After many years of rumors and wishes from supporters, the Call of Duty family is now fully launched in China.
The hit Call of Duty (CoD: Mobile) landed on Western shores back in October of 2019, but has now travelled the world over with a huge launch in China this month.
The travel version of Activision’s top-selling shooter game has already earned a massive player base of over 250 million downloads, generating over $330 million by June 2020, making it one of the biggest game launches ever recorded.
CoD: Mobile followed the same vein in just it’s first week in China, earning a small fortune for it’s creators in just a matter of days, which will be a relief after such a long time in the making.
Because of China’s strict rules on gaming, CoD: Mobile has been in China’s authorization stage since it was launched into circulation in 2019, but thanks to Tencent working with TiMi studios and Activision, technology is helping to change the gaming world forever.
With the ability to play the new addition on the smaller screen of a mobile or tablet, it quickly became the number one Christmas present in China, with thousands playing it on Christmas Day.
How Well Did CoD: Mobile really do in China?
According to data from a gaming marketing agency, the new launch generated over $14 million in the first week alone, with all of that coming from player spending.
Despite the huge figures, that makes it the fourth best game in terms of revenue, with Honor of Kings, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile and Fantasy Westward Journey still ahead of CoD: Mobile in the pecking order.
However, as of the end of 2020, the game had worldwide revenue of an eye watering $644 million, with the United States of America being the top spender, with $287 million spent so far.
On the downloads front, Apple is dominating this digital playground with Android lagging someway behind in terms of the numbers. Apple currently has 61% of the CoD: Mobile downloads, with Android via Google Play clocking in at 39%.
This could all be set to change though, with China set to have continued impact on the CoD: Mobile figures. After already hitting over 300 million downloads in the country, it’s likely that China will soon be replacing the United States of America as the big spenders on the game.
Betting on CoD
Call of Duty was one of the first eSports games that became available with sports bookmakers to bet on, and is continuing to grow in popularity with punters across the globe.
The biggest COD tournaments now tend to be available with a number of different bookmakers, who offers markets on everything from the outright tournament winner to who you think will win that particular match-up.
With the recent surge in interest around betting on Call of Duty and eSports in general, many of the bookmakers are fighting for your custom with special promotions.
That often means that as new players you can receive your stake bet as a free bet or even get a free bet just for signing up.
What’s Next for CoD: Mobile in China?
Along with betting, the launch of the new game has been very lucrative for Tencent and Activision, who already have a monopoly on the Chinese market.
Tencent, alone, have made $20 million from bringing Supercell’s Brawl Stars to China, and already have their hands in Fortnite and League of Legends to name just a few. Mobile gaming is where it’s at right now and where it’s going to go in the future. Despite many people still seeing it as the poor man’s alternative to playing on a console or PC, the new launches continue to prove their critics wrong.
According to Statista, figures show that mobile gaming is only getting stronger in its popularity in China; growing from 133 million in 2010 to nearly 620 million in 2019. For reference, that’s more than double the population of the United States. However, the growth in mobile gamers and gaming isn’t only happening in China, but around the world.
