Mobile gaming remains one of the fastest-growing aspects of the video game industry. Not only do certainmobile-only gamesgrow staggeringly popular and successful, but a significant number of the industry’s most popular PC and console games are now receiving mobile game versions as well. It should be no surprise then to hearActivision Blizzarddescribe the mobile gaming market as “a real priority” that is the target of significant internal investment going forward.
Activision Blizzarddiscussed its perspective toward the mobile gaming market as part of a recent quarterly earnings report. COO Daniel Alegre didn’t hold back in his vocal support of the mobile market, calling it the “ultimate driver of reach” due to a userbase of nearly 3 billion smartphones worldwide. As such, Activision Blizzard’s ongoing mobile expansion efforts are receiving significant financial investment, as well as hundreds of new mobile developers. That’s to say nothing of its acquisition efforts.
RELATED:Activision Wants All of Its Franchises To Be Like Call of Duty
With this focus in mind, Alegre says thatActivision Blizzard’s goal for the mobile platformis to bring every one of its major franchises to mobile devices in the future. He then elaborates on that point, telling listeners that not bringing Activision Blizzard games to mobile would be a “disservice” to its community. Broad expansion to mobile platforms, according to Alegre, is a “crystal clear” opportunity.
Alegre believes thatActivision Blizzard’s intellectual property is “well-suited” for mobile devicesand that it has broad worldwide appeal. However, he does acknowledge that certain franchises will be changed in order to fit better on the mobile medium. He describes how there could be “re-imaginations of an IP” for mobile devices, alongside games that are more similar to their PC/console counterparts. Exactly what kind of re-imaginations players can expect remains to be seen, but it sounds like Alegre is trying to set expectations early.
As examples of what Activision Blizzard is working towards, he refers to two different games. First, there’sCall of Duty Mobile, which has become a huge success internationally. Second, he mentionsDiablo Immortal, which is currently in development. Alegre also mentions that there are multipleWarcraftmobile games being worked on.
A big part of why the mobile market has become increasingly a priority for Activision Blizzard and other major publishers is the growth of the Chinese gaming market. Alegre calls attention toCall of Duty Mobile, which notably has seen impressive success in China. Similarly,Diablo Immortalseems to have a significant interest in the Chinese market. As the Chinese market grows, so does the mobile market, withActivision Blizzardclose behind.
MORE:All of the Activision Studios Working on Call of Duty and What They Did Before
