Do you know who comes out on top in the Warzone vs Apex Legends player count? When it comes to Battle Royale games, there are a few that stand out in terms of their fame and popularity.
In Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone, we've selected two of the biggest to go head to head, to see which one is currently ahead in terms of popularity and player numbers.
Two massive titles, but which one has captured more players? Does Warzone have more boots on the ground, or is Apex Legends sitting at the summit?
Warzone player count 2022
Call of Duty: Warzone launched back in March 2020, as a free-to-play supplement to the 2019 Modern Warfare release. To say it has been well received might be something of an understatement.
Six million players after 24 hours. 15 million after four days. 60 downloads within four months of release. But it hasn't stopped there.
On April 20, their Twitter feed confirmed that Warzone had reached the 100 million player mark. A staggering number of players in a little over 12 months. We don't have reliable data for concurrent players on Warzone. And as of June 8 2022, Warzone broke the 125 million player mark since launch.
This has obviously helped boost Activision's bottom line as well; while the game is free, the in-game transactions helped to generate $2.41 billion in the final quarter of 2020. It was estimated that last summer, Warzone and Modern Warfare netted $500 million for their parent company.
For the whole of 2020, it was estimated that this pairing brought in a staggering $1.93 billion, making Warzone and Modern Warfare by far the most lucrative game title of 2020. What we don't know, is exactly how that revenue is split between the 2 titles.
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Now, in 2022, the picture has changed a little. In their most recent earnings call, as reported by Metro.co.uk, the COD franchise overall has lost 50 million players since March 2021. This equates to a drop in monthly active users to below 100 million for the first time in over three years. In June 2022, MAU were as low as 94 million.
Warzone is notoriously badly afflicted by cheating and bugs, which could account for a portion of this decline.
Apex Legends player count 2022
While Warzone boasts some highly impressive numbers, Apex Legends is no slouch itself. Released in 2019, it had reached 10 million players in under a week; and 25 million players just over a week after release. A month after launch, that number had risen to 50 million, with over 70 million by October 2019.
On April 14, its Twitter feed celebrated reaching the 100 million player milestone - a little over two years after launch. While this was obviously longer than Warzone took to reach the same milestone, it's perhaps worth noting that Apex Legends isn't linked to a long-standing franchise like Call of Duty but is a new IP, which might give Warzone an edge in this respect.
Blake Jorgensen has been reported as stating that the game is now seeing annual growth rates of around 65%. Launching the game on Steam increased accessibility, and more recently, launching on Nintendo Switch. A mobile version is also anticipated for 2022, giving Apex Legends plenty more opportunity to grow. Apex Legends is expected to deliver over $500 million in sales in 2021, and over $1 billion overall since launch.
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In the Q3 earnings call on February 1 2022, EA stated that monthly active users in Apex Legends had increased by 30% year-on-year. That equates to an additional 28 million new players, suggesting around 130 million players have played Apex Legends since it launched.
They also stated that on Twitch, over 130 million hours of Season 10 content was watched, which represents an increase of 40% over Season 9.
Too close to call?
These two gaming giants are clearly evenly matched, with similar player numbers, and both raking in enormous sums for their parent companies.
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Warzone is slightly harder to judge in financial terms, because it is bundled in with Modern Warfare. But it's clear that both of these games are hugely popular, with plenty of room to grow even bigger. This Battle Royale is really just getting started. And with Warzone 2 being scheduled for release towards the end of 2022, there is plenty still to play for.
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