Call of Duty Warzone attracted six million players in its first 24 hours, according to publisher Activision.
It represents a strong start for the free-to-play title, whichfeatures two game modes, Battle Royale and Plunder.
By way of comparison, free-to-play battle royaleApex Legendsreached approximately 2.5 million players in 24 hours, and 10 million players in its first 72 hours, according to developerRespawn.
Meanwhile genre leaderFortniteattracted 10 million players in its first two weeks, according to Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad, whotweetedthe following comparison:
Number of Apex Legends players after:
8 hours – 1m1 day – 2.5m3 days – 10m1 week – 25m
Number of Fortnite BR players after:
2 weeks – 10m6 weeks – 20m11 weeks – 30m16 weeks – 40m
Call of Duty Warzonewas released on March 10 as an 18-22GB download forCall of Duty Modern Warfareowners and as an 80-101GB download for everybody else – a sizeable download which could have put some players off trying the game.
Warzone shares the same Battle Pass and item shop as Modern Warfare. While Modern Warfare isn’t required to play Warzone, players who do own the game can access all their customisation items as progression is unified across the titles.
Co-developed byInfinity WardandRaven Software, with support fromActivisionShanghai,Beenox,High Moon StudiosandSledgehammer Games, Warzone supports cross-platform play forPS4,Xbox OneandPC.
Much likethe series’ successful mobile game, Activision hopes Warzone will attract new players into the Call of Duty ecosystem and keep them engaged with frequent content updates, some of which will be monetised.
It views Warzone as a more accessible entry point into the Call of Duty series for those who have stopped – or haven’t yet started – investing in the series’ annual releases.
The free-to-play game acts as a third pillar alongsideCall of Duty Mobileand future full price releases, which are expected to continue offering a ‘premium’ package of campaign, multiplayer and Zombies/Spec Ops.
Studio sources have told VGC that Activision has no intention of slowing down its premium Call of Duty releases, which will continue to be created under the leadership ofTreyarch, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer.
For more on the game, see ourCall of Duty Warzone Tips: 17 things you didn’t knowfeature.
