'Call of Duty Mobile' is already outperforming 'Fortnite' with 100 million downloads in its first week alone
- "Call of Duty Mobile" had a massive launch on Android and iOS with more than 100 million downloads and $10 million in revenue in its first week.
- Activision's "Call of Duty" is one of the best-selling video game franchise of all time and the mobile version is free-to-play. Like many popular mobile games, "Call of Duty Mobile" earns money through microtransactions.
- "Call of Duty Modern Warfare" will launch on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on October 18, and it's expected will be one of the most popular games of the year.
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"Call of Duty Mobile" enjoyed a huge first week, amassing more than 100 million downloads on Android and iOS devices.
While the game is free-to-play, it's already generated $10 million in revenue and surpassed the early success of popular mobile shooters like "Fortnite" and "PUBG Mobile," according to data from SensorTower.
"Call of Duty Mobile" makes use of touchscreen controls and includes many of the same game modes and maps as the popular "Call of Duty" console releases. With a yearly release schedule, "Call of Duty" is one of the best-selling video game franchise of all time, and its successful launch on mobile is a reflection of the game's massive global community.
Read more: A new 'Call of Duty' game is coming to iPhone and Android on October 1 - Here's everything we know
"Fortnite" is widely considered the most popular game in the world right now with more than 250 million registered players on mobile devices, consoles, and computers. A large portion of the "Fortnite's" success has been attributed to its accessibility on mobile and traditional gaming devices. Now, other shooting games like "Call of Duty Mobile" are starting to get in on the action by designing new games specifically for the mobile audience.
The mobile version of "Fortnite" launched on iOS first in April 2018, earning 22.5 million downloads and $3.3 million in revenue during its first week in Apple's App Store. According to data from SensorTower, "Call of Duty Mobile" saw 56.7 million downloads and grossed $8.5 million from the App Store alone in its first week.
There are some key factors that separate the launch of "Fortnite" and "Call of Duty Mobile." Most importantly, "Fortnite" was available on PC and video game consoles more than six months before it arrived on mobile. The Android version of "Fortnite" also launched several months after the game was released on iOS. Because "Fortnite" is the same across all platforms and shares online play, some players simply chose to stick with their console of choice.
"Call of Duty Mobile" is exclusive to mobile devices and doesn't offer any cross-play with traditional video game consoles. Though the game shares some of the same content as the console releases, it's clearly designed with a free-to-play model in mind and relies on micro-transactions to generate revenue.
Activision will still release "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare," the next entry in the core franchise, on October 18 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.