Call of Duty‘s foray into the free-to-play battle royale arena seems to be paying off, at least for now. Activision announced on Twitter this weekend that Warzone crossed 15 million players by the end of its third day.
We crossed 15 million players earlier today, thank you #Warzone fans. #FreeCallofDuty pic.twitter.com/6Xw7MyFk2C
— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) March 14, 2020
For comparison purposes, Electronic Arts’ Apex Legends reached 10 million players in its first three days. Although it’ll take Warzone some time to reach Apex Legends‘ approximate count of 70 million players overall, it’s certainly on track to get there.
Warzone may have benefited a little from its launch timing. As the novel Coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a number of countries shutting down schools and non-essential businesses, people have been turning to online gaming to help pass time. This is the case in Italy, at least, which has been on lockdown. According to the country’s leading internet service provider, there has been a surge in traffic driven mainly by Fortnite and Call of Duty.
That said, Call of Duty‘s brand recognition alone may be enough to push Warzone to the ranks of Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
In other Call of Duty news, Activision has announced that all of the league matches scheduled for 2020 will now be livestreamed as authorities have placed a ban on large gatherings in a bid to control the spread of Coronavirus. Health officials have urged social distancing as authorities work on a cure, resulting in most esports events either being cancelled or livestreamed.
