Activision is not just getting a ton of money from Warzone, but they’re also getting a ton of free marketing to share news about the upcoming Call of Duty 2020.
While the rest of the world suffers a pandemic and the worst economic depression since the 1930s, Activision is flying high. Their two live-service games--Call of Duty Mobile and Call of Duty: Warzone--are raking in cash like never before, with Warzone in particular growing to 75 million players since launching in March.
That's a lot of Call of Duty fans--so many that Activision is seeing an opportunity in Warzone that will help them cut back on their marketing costs.
"The success of Warzone and Call of Duty Mobile in addition to, of course what we continue to see on our premium games has created a ton of new opportunities for the franchise," said Activision President Rob Kostich during last night's Q2 earnings call.
"And so, starting with marketing, it's definitely had an impact there and how we think about marketing in this new world. As you've seen from our results, right now, we have a larger, more engaged, and more global audience than we've ever had at any point in time in our history. And that means that we could be more direct and more targeted than we've ever been before."
Warzone has already been used as a vector to drop not-so-veiled hints on what to expect from the new Call of Duty game, which was also confirmed during that same call to be coming before the end of the year. Warzone's Season 4 bunkers were full of Easter eggs that both referenced previous Call of Duty titles (notably Call of Duty: Black Ops), but also likely hint at what's to come.
Warzone's fifth season went live just this morning, and players from all over the world are already dogpiling into the recently opened Verdansk Stadium. Others are scouring Warzone's map for even more clues on Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the next mainline game that will arrive before the end of the year.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz, Eurogamer