To many players across the world, the Call of Duty Franchise is analogous to eSports. With each game that comes out, new tournaments are organised and the fans of competitive industry cheer for their teams. So you can imagine why the mobile gaming community praised the coming of Call of Duty to mobile devices. Gamers have expectations and such expectations are filled with hopes for eSports.
Call of Duty: Mobile is being developed by Tencent Games and published by Activision. Both of these giant companies have expectations from the game as well and that is profit. The wrong way to go about it is introduce a marketplace into the game where if you spend more money, you get better weaponry that gives you advantage in the game. This is a sin that competitive gamers frown upon and this is a major reason why many players left the Modern Combat games ever since they fell into that pay-2-win category.
It is the very reason why games like Forward Assault and Critical Ops seemed like an attractive alternative for competitive gamers because they were built on a skill-based system with no in-game purchases to improve a player’s skill.
Tencent Games & Activision need to improve Call of Duty: Mobile to avoid having the game become a safe space for those with more money and less skill. While the game is currently in Closed Beta, there are some concerns. At this point in time, there are two currencies available in the game: Credits & CoD Points. The CoD Points have to be bought with real money and can be spent on new guns, skins, and equipment. Such items cannot be earned and are available in the Store only.
This is not the type of game that mobile gamers are seeking to embrace with open arms. Weaponry that can affect the outcome of a battle should not be bought with money. Such an aspect kills the competitive nature of the game and those who are skilled but have less money to spend will be at a disadvantage when faced with an unexperienced player spraying & praying with an overpowered weapon.
Let us be clear that we have no knowledge of how the final version of the game will turn out. It might come out balanced and fair, pleasing the competitive community while profiting the companies invested in it. This is what we hope for. However, since we don’t know how the final version looks like, we are voicing our concerns so that players can send their feedback to the developers about the pay-2-win system. It is vital for the developers to know how competitive players feel about the game. Once they realize that we as gamers will invest our time and money into a game built on a skill-based system, they will ensure that the final product is released as such.
While this article is somewhat critical, our goal is to see a better Call of Duty: Mobile for the mobile gaming community. We are sharing our thoughts out of love for the game, franchise, and the community.
As of this moment, it was announced that the Closed Beta for Call of Duty: Mobile will end in Australia on July 3rd. It appears that now they will improve the game on various levels and prepare for another beta test or surprise us with a global release this summer.
Finally, to end this article with good news, it appears that Call of Duty: Mobile will receive an update featuring the COD Ghosts Series. This information comes from the Chinese version of the game which suggests that maps and weaponry from the popular series will become available in Call of Duty: Mobile in the future. Please check the video below to learn more about the current beta version of Call of Duty: Mobile.
Mobile eSports News™ 