Wave of the Future? Call of Duty and the Chinese Market

Monday marked the launch of free-to-play PC shooter Call of Duty Online in China. Developer Activision has predicted their newest title will be “a game-changer” for the Chinese market.

Thanks largely to a decade-long ban on game consoles that was only recently lifted, the Chinese gaming scene is dominated by PC and mobile games. With the perfect environment for growth, massively multiplayer titles and other online games have flourished over the years. According to Go-Globe.com, online gaming in China is now a $13.5 billion dollar industry.

Activision’s Raven Software teamed up with Chinese entertainment conglomerate Tencent to bring Call of Duty Online to China. Tencent is also the parent company of Riot Games, the American studio that produced the wildly popular League of Legends.

Call of Duty Online will be available to play for free, but players will also have the option to buy in-game guns and equipment with real-world money. Other free-to-play Chinese titles have proven that the micro-transaction model can be very profitable.

The Chinese online market has remained untapped by Western developers until now, but it looks like that is rapidly changing. Borderlands Online, another free-to-play shooter from American developer Gearbox Software and Chinese publisher Shanda Games, is expected to launch in China sometime in 2015.

With two of the most prominent FPS franchises breaking into the Chinese market, other publishers are follow suit. It’s safe to say that we’ll be seeing more partnerships between Chinese and Western companies to make online games like these in the future.