Call of Duty Online, a Free-to-Play Shooter for China, Now Official

Activision and Chinese company Tencent have confirmed that they’ll release a special Call of Duty Online massively multiplayer online shooter later this year exclusively for the Chinese market.

The Call of Duty series is one of the biggest franchises in the world, earning publisher Activision huge amounts of money with every yearly release.

Now, the series is set to take over the Chinese market through a dedicated experience in the form of Call of Duty Online, a free-to-play multiplayer shooter.

The game is being developed internally by Activision and will be released into the country by Chinese company Tencent, which has recently bought a minority stake in Epic Games.

The game’s various online modes are inspired by previous titles in the series and support microtransactions, as players can buy weapons, gear or perks using real-world cash.

The game even has a story that will be told through a series of Spec Ops missions based on the Modern Warfare universe.

"We are very excited about our relationship with Tencent and the opportunities for gaming in China," said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. "We think China is one of the most exciting places in the world for us to grow our business and to develop innovative new games."

"We have worked closely with Tencent to create a game with broad appeal for the Chinese market. We look forward to laying the foundation for a long-standing relationship with Tencent and to launching a new and unique experience for fans," Kotick added.

Tencent is also thrilled about the upcoming game and promises that tens of millions of players will engage in it once it’s officially released.

"We are thrilled to work with the world's premiere game developer and publisher to bring this much-awaited title to Chinese game players,” said Martin Lau, president of Tencent. "We believe Call of Duty Online will attract tens of millions of loyal fans in China, and our game platform and operational expertise to run massive multi-player online games can provide strong support to deliver the immersive and highly interactive game experience to game players in China."

As of yet, Call of Duty Online doesn’t have a concrete release date. Even so, you can enjoy a small trailer below.