Mobiles are often ridiculed by mainstream consumers as a platform for games. Activision Blizzard though recognizes the potential in satisfying a vast player-base worldwide and which is why the publishing giant is already on the move.
While addressing investors (via Gamasutra) in an earnings call for the third quarter ended of the 2020 financial year, president and chief operating officer Daniel Alegre confirmed Activision Blizzard to be “investing meaningfully” to bring more of its flagship franchises to mobiles over time.
Alegre noted that Call of Duty: Mobile has been downloaded more than 300 million times worldwide with an estimated $500 million in total revenue in its first year. Diablo Immortal remains to be released but Alegre revealed that the game has seen a “hugely enthusiastic response” from internal playtesters. He further teased that there are “multiple mobile titles” under development.
We need to make sure that we’re enabling our franchises on the billions of mobile devices that are available right now. That’s by far our biggest opportunity and we’re investing meaningfully to capitalize on this and to take all our franchises to mobile over time.
Besides Call of Duty and Diablo, Hearthstone has been enjoying on mobile devices as well. That leaves behind Overwatch, StarCraft, and World of Warcraft to take a jump on mobile devices.
The upcoming Overwatch 2 may as well have some kind of mobile support since the sequel focuses on player-versus-environment missions. The game is said to be a Left 4 Dead-like experience, which can be easily designed around mobile controls. There are many real-time strategy games on mobiles but StarCraft never receive that honor. Activision Blizzard might address that somewhere in the future. World of Warcraft is already playable on mobiles through Steam Link streaming, but a proper mobile experience remains in the wind.
In either case, Activision Blizzard has made it clear that it intends to invest heavily in mobile development. Call of Duty: Mobile has made it evident how lucrative a proper mobile game can be. Diablo Immortal is believed by analysts to have similar success despite heavy criticism from mainstream fans.
