This year, Activision released Call of Duty Mobile, a Tencent-developed take on the franchise that feels like they jumbled all of the Call of Duty properties together to deliver a compact, “best of” hits collection – in a free-to-play package. It’s easy to deride, but it’s one of the most fun mobile games I’ve played in ages and it’s become an incredible success, amassing over 100 million installs in its first week of wider availability.
It goes without saying that Activision might like to tap into success with its other franchises. Speaking in an earnings call, Activision Blizzard president and chief operating officer Coddy Johnson said that the publishers was considering making mobile versions of its other games – but not before reminding people that as it owns Candy Crush developer King, that a lot of its business is already focused on mobile.
“A third of our business is on mobile already. We have the largest mobile gaming presence in the west. So we want to build on that leadership position. We think it’s a foundation of strength to do that. It is a massive opportunity, and we think not just for Call of Duty and not just for Diablo Immortal,” Johnson said.
He said that as phones and tablets become more powerful, it’s making it easier for the company to adapt its games to those platforms.
“The AAA kinds of games we make are ready to work on mobile because of the improving compute and graphics capability,” he said. “And honestly because of evolving player expectations. It’s now the case that many of the most successful global games are first-person action, strategy; those all align, as you might imagine, very well with our portfolio. We have a growing ability to execute”
The key is turning the right franchises from Activision and Blizzard’s stables into mobile games.
“We’re seeing that franchise familiarity and awareness matter–they matter fundamentally to the tune of hundreds of millions of people. When you reach out in the right way with franchises they’re willing to come in. So let’s the level of opportunity we see,” he said.
He also said that the company was considering “all of our franchises” for the mobile market, suggesting that we could see things like Warcraft or Overwatch hit phones in the future.
“In terms of what we’ll make, you might imagine we’re looking at all of our franchises. We want to do it where it makes sense,” he said.
There are three main brackets of mobile games that the company is considering. The first is the sort of game that would “extend existing gameplay,” like Call of Duty mobile. The second is games that the company sees as “reimaginations” of existing franchises, with Hearthstone (a game in the Warcraft universe) as an example. The last bracket is a “true cross-platform title” that operates across PC, consoles and mobiles right from the onset
While Activision has no examples of games like that, I think they’d look to games like Fortnite and Minecraft for inspiration.
Last Updated: November 8, 2019
Llama In The Rift
November 8, 2019 at 15:13
https://media2.giphy.com/media/G5JoAjEBtfoTm/giphy.gif Just No Thanks
G8crasha
November 8, 2019 at 15:14
I’ve played a couple of games of the mobile version, and it’s not too bad. Admittedly, and as expected, the controls suck, but aside from that it still feels like a basic CoD game!
HvR
November 8, 2019 at 14:50
So Diablo 4 mobile incoming …. hahahahahaha
Kromas
November 8, 2019 at 14:50
Tons of Chinese who have mobile phones.
HvR
November 8, 2019 at 15:12
Until the comrade government starts installing anti-gaming cameras in the water closets.
HvR
November 8, 2019 at 15:12
Until the comrade government starts installing anti-gaming cameras in the water closets.
Kromas
November 8, 2019 at 18:15
No need. Their phones already track them and reports bad behaviour through a mandatory “gaming” and “social” app.
China is a model country for human rights abuse through stifling of freedoms.
Original Heretic
November 8, 2019 at 18:15
Plus, they’ve already sold their “Great Firewall” to other countries.
Hammersteyn
November 8, 2019 at 14:51
Since COD came to mehbile everyone suddenly has phones
justlikemo
November 8, 2019 at 14:52
say what you want, COD on the phone rocks.
Kromas
November 8, 2019 at 18:15
I ate a baby!
There I said what I wanted. 😛
justlikemo
November 8, 2019 at 18:39
ok boomer 😛
justlikemo
November 8, 2019 at 18:39
ok boomer 😛
Dresden
November 8, 2019 at 18:39
https://i.makeagif.com/media/1-18-2017/6G93x9.gif
Dresden
November 8, 2019 at 18:39
https://i.makeagif.com/media/1-18-2017/6G93x9.gif
justlikemo
November 8, 2019 at 18:39
ok boomer 😛
HvR
November 8, 2019 at 18:39
https://i1.wp.com/gamingph.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/how-to-obtain-dog-boomer-far-cry-5.jpg?ssl=1
HvR
November 8, 2019 at 18:39
https://i1.wp.com/gamingph.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/how-to-obtain-dog-boomer-far-cry-5.jpg?ssl=1
HvR
November 8, 2019 at 18:39
https://i1.wp.com/gamingph.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/how-to-obtain-dog-boomer-far-cry-5.jpg?ssl=1
Dresden
November 8, 2019 at 18:39
https://i.makeagif.com/media/1-18-2017/6G93x9.gif
Craig "Crios" Boonzaier
November 8, 2019 at 14:53
Yeah, if someone could just buyout Blizzard from the bullshit that is Activision that’ll be great
Llama In The Rift
November 8, 2019 at 15:13
https://media2.giphy.com/media/G5JoAjEBtfoTm/giphy.gif Just No Thanks
G8crasha
November 8, 2019 at 15:14
I’ve played a couple of games of the mobile version, and it’s not too bad. Admittedly, and as expected, the controls suck, but aside from that it still feels like a basic CoD game!
Raptor Rants
November 8, 2019 at 15:17
Blizzard: Don’t you guys have phones?
Activision: Hold my beer…
Pariah
November 8, 2019 at 16:24
Same company. Blizzcon 2018 was just a test run. >_>
Pariah
November 8, 2019 at 16:24
Same company. Blizzcon 2018 was just a test run. >_>
Raptor Rants
November 8, 2019 at 18:16
Blizzard: Don’t you guys have phones?
Internet: Yes! But that’s not the point!
Activision: They said they have phones! GO GO GO!
Better?
Pariah
November 8, 2019 at 20:20
Is that a trick question? I feel like anything that contains “Activision” and “Better?” is a trick question.