With new rumors and speculation surrounding Call of Duty 2020 and hype for Call of Duty: Warzone's upcoming fifth season building, Infinity Ward is doing its best to both drum up hype and reassure players about both Warzone and Modern Warfare's massive file sizes. Although some might believe that this excitement for the game might be for the new content, recent reports indicate that the franchise's resurgence in popularity is more permanent than that.
Through a recent tweet to the official CoD account, Call of Duty: Warzone players learned that the battle royale now has a player base of 75 million players. Infinity Ward and Activision also announced this staggering milestone in a second quarter financial earnings call, which also talked about the overall Call of Duty franchise's exponential growth.
According to the report, Call of Duty: Warzone has garnered enthusiasm from series veterans and newcomers alike. Activision found that the battle royale brought an astounding number of players to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Not only did a majority of new Modern Warfare users come from trying Warzone, but the influx also increased playtime for Modern Warfare by 800%. Even more impressively, a record-breaking number of new players are coming in during a quarter without a new release "than ever before." In-game net revenue from DLC and microtransactions has doubled from last quarter, and increased five-fold from last year's quarter to set a new record.
This milestone received a mixed reaction on social media. While some fans congratulated Infinity Ward and even jokingly said "you're welcome" to its thank you post, both Call of Duty 2020 and current issues with Warzone seem to have overshadowed the news. Although the developers have warned Warzone cheaters against hacking the game, several dissatisfied players sarcastically remarked that a large percentage of the player base was probably cheating. Others demanded that the developer reveal more information about the next Call of Duty game first.
However, Infinity Ward and Activision have already met these demands. During the recent call, the developers promised that Call of Duty 2020 would share deep connections to the battle royale, leading fans to believe that the next Call of Duty game will be announced during a Warzone event.
Between Warzone's meteoric rise to the top of the battle royale genre and the dedicated following around the Call of Duty franchise, the series' success will likely continue into the next generation of gaming. With new events and features like Wartracks, it is clear that Infinity Ward is doing its best to keep the game fresh until its next major release.
Call of Duty: Warzone is available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Activision/BusinessWire, PCGamesN