And, it’s not even the main Call of Duty launching this month.
A few weeks before the the highly anticipated release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Activision scored a massive launch on iOS and Android. According to mobile market tracker, Sensor Tower, the Tencent-developed Call of Duty: Mobile scored the best mobile launch ever with more than 100 million downloads in its first week.
Last month, Mario Kart Tour debuted to 90 million first week downloads. PUBG Mobile and Fortnite also launched to massive sales, garnering 28 million and 22.5 million, respectively, in their first seven days. Sam Byford, over at The Verge, notes that there are some asterisks:
*PUBG Mobile had a region-staggered launch
**Fortnite was only available on iOS for several months
***Call of Duty: Mobile hasn’t launched yet launched in China, a massive mobile market
Accounting for all that, it’s still a massive success, raking in $17.7 million in its first week. A majority of spending came from Apple users, with $9.1 million being spent on the iOS version and $8.4 million spent on Android. The United States was the game’s largest launch market, with $7.7 million being spent in the States.
It’s an interesting time for mobile gaming. On September 19, Apple launched its subscription service, Apple Arcade, which has the potential to reshape the mobile market. However, if Call of Duty: Mobile‘s massive launch is any indicator, the free-to-play model isn’t going anywhere just yet.
