Call of Duty: Warzone has trounced Fortnite Battle Royale‘s launch, with Infinity Ward’s free-to-play game boasting 6 million players in its first 24 hours. When Fortnite‘s own battle royale mode was released, it received 1 million players within the same time period.
The standalone Warzone game, which utilizes the same engine as Modern Warfare, also surpassed Apex Legends‘ launch. Respawn’s battle royale game achieved 2.5 million players in its first 24 hours.
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The announcement was made in a tweet by the official Call of Duty Twitter account, with it stating that Infinity Ward is “just getting started” with the standalone game:
https://twitter.com/CallofDuty/status/1237865764167639041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-1566558263612849424.ampproject.net%2F2002192257490%2Fframe.html
These are huge numbers for Call of Duty: Warzone, with Infinity Ward and publisher Activision now needing to sustain this high number of players. The battle royale has undoubtedly been aided by it releasing as a free-to-play, standalone game, unlike Black Ops 4‘s Blackout mode which required players to also have a copy of the base game.
Infinity Ward and Activision will now be looking to sustain these numbers, while players hope that it receives ample support down the line. It remains to be seen how much of an impact Warzone will have on sales of Modern Warfare, too, with the new standalone release pointing players towards purchasing Infinity Ward’s latest FPS.
Given that 6 million players have jumped into Warzone within its first 24 hours, it’s imaginable that a significant portion of those players will have also picked up Modern Warfare. Activision has yet to release statistics showing how Warzone has impacted Modern Warfare‘s sales numbers thus far, but we should know more sooner rather than later.
While Warzone may have bested both Fortnite and Apex Legends‘ launch days, it did launch with several advantages. Unlike Apex Legends, it also launched as a mode for those who owned Modern Warfare, meaning that those who own the latest Call of Duty were likely to check out the battle royale when it launched. Additionally, Fortnite‘s battle royale mode became a huge success months after its initial release, with its launch day numbers not being reflective of its overall performance.
Still, this is a big success for Infinity Ward and Activision, with it also breaking up the annual Call of Duty release cycle in the process. If Warzone proves to be an ongoing hit with players, then this could potentially change the landscape of the CoD franchise for the foreseeable future.
