Call of Duty Mobile Is Off to an Explosive Start

The game was installed 20 million times over first two days
Tencent has grand plans to make more beloved franchises mobile

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By Lulu Yilun Chen

October 3, 2019 at 6:13 AM UTC

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Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s Call of Duty Mobile has attracted 20 million gamers within the first two days of its worldwide debut, a big boost for the company’s ambition of adapting top-tier titles with global name recognition for smartphones.

Based on Activision Blizzard Inc.’s marquee PC and console franchise, Call of Duty Mobile generated a quick $2 million in player spending after rolling out in the U.S., Europe, India and Latin America, researchers at Sensor Tower said. Its downloads rivaled those for Nintendo Co.’s Mario Kart Tour over its first two days, one of the most successful mobile game launches ever, according to their findings.

Call of Duty Mobile is the highest-profile project to emerge from Tencent’s effort to convert established gaming franchises to mobile, priming a pipeline that already stretches to 2022, Thomson Ji, vice president of Tencent’s TiMi Studios, said in an interview.