Activision seems to have played the cards right with their first free-to-play Call of Duty, with Warzone crossing more than 50 million downloads within a month. This is undoubtedly a huge milestone, which I honestly only see rising further, especially during current times.
Over 50 million players.
Thank you #Warzone players for dropping in with us. #FreeCallofDuty pic.twitter.com/is2kpgRq6U
— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) April 10, 2020
I would have called this surprising if not for Respawn’s free-to-play Battle Royale which launched last year boasting a similar player count in the same time frame. I’d say Apex Legends’ launch tactics definitely had an influence on Warzone’s launch, with both releasing all of a sudden with almost no prior promotion. One thing that surprise launches like these do is keep unnecessary hate away. If EA had announced the game earlier, the internet would already be brimming with “EA bad” and “microtransactions”, which could possibly have affected the launch.
The battle royale currently has three-player squads alongside the four-player and solo options. Warzone launched March 10th after a whole lot of leaks (including the in-game map and the launch trailer itself). It’s available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.