Call of Duty: Warzone is one of the biggest games in the world, providing a multiplayer-only entry in the Call of Duty franchise that’s easy for everyone to access. Millions upon millions of players have jumped in so far, and now its reach is getting even bigger with Call of Duty: Warzone for mobile.
With this new version of the game, even more players will be able to easily access this free-to-play juggernaut. Here’s what you need to know about Call of Duty: Warzone for Android.
What is Call of Duty: Warzone?
Call of Duty: Warzone first launched for PS4, Xbox One and PC back in March 2020. Developed by Infinity Ward and Raven Software, the game is a distinctly Call of Duty take on the ever-popular Battle Royale format. 150 players jump down across a map, scavenging weapons, armor and money, competing to be the last ones alive as deadly gas closes in.
Competing with other established free-to-play Battle Royale titles, Call of Duty: Warzone was a massive success for Activision Blizzard, reaching over 100 million players in April 2021, a little over a year after it first released.
Activision officially announced that Call of Duty: Warzone was coming to mobile platforms on March 10, 2022, the game’s second anniversary.
Call of Duty: Warzone for Android is taking this established format and applying it to mobile devices. The game is designed to provide a AAA experience, not sacrificing overall quality, while still making use of the mobile platform. If this commitment to quality is truly kept, it’s entirely possible that Call of Duty: Warzone for Android will end up being one of the best Android games available.
This new mobile version of Call of Duty: Warzone is being developed primarily by Solid State Studios, a team founded by Activision in 2021 to build AAA mobile games. Located in Santa Monica, California, the team at Solid State Studios is recruiting heavily for this project. Additional support work is being done by the recently-acquired Spanish mobile studio Digital Legends, as well as longtime Activision support studios Activision Shanghai, Beenox, and Demonware.
Activision Blizzard is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft in a deal worth nearly $69 billion. When the purchase is finalized, Activision Blizzard will be added to Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks as an Xbox first-party publisher, but this shouldn’t affect anything to do with Call of Duty: Warzone on Android. Microsoft hasn’t interfered with pre-existing games when acquiring game companies, and has committed to keeping Call of Duty a multiplatform franchise for the time being.
Is Call of Duty: Warzone for Android the same as Call of Duty: Mobile?
While it’s understandable that someone might think Call of Duty: Mobile is already just the mobile version of Call of Duty: Warzone, there are a few key differences. For starters, when it comes to how the games are actually built, Call of Duty: Mobile was developed by Tencent-owned Timi Studio Group, while Call of Duty: Warzone for Android is being handled entirely in-house by Activision studios.
Call of Duty: Mobile was not meant to translate the full experience of playing Call of Duty: Warzone over to a mobile device. Instead, Call of Duty: Mobile offered a simplified Call of Duty experience across multiple modes, with team multiplayer, Battle Royale and later, a Zombies mode.
Call of Duty: Warzone for Android, by contrast, is meant to be the premium experience players currently have access to, but adjusted for mobile devices. We wouldn’t expect to see alternative modes here like Zombies or regular multiplayer; by all accounts, Activision wants to truly develop a mobile version of Call of Duty: Warzone, so that’s what players should expect.
Does Call of Duty: Warzone for Android feature cross-play?
It’s unclear if Call of Duty: Warzone for Android will have full cross-play across all devices. Call of Duty: Warzone does scale across devices with cross-play currently, allowing players on PS4 and Xbox One to fight against others on PC hardware or even newer consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
We’ll have to wait and see how things pan out, but we wouldn’t rule out the possibility just yet that mobile players will be able to join in matches with friends on console or PC. One of the advantages of Call of Duty: Warzone being available across all platforms is the ability to push out events without having to manage multiple games.
It would make sense to ensure that the new mobile version of Call of Duty: Warzone is kept up to date with the game on other systems, but we’ll have to see how things pan out technologically.
It’s also worth remembering that Activision Blizzard is also developing “Warzone 2,” a current generation-only version of Call of Duty: Warzone. So, will the mobile game end up being tied to the older version, or the new one, or be its own thing entirely? We’re not sure right now, but these are important questions we hope to see answered in the near future.
Regardless of how it goes, this mobile Call of Duty: Warzone game will almost certainly support cross-play between Android and iOS users, ensuring a healthy playerbase across as many mobile devices as possible. Cross-play between Android and iOS isn’t uncommon and is in fact expected from most bigger titles.
Call of Duty: Warzone for Android — release date
Right now, there’s no official release date for Call of Duty: Warzone for Android. The teams making the games announced the game without a trailer and with job postings, indicating that there’s heavy recruitment and the game wasn’t close to being ready at the time of the announcement.
With Warzone 2 actively slated to launch later in 2022, it seems like at bare minimum, Call of Duty: Warzone for Android will be launching sometime later, possibly pushing it into being a 2023 release.
This could potentially end up plugging an important release hole for Activision Blizzard, as the 2023 Call of Duty entry is reportedly being delayed to 2024. We’ll be sure to keep you posted for any news on this front.
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