16/09/2020
"Welcome to Gulag"
It looks like Activision's big-hit battle royale Call of Duty: Warzone is going mobile. A job listing indicates the company is now searching for a features executive producer for a new mobile game in the series referred to as WZM—presumably a codename for Warzone Mobile.
"As Executive Producer, Features you will own product framing and player experience of a new AAA mobile FPS in the Call of Duty franchise," the job listing says. "Developing in collaboration with multiple Activision studio locations around the world, this leader is a skilled communicator and development leader who can define and harvest the important elements that define a best-in-class mobile shooter game, clearly articulate why these elements are important and what their success criteria are, and shepherd those elements through a distributed development organization to deliver the highest quality software product."
That's a fairly broad description, but Warzone-specific elements follow lower in the listing, which says that among other things the successful applicant will:
Harvest, adapt and deliver the essential features from Warzone console and PC into their best mobile instantiation
Improve upon the Warzone formula by proposing and producing mobile-specific additions and changes to features to ensure a best-in-class mobile experience that players will love
Serve as primary point of contact on Warzone Mobile leadership team for clarity and decisions on user-facing features, UX and overall quality
Activision already has a mobile version of Call of Duty, called Call of Duty: Mobile, which came out in October 2019 and features a battle royale mode along with conventional multiplayer options. It's been very successful, but Activision may feel that even bigger things are possible with a battle royale-specific game, especially one bearing the Warzone title. Call of Duty: Warzone has been a major hit for Activision, which reported in August that the game has surpassed 75 million users since launching in March 2020. It's also helped drive record numbers of new players to the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reboot released in 2019.
The company also hinted at more things to come for Call of Duty on mobile platforms during an August investors call, saying, "CoD Mobile is off to a really great start, but we're just scratching the surface of what that franchise can be on mobile, and then integrating the experiences across multiple platforms, we know is just an incredible opportunity for the franchise."
The job listing speaks for itself, but I've emailed Activision to ask about it, just to be sure. I'll let you know if I hear anything back.