With the explosion in popularity for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, followed by a very similar explosion in popularity for Fortnite, battle royale modes have become something of a trend in the online shooter space, and understandably enough, all the other big names want a piece of the pie as well. It seems like this year’s Call of Duty  is also going to have a battle royale mode.

Activision have launched a trial run of a battle royale mode for Call of Duty: Online, the free-to-play PC title that is exclusive to China. That said, the battle royale mode is a little different from what you see in the likes of PUBG and Fortnite. Rather than 100 players, there are 18 players here (which makes sense, considering the fact that maps in Call of Duty are considerably smaller), rather than dropping out of a plane, players choose their starting point at the beginning of every match themselves, there’s an announcer, while the crowd also cheers anytime someone gets offed.

It definitely looks interesting, and we’re hoping Treyarch will include it in this year’s game as well. Given how successful it has been, we’re pretty confident that they will do so, but again, right now it’s all up in the air. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for constant coverage on Call of Duty 2018.

Call of Duty may not be available on consoles in China, thanks to the Chinese government’s harsh censorship policies, but the world’s largest gaming brand still has a pretty notable presence there, thanks to Call of Duty Online, a free to play online shooter that is a spin off of the main Call of Duty series.

The game, which Activision distributes in conjunction with Tencent, a giant internet service provider and game publisher in China, is developed by Raven Software, and is now finally available to everyone in China, since it has now entered open beta.

“Millions of gamers in the West have come to appreciate that white-knuckled, epic thrill-ride that only Call of Duty delivers. And now an entire new audience of gamers will experience this for the first time. We believe Call of Duty Online is going to be a game-changer for Chinese gamers,” said Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg.

“Throughout testing, the community feedback has been tremendous. We couldn’t be more excited and we look forward to winning the hearts and minds of a new community in China.”

Let’s see if Call of Duty takes the Chinese market by storm like it did western markets.

Just before the Holidays, a short teaser for Call of Duty: Online was revealed and it starred Chris Evans. The full live-action trailer is now available and, well, it features even more Chris Evans. There’s plenty of footage from the actual game though if you ignore the poor CGI and robotic zombies for long enough.

Call of Duty: Online is an online-only title in the franchise which focuses on multiplayer and is only available in China. It’s free to play with micro-transactions for various purposes and features various maps and characters taken from across the Call of Duty franchise. The robotic zombies are actually part of the Cyborg Rising mode which plays similar to Zombies and Survival modes in previous COD games.

What are your thoughts on the trailer for Call of Duty: Online? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare may be Activision’s best selling addition to the franchise for this year, but Call of Duty: Online is the one that will stay the course of the publisher’s Chinese market. The free to play shooter is available only in China and supports micro-transactions while also featuring its own campaign and multiplayer levels.

It’s also received its own live action trailer starring Chris Evans of Captain America fame. The trailer is short, showcasing a squad of Chinese soldiers being pursued until Evans shows up with a Stinger missile launcher to even the odds. Honestly, there’s not much to see here but it’s intriguing to see this kind of marketing for what is essentially a China-only title.

Call of Duty: Online features campaign levels and multiplayer maps that borrow from other games in the series. It even features series favourites like John “Soap” MacTavish and Captain Price.

Zombies, aliens, doggies – if Call of Duty as a franchise has proven anything, it’s that there is no length of ridiculousness it will not go in the name of entertaining gameplay. That being said, Call of Duty: Online, the China-only free to play shooter, has taken things to another level with its Robot Zombies mode. Yes, you heard us right. Zombies that are robots. Or robots that are zombies. One of the two. Maybe both. Check out the trailer above.

But this won’t be a Horde mode like in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 – Robot Zombies will actually function are more of a self-contained campaign with different characters and other interesting features. We can’t say we’re enthralled by it but at least developer Tencent is putting some actual effort into the whole thing.

What are your thoughts on Robot Zombies? Do you think it will drive demand to finally bring Call of Duty: Online to the West?

Call of Duty Online has already been in development for around two years and under a ‘multi-year’ agreement, Tencent will exclusively be operating the game in mainland China.

The game will be free-to-play, monetised through the sale of in-game items.

“We are very excited about our relationship with Tencent and the opportunities for gaming in China,” said Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick.

“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.

“Tencent is an ideal partner for Activision to bring Call of Duty Online to China.  [They have] a terrific track record of customer-focused innovation and deep market knowledge that will be invaluable to Activision as we build great games for China.

“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.”

Call of Duty Online aims to capitalise on the already rich multiplayer experience created by the franchise, now introducing a whole new gaming model to China.