Fortnite Might Be Paving the Way for Call of Duty’s Evolution
Battle royale games have taken the world by storm, and Fortnite might be one of the most popular games out there. And Activision Blizzard, known for publishing the Call of Duty series, is definitely feeling it. Their management claims that the free-to-play game—as well as other battle royale games like PUBG—have had a “near-term impact” on the company. Although they didn’t get specific, this probably refers to money or players.
But Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick doesn’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing.
Kotick claims that Fornite is helping gaming become more popular and mainstream, and Activision Publishing president Coddy Johnson agrees, stating that the battle royale mode is “contributing to innovation within the industry.” He also calls the battle royale genre’s mobile success “really encouraging.” Does that mean this success could influence the direction Activision Blizzard’s take Call of Duty into?
“When we see people innovate in an interesting and impactful way, we are very quick to figure out how to capture inspiration from innovation,” Kotick said. “When we see things that appeal to our audiences, we are very good at being inspired by those.”
And in response to people suggesting that Fortnite’s popularity might destroy the traditional $60 business model, Johnson said that the video game industry is big enough for multiple business models.
“We think that in a growing industry like ours there is room for multiple business models to succeed in parallel,” he said.
“The most important thing when creating content is to ensure that the “value proposition” is in a good place; that is to say, that the content in question is perceived to be valuable enough for people to feel compelled to buy it and satisfied with their purchase,” he added. “This is Activision Blizzard’s ‘north star.'”