Developed by Activision Shanghai and Raven Software, Call of Duty Online is a China-exclusive, free-to-play title of the popular military shooter franchise. Its publisher Tencent Holdings is also the very same publisher responsible for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds , and much like the massively popular battle royale game, Call of Duty Online is slated to get its own “survival sandbox” game mode. Call of Duty Online’s new18-player PvP battle royale mode s scheduled to hit this December.
Call of Duty Online, the free to play game for mainland China published by Tencent, is getting a 'survival mode' in December.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) November 26, 2017
It's effectively an 18 player PVP Battle Royale mode. It's similar to PUBG but has a few differences.
Here is some gameplay: https://t.co/Ky8d2mw7C1 pic.twitter.com/91eNgAOpiB
Analyst Daniel Ahmad tweeted the news, along with a link to footage of the new mode’s beta period. The 10 minutes of video depict a more fast-paced round of Call of Duty with a very distinct PUBG vibe, though since most of the text is obviously in Chinese, it’s a little tough to decipher exactly what’s going on from scene to scene in terms of equipment and on-screen messaging. With similarities to PUBG , players will have to scavenge for supplies and weapons while avoiding other players doing exactly the same thing.
Call of Duty Online has been around since 2013 and has offered players an intriguing free-to-play setup that culls maps from the core Call of Duty franchise as well as various customization options. There are currently no plans that we know of for the long-running series to see a free-to-play release in the west, but with the battle royale craze that’s swept the industry, this new game mode hardly comes as a surprise, especially from a publisher like Tencent.
There’s currently no concrete release date for the upcoming game mode beyond “December” at this point. In the meantime, Tencent is already hard at work on another battle royale title called Europa , which will run on the publisher’s QuickSilver X engine. According to Ahmad, 100 players will be dropped onto an island with one survivor at the end of a bloody battle. Europa introduces battles across land, sea and air, and will also feature a real-time weather system. Tencent obviously has its hands full with the battle royale genre, so December should be a big month for Chinese players looking for a quick fix for this type of game.
