Activision Blizzard’s Q2 2023 financial results have revealed that Call of Duty: Mobile, their handheld spin-off of the popular shooter franchise, has raked in $3bn in lifetime revenue since it was launched in 2019.
According to their release details, as the franchise closes in on its twenty-year anniversary “with over half of all engagement on the mobile platform,” according to Activision. Currently, Call of Duty: Mobile is the only full-release mobile title for CoD, while Call of Duty Warzone: Mobile remains in regional testing for the moment, given the success of its console and PC version it’d be no surprise if it’s already boosting engagement higher.
For Call of Duty: Mobile “engagement and net bookings were stable year-over-year, with the team continuing to see a positive response to enhancements to the player experience and optimization of live operations.” There had been some speculation earlier in the year that Warzone would supersede CoD: Mobile, however these rumours were quickly shot down, and for the moment both games occupy different niches. With Warzone promising a battle royale experience while CoD: Mobile provides something closer to the classic multiplayer of the mainline console titles.
Moving to mobile
While it’s definitely good news for Activision regardless, it’s especially interesting to note the matter of engagement. Given the difficulty faced by some of Activision Blizzard’s other major multiplayer franchises – such as Overwatch which has finally given in and made the jump from Battle.net, Blizzard’s proprietary launcher, to Steam – which are lacking mobile versions, we can certainly see an example of where the way forward may be.
At the moment, with Warzone Mobile in soft-launch, the question of how it will affect their audience share when it comes to full release is still up in the air. But after all the questions and excitement about King and how it would affect Microsoft when they close the Activision Blizzard deal, it’s particularly interesting to note that Activision may prove to have just as large if not a greater mobile presence via the CoD franchise if these numbers are anything to go by.
This success is part of the reason Activision Blizzard made our Top 50 Game Makers of 2022 list. Hopefully we’lll be seeing them next year, although this time they may be under the Microsoft umbrella.
