Activision’s leading platform is now mobile, thanks mostly to Call of Duty

Activision-Blizzard is a big name in the gaming and esports industries. Warcraft, Overwatch, and Call of Duty are among the most successful titles ever, accumulating millions of fans and players across multiple platforms. The debate between PC and console quality still rages, but according to the quarterly financial call, it’s actually mobile that’s now Activision-Blizzard’s leading platform. 

Activision held its quarterly financial conference call to cover the company’s growths and successes from the last quarter of 2019. The company saw the most growth in its mobile platform. CEO Bobby Kotick referenced the growth by looking at the Call of Duty: Mobile numbers. According to Kotick, the Call of Duty games had a player base of 40 million. With the release of Call of Duty: Mobile, the player base surged to 100 million players in less than a year. Kotick added that “mobile, in fact, is now our leading platform,” thanks to the increase in players. “Significant growth” in 2020 is also expected, according to Kotick.

Activision-Blizzard isn’t the only gaming company to note the rise of mobile gaming. Other developers are taking advantage of the mobile market. Nintendo, for instance, released several mobile games in 2019, including Mario Kart Tour and Dr. Mario. 

Activision-Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Mobile follows the very successful free-to-play model. On top of being a mobile game, the lack of upfront costs makes it easily accessible to a variety of demographics. Activision makes their money off of in-game purchases and ad revenue. The Chief Financial Officer from Activision-Blizzard stated that Call of Duty and its mobile counterpart lead the $1.43 billion revenue from the last quarter of 2019. 

Activision says it intends to push more of its titles into the mobile market. With the expanding growth of mobile platforms, it would be short-sighted not to.

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Adelaide Weiss

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