With 20 Million downloads will Call of Duty be the PUBG Killer?

It was expected that Call of Duty Mobile was going to be huge. But we underestimated the power of money, nostalgia and a brand that has been around for years. And this power just might be enough for Call of Duty Mobile to dethrone PUBG as the most popular game in India.

A new report by Sensor Tower, a mobile app analytics company states that CoD Mobile already has seen 20 million downloads worldwide, with India leading at the top spot with 14% of the downloads, that is 2.8 million downloads. If that wasn’t enough the game has already made $2million through microtransactions alone. The figures include Garena as well as Activision’s versions of the game (Garena will publish the game in Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines and Taiwan). This figure is from just 3 days of release. In comparison, PUBG mobile has 50 million downloads in India.

Call of Duty: Mobile has racked up more than $2 million spent on 20 million installs so far, according to Sensor Tower estimates. This includes Activision and Garena's versions of the game. India leads with 14% of installs, U.S. is No. 9 with 9%. #callofdutymobile #callofduty pic.twitter.com/2ici0HBa9g

— Sensor Tower (@SensorTower) October 2, 2019

So will Call of Duty Mobile be the PUBG killer?

It is very much possible. 2.8 million downloads in 3 days is no joke but it is a far cry from 50 million users that PUBG boasts. Both games were developed by their original developers in partnership with Tencent and they seem to know the Indian market quite well.

But several factors give CoD a leg up. The first and foremost is the nostalgia and fan base. CoD was one of the most popular shooter games in India when it was actually good so it is natural that the old fan base will flock to the Mobile version of the game. It also has more game modes than PUBG. PUBG is known for it’s Battle Royale mode. CoD has that, with solos, duos and squad modes like PUBG but it also has other modes like Team Deathmatch, which is the go-to mode on consoles and PCs. Indian players will mostly play the BR mode but I'm sure the availability of options doesn’t hurt. There are also more maps in CoD, like the fan-favourite Nuketown, though they are only available for modes other than BR like Team Deathmatch and Frontline. The last factor is fatigue. Indian players have been playing PUBG for quite a long time now, and a bit of change won’t hurt.

Naturally, players will start playing Call of Duty Mobile to look for a change after playing PUBG for so long. What will matter in the long run is Activision’s strategy for user retention. PUBG has done that with periodic events and a huge push to PUBG Mobile esports in India. We will have to wait and see how Activision competes with that.