Following Activision-Blizzard’s release of its quarterly earnings, the company has announced that it’s planning to use the Call of Duty model as a template going forward. The Call of Duty franchise has always been a successful one, but that has never been truer than it is today. This is largely due to the massive appeal of Call of Duty: Warzone, which released a little over a year ago and now has over 250,000 active players. There are many factors contributing to this, including the game being free to play, the popularity of the battle royale genre, and the release date coinciding with the Covid-19 global quarantine.
All of these factors combined helped lead Activision to its most profitable first-quarter revenue ever, totaling $2.28 billion. Of this, $2 billion was digital. Call of Duty is far from the only franchise that Activision owns, but it is undoubtedly the company’s golden child as it pertains to drawing in players. This doesn’t only apply to Black Ops Cold War and Warzone; in China, Call of Duty Mobile has earned over $1 billion since it launched in 2019. Whichever way one looks at it, this series is a driving force for Activision’s revenue.
According to IGN, CEO Bobby Kotick has clearly taken note of this and wants to take steps to capitalize on it. He’s quoted as saying that he wants to use the Call of Duty template to “grow our audiences to a billion players,” adding that Activision is also hoping to triple the sizes of “certain franchise teams.” It should be noted that the company is likely also planning to invest more resources into Call of Duty itself, following the recent news that Crash Bandicoot 4 developer Toys for Bob was also recently moved to Warzone support.
Using Call of Duty as a template could mean several things. The first is that Activision could begin focusing more on free to play multiplayer games, many of which have massive player bases as a result. Following Call of Duty Mobile’s example, it could also mean that the company might delve into mobile gaming. At the very least, it almost definitely means that this year’s upcoming Call of Duty title will integrate with Warzone somehow, creating a series of interconnected games that function more like a universe than as independent titles. Whatever the case, Call of Duty clearly houses a formula that could yield great results if applied to other games.
One possible hiccup for Activision fans who don’t play Call of Duty is what this might mean for other properties. For example, fans of the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro reignited trilogies were particularly disappointed when they learned that the studio would be investing resources elsewhere. Although Kotick stated that the company would be taking on over 2000 more developers, it’s unclear which franchise teams they would be added to. Call of Duty is great, but it’s far from the only reason for Activision's success. All of this means that while it’s certainly wise to apply elements of the Call of Duty template to other titles, it’s for the best that the actual Call of Duty formula remains where it is.
Source: IGN