Call of Duty Mobile ‘beats Mario Kart Tour’ with 100m launch

Call of Duty: Mobile has reportedly broken mobile launch records with over 100 million downloads across iOS and Android devices in its first week of availability.

“This is by far the largest mobile game launch in history in terms of the player base that’s been built in the first week,” Randy Nelson, head of mobile insights at research firm Sensor Tower, told Reuters on Tuesday.

On October 3, Sensor Tower estimated that another free-to-play game, Mario Kart Tour, had been downloaded 90.1 million times across Android and iOS devices in its first week of availability.

Call of Duty: Mobile released on October 1 in all countries where the App Store and Google Play are supported with the exceptions of mainland China, Vietnam and Belgium.

In its first four days the game had been downloaded over 35 million times, and reached the No.1 app ranking on iOS in over 100 countries, according to publisher Activision.

Prior to its official launch, Call of Duty Mobile controller support was included in the game’s settings, leading many to believe it would be available upon release.

However, Activision subsequently confirmed Call of Duty Mobile controller support had been removed via an update and is no longer available.

In a further update, Activision’s VP of mobile Chris Plummer said controller support was briefly offered as a test for “a portion” of live players and suggested its removal was due to balance concerns. However, the executive said Call of Duty Mobile controller support may be reactivated in the future in the form of separate game lobbies.

Call of Duty: Mobile is playable on PC via Android emulator GameLoop, which offers mouse and keyboard controls plus “exclusive key mapping”.