If you’ve been playing video games for the past decade or so, chances are you’re familiar with the Call of Duty franchise, and how big it is as a brand. It seems that the franchise’s rise hasn’t been affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic at all, and most likely even benefited from it since people were told to stay in their houses during lockdown.
In Activision’s quarterly earnings report, Activision execs shared that the Call of Duty brand grew by leaps and bounds in 2020. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick shared that over 250 million people played Call of Duty last year (which included Call of Duty Mobile, PC, consoles).
Within Call of Duty we have meaningfully expanded social connections and improved engagement through free to play experiences on mobile phones, computers and game consoles. These initiatives expanded franchise reach with over 250 million people playing Call of Duty last year, more than tripling the 70 million people who played Call of Duty in 2018. – Bobby Kotick, Activision CEO
In the sam report, Activision President and Chief Operating Officer (CFO) Daniel Alegre shared that the Call of Duty monthly active users (MAU’s) grew from 40 million in 2018, to over 100 million in 2020!
Within Call of Duty we have meaningfully expanded social connections and improved engagement through free to play experiences on mobile phones, computers and game consoles. These initiatives expanded franchise reach with over 250 million people playing Call of Duty last year, more than tripling the 70 million people who played Call of Duty in 2018. – Daniel Alegre, Activision President and COO
No doubt this number has ballooned given Call of Duty: Warzone’s meteoric rise into the gaming stratosphere.
Given how most countries these days are still in lockdown mode, will we see a higher number of Call of Duty players in total for 2021? I wouldn’t bet on it if that was the case.