Call of Duty: Mobile

The Activision International game company released “Call of Duty: Mobile” on October 1st, 2019. In less than a day after the release, shareware mobile shooter was installed by 3 million people.

On the “Call of Duty: Mobile” release day, it became the most popular free iOS app in 33 countries, including the United States. Also, in another 30 additional markets, the mobile shooter entered the top 5. In terms of earnings, the game ranked 59th in the US App Store.

Sensor Tower, a research firm, said “Call of Duty: Mobile” was downloaded over 100 million times in the first week — the most successful mobile game launch in history, outperforming Fortnite (22.5 million) and PUBG (26.3 million).

This is more than the performance of the console Apex Legends, which at the beginning of the year made a lot of noise, having managed to interest a huge number of players in the shortest possible time: in the first week it was downloaded to PS4, Xbox One and PC about 25 million times.

As a result, the United States became the main audience in a week — the number of downloads in America went for 17%. India is in second place. It’s noteworthy that in the first 48 hours the situation was the opposite: India was the leader.

By the way, for a week, the revenue of the shooter amounted to $17.7 million.

“Call of Duty: Mobile” combines the content of two franchise universes — Modern Warfare and Black Ops. This applies to maps, modes, characters, weapons, and more. Moreover, on the day of release in the mobile shooter, only two game modes were available: competitive multiplayer and the battle royale, but over time, zombies will appear.

Analytics believe that the success of the mobile spinoff will further contribute to the success of the “big brother” — “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare”, which will be released on October, 25 on PS4, Xbox One and PC. There are chances that the game will still appear on the Sony console in Russia.

About the game “Call Of Duty: Mobile”

I’m very skeptical of emulators and other ways to play games in a different way than originally intended by the developers. But just recently, I found out that the “Call of Duty: Mobile” shooter was released not only on mobile platforms but also on the “official” emulator. About the absence of the western release of “Call of Duty Online”, I ached for a long time, but here it’s about the same, so I decided to try it. I’ll make a reservation right away, I’m not the owner of a modern mobile phone, but a fan of the franchise and have been following its development for a very long time. Therefore, my gaming experience took place in an emulator.

“Call of Duty: Mobile” is trying very hard to please fans of the old games of the series. In total, the game features 9 cards from the classic Modern Warfare and Black Ops, with a focus on Call of Duty 4. For the Battle Pass, for only $8 you can already get Ghost from MW2. True, with the killstreaks they did it. There is a classic like a Predator Drone, but there is neither a nuclear bomb nor MOAB. And the complete absence of Deathstreaks, which at one time caused fury for all players above the average. Also, unlike the old MW, the “main” game mode here is Frontline — a copy of Team Deathmatch, but with fixed spawn points for teams.

There are no so many weapons, but there is already plenty to choose from. The guns have very good customization, but it seems that only the silencer, tactical pen, laser target designator, and sight affect the model. Customization differs for different models, for example, the AK-47 with a tactical pen starts to look like a Romanian version.

For those who want a new sensation instead of an old school, Activision offers Battle Royale mode. I couldn’t find any noticeable differences from the average Royal, but the firing mechanics from the classic Call of Duty fit pretty well into it. I note that classes with all sorts of zombies completely destroy the feeling that this is a game “about war”.

The quality of the emulator turned out to be better than I thought. Keyboard and mouse controls are excellent as if the game was originally made for the PC. This leads to wild balance problems, playing from a normal monitor and with a mouse against people with a 5-inch touchscreen, even such a relatively average player like me can easily cut 30 kills per match. And for some reason, PC players can still use aim assist, which is almost a legal aimbot for a player with a mouse. Also, there are noticeable performance problems. I suspect that my far from the top-end computer with a GTX 1050 Ti significantly exceeds the capabilities of most mobile phones and tablets, which doesn’t interfere with the game from time to time completely obscene to sit on FPS. Another problem with the emulator is the complete inability to give developers money. I tried to buy a Battle Pass, but they refused me with the words that I have the wrong Google Play device.

A little guide on how to make money in the game

Not everyone has the opportunity to donate in games. But at the same time, you don’t want to be so far behind donators. There are some simple ways to “stay afloat”. 

Credits are the main resource in “Call of Duty: Mobile”, and sometimes it takes time and patience to receive them. There are many ways to earn them without microtransactions, but for this, you will need to play a lot.

There are two types of game currency in Call of Duty — credits and COD points. Credits can be earned in a game way by performing various actions, and COD points can only be bought for real money. Fortunately, almost everything can be bought for loans: equipment boxes, weapon upgrades, and even name change tokens. Therefore, in theory, you can play without donating at all.

There are five main ways to get loans in “Call of Duty: Mobile”. For maximum earnings, you need to enter the game daily, complete 2 daily and 5 weekly tasks, upgrade the Battle Pass, break unnecessary items and watch advertisements/participate in promotions to receive credit bonuses.

Here is the list of award sources:

Daily Login Rewards [500 per week];

Complete daily/weekly tasks;

Rank in the free Battle Pass to earn more [4,000 in total];

Disassembling unnecessary items in your inventory as you develop;

View ads/participate in promotions to earn extra.

The higher the level, the more opportunities to earn loans. It can take up to 8 weeks of sequential grind to accumulate on the Purple item at the top of the list. But you can unlock the best things, even if you play without attachments.

Well, I’m satisfied with the game. If Activision fixes emulator problems and regularly adds new content, then “Call of Duty: Mobile” will easily be able to enter my top 5 f2p shooters, a genre that is now filled mostly with cheap Counter-Strike Asian clones.