Call of Duty is a 2003 first-person shooting game. Its games are set on events during World War II. However, subsequent releases saw the games set in the Cold War, futuristic worlds, and even outer space.
From its initial release, it now has a staggering 23 variations, each garnering colossal success. With the development of these versions, Call of Duty boasts of a wide array of compatibility with different platforms such as Windows, Mac OS X, GameCube, Nokia N-Gage, PlayStation 2 to 5, Wii and Wii U, Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox X|S, iOS, Android, J2ME, and Blackberry.
Only this franchise could boast such huge compatibility. Its latest release Call of Duty: Vanguard launched on November 5, 2021. Seeing how big it got and how its following continues to expand, it’s natural to ask: what could be the secret behind Call of Duty’s popularity all these years? Let’s find out.
Factors That Lead to Call of Duty’s Success
The success of Call of Duty is not attained overnight. Nor can we say that it is guaranteed to stay for the rest of time. But Call of Duty’s pull up to this day can be attributed to the following factors:
Superb Player Experience
One of the keys to universal game success is its continuous thrust to improve the user experience interface. Graphics and audio quality adds to the players’ satisfaction, and Call of Duty, since its debut in 2003, has been delivering nothing but top-notch graphics quality and immersive audio.
The franchise’s dedication to such delicate matters could be seen in how they meticulously designed each and every weapon with their own distinct looks and features and even sounds whenever you use them.
Call of Duty was likewise never one to be afraid of trying new genres, as can be seen when they moved from their World War II and Cold War themes to zombies and out space settings. This creativity keeps the players engaged and their loyalty to the franchise intact.
Gaming Community
Activision, Call of Duty’s developer, knew the importance of forming and engaging a dedicated community of players. The community is composed of the game’s dedicated players, and over time, a pool of expert players even emerged from this community.
These players make use of the community to thrive and interact with each other, to share their passion for the game. This is actually how several Call of Duty tournaments were organized! A few were already created and have seen massive success in terms of attendance and revenue. Maintaining the community proved to be useful in keeping the Call of Duty franchise’s popularity since then up to now.
Advertising Strategy
Call of Duty’s advertising bull wick is video creative. Theirs are simple and to the point, showing actual fighting scenes in the game, designed to invite players who are into action games. What is good about their promotional videos is that they are not misleading and show real and actual scenes from the games that can meet the user’s expectations. Nothing click-bait, no-nonsense.
App Store/Play Store Optimization
In a world where everything aspired to be accessible on mobile, the franchise’s mobile optimization is one smart move to acquire organic users. Google Play Store and Apple App Store are the two main online game stores where players find new games to explore, and it’s the perfect place to put the Call of Duty: Mobile for these game aficionados to discover. Aside from this, they even employed an optimized app store page thru paid user acquisition because users are sent to the app download landing page after watching the ad and clicking it.
Conclusion
The Call of Duty franchise’s continuing popularity is a result of Activision’s continuous endeavor to better the game and give time and money’s worth in playing the game. Their continuous pursuit of improvement and dedication to engage and cultivate the community, while adventurously challenging new game settings, shows how dedicated they are. We are not surprised why Call of Duty remains on top.
