvE balance, or those tense moments where you're never entirely sure whether another squad is about to help you or shoot you in the back. DMZ was already exploring a lot of that territory years ago.
DMZ launched in November 2022. At that point, ARC Raiders wasn't even an extraction shooter yet. That's not a criticism of ARC Raiders, nor is it meant to diminish what Embark has accomplished with the game.
I just find it strange how often people talk about DMZ as though it arrived after ARC Raiders or spent years trying to catch up to it.
The reality is that DMZ had already been experimenting with many of these ideas long before most players ever got their hands on ARC Raiders.
The social interactions, the unpredictable player encounters, the mix of PvE and PvP, and the tension of deciding whether to trust another squad or head for extraction didn't suddenly appear when ARC Raiders launched. Not in the same way, obviously. Arc Raiders and DMZ are very different games.
Arc Raiders is slower, more methodical, and generally more interested in giving players reasons to avoid conflict.
DMZ always felt a little rougher around the edges (sometimes intentionally, sometimes not).
It was built on Call of Duty's foundations, which meant firefights were never far away and things could spiral into complete chaos with very little warning.
The constant "Warzone with backpacks" description never sat particularly well with me.
When DMZ launched, extraction shooters were still a relatively niche genre for a lot of mainstream players. Escape from Tarkov was already hugely influential, but it was also intimidating.
DMZ offered a different entry point. It took many of the ideas that made extraction shooters exciting and wrapped them in systems that felt more approachable without completely removing the tension.
Most importantly, you had other players sharing the same space, and you never quite knew what kind of encounter was waiting around the next corner.
I still remember matches where a routine extraction turned into twenty minutes of negotiations over proximity chat.
Other runs ended with temporary alliances, last-second betrayals, or entire squads deciding that completing an objective was more valuable than fighting each other.
The assimilation system could be messy (and six-man teams caused their fair share of headaches), but it also produced situations that felt genuinely unique within Call of Duty.
It's one of the reasons I've been scratching my head at some of the reactions to DMZ's return.
Every now and then, I come across comments that make it sound as though Arc Raiders introduced concepts that DMZ never understood, when many of those same ideas were already present years earlier.
I'm not suggesting DMZ invented any of this. Extraction shooters have always been building on each other's ideas.
What I am saying is that DMZ played a larger role in that evolution than it often gets credit for. You don't have to prefer DMZ over Arc Raiders.
To be fair, I understand where some of that enthusiasm comes from. Arc Raiders has earned its reputation.
For all the things DMZ got right, it never completely solved some of the issues that became more apparent as the mode matured. It's also a challenge that has followed the genre for years.
Arc Raiders simply arrived later, which meant it had the benefit of learning from a genre that was already several years further along.
In a lot of ways, Infinity Ward now finds itself in a similar position. DMZ 2.0 isn't entering the same landscape that existed in 2022.
The studio gets a second chance at a mode that was arguably ahead of its time, but it also gets to study several more years of extraction shooters before bringing it back.
If Arc Raiders has shown anything, it's that many of the ideas DMZ was already experimenting with still have plenty of room to grow.
So if you're one of the players already convinced that DMZ has no place in a post-Arc Raiders world, I'd probably wait until the mode actually returns before making that call.
After all, counting DMZ out has rarely been as straightforward as people think.
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