New Warzone playlist update is bad news for Ashika Island fans

With the return of Fortune's Keep to Warzone Resurgence, the smaller maps in rotation have been left as a distant memory, with the likes of Vondel and Ashika Island being nothing but a playground to warm up on.

Fortune's Keep has even netted exclusivity to Ranked, being the only playable map in Warzone where players can really push their skills to the test. But now, with Rebirth Island waiting in the wings, it looks like Ashika Island is getting the cold shoulder and could be in for quite a long spell on the sidelines.

Fortune's Keep eclipses Ashika in Warzone playlists

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As Warzone now boasts three, soon to be four, unique resurgence maps, it finally appears that the pool will be getting the Apex Legends treatment, where some maps might get axed for a while to undergo surgery.

The first of these looks to be Ashika Island, as a new Warzone Playlist update from Raven Software has ruled out any action on the Japanese-inspired castle over the next few weeks.

The latest update says that Resurgence will have a rotation of Fortune's Keep and Vondel until at least March 7, removing Ashika Island from the game until then. Or beyond.

Could Ashika Island be permanently removed from Warzone?

Although Ashika Island was Warzone 2's first Resurgence map, it ranks as arguably the least favourable, with most players preferring Vondel and Fortune's Keep.

Yet as Rebirth Island is set to arrive in Season 3, Ashika Island's timely removal might actually spell the end of its tenure forever. 

The more likely approach is that the Warzone developers will re-add the map in the future after possibly making some tweaks to the landscape. It sounds like the arc of Apex Ranked, where maps will get half-seasons dedicated to being the sole Ranked map. 

Still, these are worrying times for anyone who still favoured Ashika over its two Resurgence rivals, especially as Raven Software admitted its map selection process involves analysing engagement and social sentiment, which appear to be lacking on said map.