Call of Duty: Mobile, has been the latest storm to hit Mobile Esports enthusiasts across the world, let alone India. COD: mobile is the latest installment in the highly popular Call of Duty Franchise, powered by Activision and developed in partnership with Tencent Games Timi Studios. It’s been a hurricane; the COD: mobile storm has destroyed its well-set competitors in PUBG: mobile and Fortnite with nearly 150 million downloads in its first month following release. Astonishingly, in its first week of release, it hit over 100 million downloads. A record-smashing figure. To make COD: mobile’s instant success and popularity more relative, let’s look at how their competitors performed following release. PUBG: mobile and Fortnite, only saw 60.7 million and 35 million downloads respectively in their first month of launch! COD: mobile smashes those figures in its first week alone.
COD:Mobile success in India
India in recent years has well established itself as a huge market for mobile esports. The intense fan following, popularity and high-profile competitions of PUBG: mobile corroborate the above. With COD: mobile recent introduction and rapid success with its incredible graphics, crisp and smooth gameplay, and a huge franchise fanbase might very easily replicate or even outperform PUBG: mobile success in India. You can lay the welcome mat out for India’s new mobile gaming sensation. India was the second most popular destination for the latest franchise installment, following the US with 13.7 million downloads after the first week.
COD: mobile raking in the moolah!
According to a recent report by Sensor Tower, COD: mobile is now the second most successful mobile game of all time, beaten only by Niantic’s Pokémon Go. COD: mobile although being free to play, has been raking in considerable sums of money for Tencent games. According to the Sensor tower report, the game has earned approximately $53.9 million in just over a month, reaching a single-day high of $3.1 million. COD: mobiles revenue generation from consumer spending, outperformed its competitors as well. According to Business Insider India, for every download, the game earned around $0.17.
The US spent the most on the game with figures coming in at $22.8 million, approximately 16% of the total consumer spend on the game. Japan was second in line with $7 million. However, Tencent and Activision are merely getting started. With a Battle pass (Premium pass) expected to be launched in December of this year, Revenue should skyrocket.
What has made the game so successful?
Largely I believe the success of COD: mobile is attributed to a well-designed game. Giving their massive fan following exactly what they were looking for in the mobile version. COD: mobile delivers maps from class Call of Duty franchise games like Modern Warfare and Black Ops as well as the popular multiplayer game modes, all in one complete package.
Chris Plummer, the Vice President of Activision had this to say in an interview: “We are bringing together some of the best the franchise has to offer, including Modern Warfare maps like Crash and Crossfire, Black Ops maps like Nuketown and Hijacked, and many more in one epic title” The fan-favorite game modes like Search and Destroy, Free-For-All and Team Deathmatch, is not only addictive but spread like Wildfire. COD: mobile has also done well to create a feeling of nostalgia among the COD franchise followers. Allowing players to unlock classic COD characters like Alex Mason, Simon “Ghost” Riley, and John “Soap” MacTavish through gameplay.
Upcoming Updates!
Now, what can Players expect next from the new mobile gaming craze? As stated earlier, a COD premium pass, similar to PUBG: mobile’s Royale Pass is set to drop this December. Activision recently posted a community update on Reddit stating that the highly popular and exciting COD game mode, Zombies will be added to the mobile version “before you know it. Controller support is also expected to be released soon. With the studio stating that it is merely finalizing the technicalities behind the functioning in-game, with regards to match-making. Considering how Controllers would be more advantageous to thumbs, it is an important consideration for the developers to make. So, gamers, get ready Zombies and controllers are right around the corner!
