Call of Duty: Warzone players have become very familiar with Rebirth Island, so it’s no surprise that there was a lot of excitement over a tourist’s viral video showing an island that looks eerily similar to the game’s map.
When Rebirth Island was first teased, it was through hints at its official real-world inspiration: the Aral Sea’s Vozrozhdeniya Island. In 1954, that island was the base of a Soviet Union’s Aralsk-7, where biological weapons were experimented with.
Understandably, then, Rebirth Island bears POIs (points of interest) like “Bioweapons Lab” and “Chemical Engineering.” But, as Black Ops 4’s Blackout fans will remember, it also bears striking similarities to San Francisco, California’s Alcatraz Island.
In a recent viral video, a tourist boat showcases the latter island’s similarities in clear view. With a caption trolling about architectural plagiarism, fans are enjoying just how similar Alcatraz looks to Warzone’s smaller map.
Originally shared on TikTok by jaydenvibing, the clip has received well over 800,000 views on the platform being shared across Instagram and Twitter by other accounts. With a video showing Alcatraz from the point of view of a tourist boat, a succinct caption reads “they really copied Rebirth Island.”
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And, while it might not exactly be accurate that the structures shown were copying Rebirth Island — the point still stands: the architecture is strikingly similar. Fans quickly took note of the island’s layout, including a water tower and multi-level buildings bookending a large prison structure in the center.
Alcatraz began being used as a federal prison complex back in 1934 before going out of service in 1963. Now, it’s managed by the United States of America’s National Parks Service.
For the intrigued crossover fans of Warzone and history, it’s worth noting that Rebirth Island derives its name and purposes (bioweapon engineering and the like) from Vozrozhdeniya Island — but, as that island had no large prison structure, it’s true that obvious inspiration has been taken from Alcatraz as well.
As for who copied who, Rebirth’s predecessor, Blackout’s Alcatraz, launched in April 2019 (decades after Alcatraz and Aralsk-7’s constructions). However, it remains unclear how long ago Call of Duty’s developers began planning it — so we refuse to make any assumptions.
