Call of Duty: Warzone is a popular free-to-play experience for PC and console gamers around the world. With the official end of Call of Duty Online, it stands as the only free-to-play Call of Duty on PC in China. While there has been mixed a reception to the game's end, one streamer sees the closure as a huge win for Call of Duty: Warzone.
Call of Duty Online was around for six years and developed by Tencent and Activision. The developers officially announced they were closing down the servers and pushing their community to Call of Duty: Mobile as an alternative experience. While Call of Duty Online never launched in the West, it opened the door for the Call of Duty franchise to launch in China.
The Call of Duty Online community is now shifting into Call of Duty: Mobile and Call of Duty: Warzone as free-to-play alternatives. NICKMERCS believes that this transition will pave the way for future updates that will evolve the gameplay experience. In short, he validates that Tencent has taken a massive leap by closing down their game and shifting into the Call of Duty: Mobile environment. This is a huge change for the China population, and he doesn't believe that the transition is the "worst thing in the world."
Although NICKMERCS is not a mobile Call of Duty fan, he knows that many of his viewers and followers are. This merging of communities may be an opportunity for the streamer to expand his already large fanbase.
The way NICKMERCS sees it, Call of Duty: Warzone and other battle royale teasers have been launched for the phone. For the franchise as a whole, he believes that more players hopping into Verdansk is better for everyone. The community, developers, and content creators will all benefit from having a surplus of players, and more solid content may come from this initial shift.
NICKMERCS explained that this transition could inspire the devs to work harder. Improvements could be made to the anti-cheat system, Call of Duty: Warzone's map, and other major sections of the game environment. While the results of this shift are still unknown, the streamer believes that change may be in the future for both Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Mobile.
As a way of saying thanks, Call of Duty Online's developers has prepared a compensation activity for the transition. Players who transfer over can claim some in-game cosmetics and currencies for Call of Duty: Mobile in hopes of solidifying the audience on the new title. It is still unknown how many players will shift, but the developers remain hopeful of retaining their online community.
Call of Duty: Warzone is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.