Activision is bringing its hit battle royale shooter Call of Duty: Warzone to mobile phones, the company announced Thursday. “We are creating an all-new, AAA mobile experience that will bring the thrilling, fluid and large-scale action of Call of Duty: Warzone to players on the go,” Activision said in a post on its website.
According to the post, this mobile Warzone will be a “large-scale, battle royale experience” that’s built “natively for mobile with cutting-edge technology designed to entertain gamers around the world for many years to come.” However, it seems as if the game is still early in development, as the post advertises several job openings and doesn’t include screenshots, video, or even an estimated release timeframe. Activision also hasn’t specified if the game will be like Apex Legends Mobile, which only lets you play against other mobile players, or the mobile version of Fortnite, which can do cross-platform play. Activision declined to comment further.
Mobile ports of hit shooters can be incredibly lucrative, as Activision knows from its own Call of Duty: Mobile — that game, developed in partnership with Tencent-owned TiMi Studios, has surpassed an astonishing $1.5 billion in global lifetime player spending since its 2019 launch, according to Sensor Tower. With a mobile Warzone, perhaps Activision is betting that it can make lightning strike twice.
It seems like there’s potential for another winner; the company will be leveraging the already popular Warzone franchise, and other mobile shooters like PUBG: Mobile and Garena Free Fire are among the most popular mobile games around. Though with mobile ports of games like Riot Games’ Valorant and EA’s Battlefield on the way, too, a mobile Warzone will be entering an increasingly competitive field.
This new mobile Warzone arrives as Activision is making some changes to the Call of Duty franchise. The publisher is working on a “new Warzone experience” that’s set to be released this year and is reportedly delaying the mainline 2023 Call of Duty title. Activision is also under the spotlight due to lawsuits and its impending acquisition by Microsoft.