Call of Duty has announced plans to evaluate the competitive viability of multiplayer maps Grind and Barrage ahead of the third Call of Duty League (CDL) 2025 Major 3.
As of April 9th, 2025, the two maps will arrive in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6‘s Ranked Play mode, aiming to assist the CDL in deciding whether to add them to the existing map pool.
The developer says the feedback and data of players during the one-week map evaluation ‘will be crucial’ in helping the CDL see if the maps can be viable for Major 3 and the remainder of the season.
Once the map evaluation has concluded, the maps will be removed from Ranked Play until the CDL comes to a decision. Qualifiers for Major 3 are already underway as teams compete for CDL Points to determine seeding for the LAN event taking place in Boca Raton, California, from April 24th to 27th, 2025.
This is the second map evaluation to take place during the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 season. The first took place in February following the arrival of Bounty and Dealership maps as part of the title’s Season 2 update.
As a result of the evaluation, Dealership was eventually added to the CDL’s Search and Destroy map pool alongside Hacienda, Protocol, Red Card and Rewind.
Why Does Call of Duty Esports Add New Maps?
Due to the fast pace of Call of Duty esports, map layout and spawn mechanics play an integral role in determining which battlegrounds are viable for competitive play.
With such a limited selection of maps appropriate for Hardpoint, Control, and Search and Destroy matches, the CDL often implements new ones to expand the map pool further.
