Activision says the Call of Duty franchise is yet to peak

Activision believes the Call of Duty franchise has yet to peak.

Speaking during the publisher’s third quarter earnings call last week, CEO Bobby Kotick said that with over 100 million first month installs, Call of Duty Mobile was “experiencing one of the industry’s most successful launches ever” and had “more than tripled the franchise’s reach”.

The title topped the installed charts in over 150 countries and regions, and Kotick said “monetisation is off to a strong start with the game entering the top 10 grossing charts in over 100 countries and regions”.

Modern Warfare launched on October 25 and generated $600 million worldwide in 72 hours. Activision has said that in its first week, the game’s sales grew a high-teen percentage compared to 2018’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

Kotick said: “On console and PCs too, Modern Warfare is off to an exceptional start and we have more surprises in store that we think will delight existing and new players in the coming months. We plan to take Call of Duty fandom to new levels with the launch of the Call of Duty League in late January.”

Activision president Robert Kostich also said on the publisher’s earnings call: “We also just had a really strong launch for Modern Warfare which suggests we’re creating a really strong franchise ecosystem globally, where these products are actually complementing one another and not competing with one another.

“This is exciting news for us on a number of fronts, including how we think about cross promoting our products across this ecosystem both now and I think well into the future.

“Now in terms of the mobile metrics specifically, we’re obviously very pleased with the installs and we’ve referenced them a number of times on the call. But importantly our retention has been really strong and that’s due to the great game quality and great game experience we have, as well as the quality of our ongoing live operations.”

Modern Warfare is scheduled to have the largest DLC pipeline in Call of Duty history.

“We also have a compelling content pipeline ahead that we believe will continue to drive our business results,” Kostich said. “So right now, we feel great about where we’re at and we feel really good about our prospects for the future.

“With the success on mobile, with the success of Modern Warfare and with the Call of Duty League launching in January, we do think the best days for the franchise are squarely in front of us. And that’s a pretty cool thing to say, given all the success we’ve had in the past 16 years.”

Developer Infinity Ward released the latest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare update last Friday, introducing two new multiplayer maps, a fresh game mode, plus a variety of fixes and tweaks.

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Battle Pass will launch in December.

Activision is also working on Call of Duty: Mobile controller support.