Call of Duty SVP and General Manager Johanna Faries sits down with Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the launch of "Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0" battle royale mode, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II"'s launch weekend, and the game's community.

Video Transcript

RACHELLE AKUFFO: Now Activision launched the next installment of its "Call of Duty, Battle Royale Warzone 2" this week to a lot of fanfare. That title coming on the heels of the very successful release of "Modern Warfare 2," the newest game in the franchise.

Well, joining us now to discuss this is "Call of Duty" senior vice president and general manager, Johanna Faries, and Yahoo Finance's own Allie Garfinkle. Welcome to the show, Johanna. So, obviously, this came with a lot of fanfare. Talk about some of the new features that come with "Warzone." I know the proximity chat has been causing a lot of buzz.

JOHANNA FARIES: It's great that you know that already. Yes, we are on the precipice of awesome new release and new player engagement with "Warzone 2.0." We just launched that yesterday. So even more players are pouring into "Call of Duty" since we launched "Modern Warfare 2" just a few weeks ago. To your point on features proximity chat is a way where you can overhear some of the other players that might be nearby while you're playing your experience on this big map of ours that we've released.

And we're already seeing some incredible instances and interactions between players through that type of a feature. I think it reflects as well just more of the social connection points that gaming affords our community. And we often say "Call of Duty" is one of the best ways to make friends, meet new friends, and create long lasting connections. And so we love these types of features because this is a new way to not only play with the people you know, but maybe find new interactions and new friends along the way.

ALLIE GARFINKLE: Johanna, we've been talking about slowing consumer spending on this show a lot. But that's not showing up here in these numbers that we're seeing from "Modern Warfare" at all. So can you talk to me a little bit about why you think you've successfully bucked that trend and what these numbers say about the pull of "Call of Duty" in popular culture?

JOHANNA FARIES: It's been tremendous. We've been looking at these numbers for several weeks, as I mentioned. And to blow past some of the biggest entertainment launches in the entire industry with the launch of "Modern Warfare 2" and now with "Warzone 2.0" yesterday has been a hallmark and watershed moment for us. We're very proud of it. We're very excited.

More so than ever before, I think one of the reasons we're seeing success is we've kept so close to our community of influencers, our streamers, really thinking about what our players are looking for, and how do we deliver the best possible gameplay experience for them. And that's been in the works for years. We've been looking at this from every angle about how do we make sure this new era for the franchise is built from a player first lens.

To see it pay off now to the tune of the numbers that we've been reporting in just the last several days reflects a lot of that work. And we're going to continue to think player first in everything we do. So more to come. We often say that. This is just the beginning of the new bold era for "Call of Duty," but it is a testament to a lot of the work we've been laying and forging for ourselves and for our community for many months, if not years, now.

ALLIE GARFINKLE: And I know you're on the heels of this pandemic explosion, but I know you've also been watching those players and getting a lot of player feedback. So I'd love to hear a little bit about your sense of how the pandemic has affected player behavior.

JOHANNA FARIES: It was interesting. When we first launched, for example, our first "Warzone" experience back in 2020, it occurred in the same month as the pandemic started to really take shape across the world. We learned a ton about how gaming could provide connection and interaction and gathering spaces virtually when so much of the world was shut down.

Again, I think we were well positioned, given the platform that we had, and we had great gameplay. It always starts with great experiences, and the product was ready for an exciting launch, regardless of what had happened on the pandemic side. I think it also is a reflection of some of the investments we had been making to expand the bold opportunity we knew we had for "Call of Duty."

We saw that on the esports side where a lot of traditional sports leagues had to shut down and regroup in terms of operating. Our esports leagues like Call of Duty League, Overwatch League, and others, were able to still broadcast and host a live competition remotely. Again, it just speaks to, I think, the tech first, digitally native infrastructure that we've built. And we were able to expand the conversation around how potent an entertainment medium and a consumer engagement experience gaming is at that time. I think it validated a lot of the growth that we're experiencing now.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: And Johanna, against the backdrop of that, we also have the Microsoft acquisition still on the table. Should that go through, how would things change for "Call of Duty" in terms of sales and also where people can access it?

JOHANNA FARIES: As you can imagine, I can't really opine. The statements are out there. Microsoft has made their comments as well regarding that. We understand that that has interesting possibilities for sure. But right now, our eyes are completely focused on this moment for "Call of Duty." Day in and day out, we're looking at how do we continue to make this launch as special as possible.

How do we continue to appeal to our existing player base, but also create new gameplay experiences and put out new features, as you had mentioned, for new players to come into the community. So we're totally focused there. And we know that if our players are having a great time, we're well positioned for the future. And we think it's very bright.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: And I do want to ask you about Blizzard ending its partnership with NetEase in China-- and "Call of Duty" ending online operations in China. So what does the future of "Call of Duty" look like in that region for China and Asia?

JOHANNA FARIES: So that announcement has no impact on "Call of Duty." So, again, we are sort of all systems go, focused on the launches we have and more to come in the weeks and the months to follow. I would defer to our friends at Blizzard, who are more directly impacted by that news. So, again, we're focused on "Modern Warfare 2," and lots to get done there.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: All right. Thank you so much, Johanna Faries, for joining us, and Allie Garfinkle as well.

JOHANNA FARIES: Thank you.