Activision: "Warzone caused us to rethink how, when and where we reveal our upcoming title"

The success of Call of Duty: Warzone has influenced Activision Blizzard's plans for announcing the next mainline Call of Duty game.

In a call with investors, Activision Blizzard's executives fielded numerous questions about Call of Duty, which was the driving force behind a strong second quarter for the company.

That was largely due to the free-to-play additions to the long-running franchise, Call of Duty Mobile and Call of Duty: Warzone. According to CEO Bobby Kotick, more than 75 million people have played Warzone since it launched in March.

In response to a question about the overdue announcement of this year's mainline Call of Duty game, Activision Publishing president Rob Kotisch said that the live-service products have "created a ton of new opportunities for the franchise."

"We could be more direct and more targeted than we've ever been before"

Rob Kotisch

"Starting with marketing, it's definitely had an impact there and how we think about marketing in this new world," he said.

"We have a larger, more engaged and more global audience than we've ever had at any point in time in our history. And that means that we could be more direct and more targeted than we've ever been before."

Kotisch singled out Warzone as "a great platform" to share news and information with the Call of Duty community, and this has played a role in the company's plans to announce the next title.

"To your initial point that you're talking about why you were waiting for such a long time... it's Warzone I think that's caused us to rethink how, when and even where we reveal our upcoming title," he continued.

"We can't wait to share it with the community, and we think it's going to be very different and more engaging than anything that we've ever done before."

With the launch of free-to-play products on mobile, PC and console, Call of Duty has moved closer to becoming a single platform -- one that allows Activision Blizzard to announce and market new products within that expanded community.

Earlier this week, Microsoft indicated that it is thinking in similar terms with the announcement that Halo Infinite's multiplayer mode will be free-to-play -- significantly increasing the size of its addressable market.