Call of Duty: Warzone has over 30 million players less than two weeks after launch

Call of Duty: Warzone, Activision’s new battle royale (BR) game that released less than two weeks ago, has more than 30 million players, the publisher announced on Friday. That makes it one of the fastest-growing free-to-play titles in the industry, putting it on par with BR competitor Apex Legends, which hit 25 million players after its first week back in February 2019.

Helping the matter, of course, is the massive surge in work-from-home policies and shelter-in-place orders nationwide as people stay indoors during the novel coronavirus pandemic. But for Activision and developer Infinity Ward, that’s likely translating to a whole lot more time spent playing online multiplayer games like Warzone. (Also helping the matter is that Warzone is a free-to-play download even if you don’t own the existing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.)

Warzone has all of the tried-and-true BR staples, like a shrinking circle, weapon looting, and a massive player pool. But it introduced a lot of clever twists on the formula, including as many as 150-player lobbies, numerous reviving options for you to bring your teammates or yourself back into the fight, and a truly astounding loadout variety that lets you compete with virtually any weapon and item combination from the main Call of Duty: Modern Warfare installment.

Earlier this week, Infinity Ward added a new solo mode to the game, which signals that Warzone could see much faster-paced updates than Activision’s previous, more lackluster BR mode Blackout.