Like clockwork, Activision Blizzardannounced a new Call of Duty game. But this one is going to be very different.

The company said in its earnings release today it will launch a Call of Duty online micr0-transaction game for players in China. That’s  a big deal since it marks the first move to launch Call of Duty as a free-to-play game in Asian markets, where users prefer to play a game for free and pay real money in small amounts for virtual goods. Call of Duty Black Ops is the best-selling game of all time, the company said today.

The company said it will create a “best in class digital platform” surrounding the Call of Duty franchise. A new Call of Duty game is expected to debut sometime this fall and Activision Blizzard said it hopes to release more details in the coming weeks. The company said it will launch an immersive title and that the game so far has exceeded every internal milestone in its development.

“Today, Call of Duty is part of the cultural landscape,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, in a call with analysts.

Last quarter, the company announced it has created a new Call of Duty studio called Beachhead, which will create a connected “digital universe” for online fans. The company will have in-game integration of Beachhead’s platform and bring online experiences and console play together for the first time. It has been development for more than two years. Beachhead’s purpose is to create an energized community that can be monetized, Hirshberg. Beachhead’s efforts will be part of the major release of a Call of Duty game coming this fall. The plans is to continuously provide content online on a year round basis.

Activision Blizzard said that Black Ops players have logged more than 1.2 billion hours of online game play. Activision Blizzard said that Black Ops is now the top-selling video game of all time for the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, and the PC. The number of online players playing Black Ops is 33 percent higher than the number that played the prior year’s title, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, for the first five months after each game’s release. The number of quarterly downloads of Call of Duty Black Ops First Strike — the first map pack for Black Ops — was 20 percent higher than the first map pack for the prior game as well. On average, First Strike players have been playing 58 minutes a day in online games since Feb. 1. That compares to 55 minutes a day spent on Facebook.

Activision Blizzard is working on a new Call of Duty game and will release more details in the coming weeks and will market those titles once they launch with the biggest marketing budget the company has ever had. The company’s main effort on that front is in creating a big splash with its console and stand-alone PC games based on the series. On that front, Activision Blizzard is creating a new Call of Duty digital platform, which will be a hub for Call of Duty fans much like Battle.net is a hub for StarCraft II fans.

Bobby Kotick, chief executive of Activision Blizzard, said on the call that he believes this year’s Call of Duty effort will constitute the best experience for fans that the company has ever created. Call of Duty is growing on every measure of engagement. The hours of online play, consumer awareness and intent, size of the community, sales and other measures are all growing. And Call of Duty has 10 million fans on Facebook.

http://venturebeat.com/2011/05/09/activision-blizzard-announces-new-call-of-duty-online-game-for-china/

I wonder if they are planning on bringing the game out world wide or if it's just for Asian markets

They are pretty much gonna have to have the Chinese as the players fighting American's and all those other western countries.

"Call of Duty Black Ops is the best-selling game of all time, the company said today."

Wat.

Why would anyone care? We already have Combat Arms.

Trollolololz

It's actually true. Black Ops easily shipped more than 30 million copies (all versions together and including Steam sales).

That is if you don't consider Wii Sports and Super Mario Bros. (which were both bundled).

And of course you must not take into consideration downloadable games like Angry Birds.

no, pokemon blue/red sold more than 30 million copies...

but they can be considered as two games. I'm sure a lot of people buyed both (me for example).

Goto China and don't come back, Activision.

you may be right, but the point still stands... 

Its interesting that so many own black ops but there are so few on the 360 version at any one time.  Pretty sure mw2 was averaging more players.  MW2 ps3 near the end of its cycle was averaging more players then blops has on at certain times of the day.