The battle royale shooter Call of Duty: Warzone is not tied to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Activision Blizzard makes it clear now. An end to the game is not in sight. Warzone is even set to be released for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and will become a constant of the “Call of Duty” franchise. Thus, the corporation is changing its strategy for the brand.
This is the announcement: Taylor Kurosaki (featured image), the Narrative Director of Infinity Ward, has made major announcements about the future of Call of Duty: Warzone:
- Call of Duty is a genre in itself with various branches
- all these branches are connected in some way
- Warzone will be the ongoing line that connects all “sub-brands” of Call of Duty
Kurosaki says he is looking forward to seeing how future Call of Duty games will fit into Warzone in the “coming years”.
Sub-brands of Call of Duty will push forward and retreat, but Warzone will be the “one constant”.
This speaks for the future of Warzone: Kurosaki has also announced that Warzone will be released for the upcoming generation of consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X . He is confident that they will support the consoles.
The plan is for Warzone to be “around for a while.”
Important strategic realignment of Call of Duty
This is what it’s about: The main titles of Call of Duty are usually only relevant for a year, are supported, developed, and then replaced by the next game in the series.
For example, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018) had the battle royale mode “Blackout”, but it is hardly relevant today.
Warzone will be a “games-as-a-service” like Fortnite
With Warzone, it should now be clearly different. Activision Blizzard does not only consider Warzone as a mode, but as a standalone game. It is to be supported long-term like Fortnite or Apex Legends and developed as a games-as-a-service title .
This is an important strategic change for the Call of Duty brand. They will proceed on two tracks:
- while the main games appear annually as retail titles, hit the stores, and traditionally earn money
- the free-to-play Warzone remains constantly relevant and generates revenue through microtransactions
This way, Activision Blizzard is filling a gap in their portfolio and positioning a free-to-play, permanent title against Fortnite and Apex Legends. Additionally, it strengthens the “Call of Duty” brand, which is a declared goal of Activision Blizzard.
Already with the successful release of Call of Duty: Mobile 2019, the brand became stronger.
This represents a clear strategic change compared to previous titles in the series. It will be interesting to see how Call of Duty: Warzone behaves when Modern Warfare is no longer relevant and instead, the 2020 Call of Duty is released, which is supposed to take place in Vietnam.
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