compared to other contemporary shooter franchises like . But Activision’s orientation towards PC players has been changing a bit over the years, with ‘s recent move to the PC and a hybrid server model being some of the most noticeable signs.
So our ears perked up this week when, in an earnings call Thursday evening, Activision Blizzard President and CEO Coddy Johnson promised the company has “invested significant dedicated resources and design time” to the PC version of The company wants to “make sure we can deliver a great PC game to serve that community.
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Johnson didn’t go into any detail on what those “dedicated resources” might mean for PC players, beyond pablum like the game “continu[ing] to push the envelope in innovation” and including “a number of new exciting developments.” But he did specifically call out the game’s “appeal on growth platforms like PC” as a focal point ahead of a larger gameplay reveal set for May 17.
Elsewhere in the call, Activision executives addressed the rising popularity of “Battle Royale” shooters like and , which have recently taken a lot of industry and player attention away from more traditional online shooters like . Activision Blizzard CFO Spencer Neumann acknowledged Activision was feeling a “near-term impact from Battle Royale,” even though still grew overall year-over-year.
But Activision CEO Bobby Kotick added coyly that “when we see things that appeal to our audiences, we are very good at being inspired by those,” which could easily be seen as a hint that Battle Royale is coming to . That would gel with reports by Kotaku, Eurogamer, and others suggesting the company is working on such a mode for . Those reports also suggest the game will ditch the standard single-player and co-op campaign in favor of a focus on multiplayer gameplay and the “Zombies” survival mode.
Put it all together, and you get the impression that Activision might be ready to really shake up the somewhat formulaic, console-focused design of this year. Now that we’re over a decade on from the original , that’s not an unwelcome sign.
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