Call of Duty Online Will Shut Down in China Later This Year
While Western players will no doubt be familiar with Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Mobile, there is another free-to-play Call of Duty game out there; Call of Duty Online. Launched exclusively in China back in 2015, Call of Duty Online was actually the franchise’s first free-to-play instalment. However, Tencent has now announced plans to shut the game down completely later this year.
The Future of Call of Duty Online in China
Call of Duty Online first launched in China in 2015 and is a free-to-play PC game managed by Tencent. The game never saw release outside of China, and has many differences compared to the franchise’s familiar Western format. Evidently, the game was designed with a Chinese audience in mind, rather than its traditionally Western one. (Although Call of Duty: Mobile is, notably, much more reminiscent of its original aesthetic.)
After more than five years in operation, Tencent has now announced plans to shut down Call of Duty Online later this year. Registration for the game has closed as of today, and the game’s servers will shut down permanently on the 31st of August. This move is not surprising. Since its debut in China, Call of Duty: Mobile has seen enormous success, bringing in many millions of players. Tencent now appears to be encouraging its remaining Call of Duty Online players to switch over to the newer title.
Call of Duty: Mobile’s success hasn’t been limited to China. Activision recently announced that the game had passed 500 million downloads worldwide! (Just two weeks after the announcement that Call of Duty: Warzone had itself passed 100 million players.) Evidently, the franchise’s free-to-play instalments have been colossal financial successes for Activision. As the company focuses on Call of Duty: Mobile’s second year of new content, it’s not surprising that it would want to shut down the older and declining Call of Duty Online.