China is getting its own COD—and not merely as the new foreign bad guys. Meet Call of Duty Online.
Other than the single player campaign, isn't all Call of Duty online? Well, yes. But in China, it's Call of Duty Online. Announced today, the game is published by Chinese gaming giant Tencent. Activision first mentioned the free-to-play, microtransaction-based game back in February 2011.
While consoles are banned in China, the microtransaction-based model on PC is widespread throughout Mainland China. The country's gray market also makes consoles and console games readily available.
Late last month, Activision snatched up a slew of Call of Duty related web addresses—17 in total. The websites are probably protecting the Call of Duty online presence in China from internet bad guys.
COD [Tencent Games]