Since its inception in 2003, Activision Publishing’s Call of Duty® franchise has grossed over $30 billion becoming not only gaming’s biggest franchise but rivaling that of Hollywood blockbusters. Throw in action figures, comic books, and trading cards, and you have a brand that consistently breaks out of gaming to make its mark on pop culture.

In 2022, Activision had not just one new iteration of Call of Duty® to announce but three exciting games - the flagship Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare II, online Call of Duty®: Warzone 2.0, and Call of Duty®: Warzone Mobile. Knowing that launching new titles in 2022 is very different from the past, they turned to gaming industry and experiential experts to craft one of the biggest announcements in Call of Duty® history.

Together, we created Call of Duty®: Next, a unique experience that brought 200 of the top global streamers and content creators together in person to our “streamer arena”. There they all had one mission: be the first to play this next generation of Call of Duty® games and broadcast their experiences and reactions to the rest of the world via their own channels.

Additionally, we pulled in the best of gameplay from the 200 guests in a “RedZone” style show broadcast on Call of Duty®’s official channels across the globe. Nine on-camera hosts and sideline reporters guided our audience through the three product launches, major announcements from the development team at Infinity Ward, and all the twists and turns of the live gameplay on two different stages. We also worked with several partners and sponsors, which included product placement, red-carpet set-up, and contests.

This event was targeted at global current and lapsed Call of Duty players, First Person Shooter (FPS) gamers, and those interested in gaming culture. This is an intentionally wide audience because Call of Duty is one of the most popular and recognizable video game franchises in the world. To best do this, our strategy focused on amplifying the existing community as a means to drive to expand it

To connect to such a large-scale audience effectively, it was important for the community to lead storytelling itself. We tapped into the power of our guest streamers & content creators and enabled them to stream directly from our venue, extending the reach of our show into the millions.

Reach:

1.2m peak CCV

4.7m hours watched

Engagement:

Dropping days after our event, the Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare II Beta was the biggest Beta in Call of Duty® history with 15m registrations

8 million units of Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare II were sold within 3 days of launch

Revenue topped $1billion within the first 10 days of launch