In 2020, we have seen two major moves from gaming giants so far: the launch of Call of Duty: Warzone and the beta start of Valorant. What strategies are Riot Games and Activision Blizzard pursuing, and what makes these titles so interesting? Our author Schuhmann looks at both games.
This is the situation: 2020 has not seen major releases in gaming following traditional patterns yet. Due to the Corona crisis, the release of several games has been postponed: New World and The Last of Us 2 are coming later.
Additionally, several major multiplayer titles flopped in 2019, making Ubisoft more cautious and pushing its games back in 2020. Cyberpunk 2077, which many are waiting for, is simply not finished yet. We won’t even start on Diablo 4.
The gaming year 2020 is so far defined by two online titles:
- The free-to-play standalone game Call of Duty: Warzone was released on March 10, 2020, free for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The action spectacle now has over 50 million players. It is a battle royale game.
- The closed beta of the free-to-play tactical shooter Valorant started on April 7, exclusively on PC. The streamlined and minimalist shooter dominates especially Twitch and has set new records there.
On paper, both games have many similarities:
- they are shooters
- they are free
- they were released in a “relatively quiet window”
- they come from some of the biggest companies in gaming (behind Riot Games is the even larger gaming giant Tencent)
- they rely heavily on influencers and platforms like Twitch
But in reality, both games have almost nothing in common. They target different player types and pursue completely different goals.
Warzone – Call of Duty goes Free2Play
This is what Warzone wants: Warzone has three primary goals for Activision Blizzard
- They want to make “Call of Duty” a brand that functions year-round, not just from October to March. The core brand should be further strengthened after the strong push into mobile.
- They want to attract players who brought Fortnite back into gaming in 2018 and show that there are alternatives to comic-style graphics and pickaxes. Activision Blizzard aims for fresh blood on their way to 1 billion players.
- They want a maximally accessible free-to-play game to be more present in the market. Activision had a gap with free-to-play titles. There is money to be made here that others have earned before.
This is how Warzone achieved its goals: The plan to develop Warzone must have been around for years. In hindsight, the “Blackout” mode from 2018 was something like a half-thought-out prototype.
Its final form likely took shape early in 2019, when Apex Legends unexpectedly became a hit for Electronic Arts.
The fundamental question of Warzone was likely: How do we take Call of Duty and make it maximally accessible so that as many players as possible try out the title and then perhaps buy the full-price titles in the coming years?
A standalone free-to-play game in the battle royale genre was the solution.
They are now strongly oriented toward the two titles that were most successful in 2018 and 2019 with this strategy:
- From Apex Legends, CoD Warzone took the mysterious launch idea. The release was meant to come unexpectedly. Leaks ruined that. For the release, they relied on influencers diving into the title.
- From Fortnite, they adopted the constant flow of content. Warzone is already in Season 3, with many modes and regular patches. They even want to tell a story through events, like Fortnite.
Activision has taken a rather traditional approach with Warzone: They presented their big brand as a “maximally accessible game” and filled a gap in their offering.
Valorant: You are allowed to watch, not play
This is what Valorant wants: Riot is also pursuing three goals with Valorant, but different ones.
- They want to place a game in the competitive shooter space as a modern alternative to CS:GO, Overwatch, and Rainbow Six Siege.
- They want to introduce a new brand and help it gain visibility, ideally with little marketing effort, but via Twitch.
- They want to establish themselves as a player in the market who can do more than just League of Legends.
This is how Valorant achieved its goals: While Warzone focused on maximum accessibility, Riot Games took a completely different path: maximum exclusivity. There is no way to access the beta “normally”.
Players must watch streamers on Twitch to snag access. Beta access to Valorant is highly limited.
Through this artificial scarcity, Riot Games managed to create high demand.
This leads to the situation where beta access is being traded on eBay, and curiosity about Valorant is high. Everyone can see Valorant, but only a few can actually play it.
In keeping with this approach, Valorant has only been released for PC – a release of Valorant on PS4 and Xbox One is still uncertain.
Valorant does not aim to impress with great graphics but is intentionally subdued to highlight gameplay and readability.
The focus of Riot Games is on developing a game that can succeed in esports long-term, hence the emphasis on cheat detection, while Warzone has already suffered from significant weaknesses in this area.
Which approach is successful? In the first months, both approaches, although so different, turned out to be a resounding success.
CoD Warzone has managed to revitalize CoD Modern Warfare. Call of Duty is still relevant in May 2020. This has never been the case in previous years.
Valorant has managed to make a huge wave in April and establish itself as an important online title with little effort, while other games have sunk.
Both shooters have come out excellently from the starting blocks. But that was only the first section. CoD Warzone and Valorant must demonstrate through further actions how they can sustainably capitalize on their initially successful launch strategies.
The Corona crisis has shaken up the gaming year 2020. Currently, free-to-play shooters dominate. But this could change throughout the year. We look at the 8 most promising MMOs and MMORPGs for 2020.
