Duty calls. Updated on 14 April 2021 Activision is embroiled in a trademark lawsuit with the developer of a strategy game called Warzone. The mega-publisher filed a suit seeking a declaration that Activision's use and registration of the trademark's Warzone and Call of Duty Warzone do not infringe on the trademark rights relating to the free-to-play, turn-based Warzone strategy game. Warzone the strategy game came out in 2017. Activision's battle royale launched three years later, in 2020. Eurogamer news cast: why did Nintendo kill Mario? The suit, filed on 8th April in the US District Court for the Central District of California, comes in response to a threat of litigation from Randy Ficker, the Washington-based developer of Warzone.