Call of Duty: Warzone more popular than Fortnite according to recent teen survey

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Call of Duty: Warzone has overtaken Fortnite as the most popular free-to-play game based on a survey of nearly 10,000 teens.

This comes from Yahoo, who reported on the Taking Stock with Teens survey which polled 9,800 teens in the US, and found that interest in Fortnite has fallen somewhat, while interest in Call of Duty: Warzone has skyrocketed. 

When Warzone launched, 62% of respondents said they were playing Call of Duty, up 33%, while Fortnite fell from 39% to 37%. In Spring 2019, 53% of respondents claimed to be playing Fortnite. What's even more intriguing is that 42% of teens were the most interested in buying Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, far surpassing any other title the teens were asked about - including Cyberpunk 2077. 

Warzone's popularity isn't necessarily a surprise, as it's only been around since March of this year (right when COVID-19 was ramping up in the US), and Fortnite has had three years in the forefront of the collective teen psyche. But Warzone's popularity can't just be chalked up to the fleeting attention spans of today's youth - as Daniel Ahmad reported back in April, Warzone reached 15 million registered players in just three days, while Fortnite took two weeks to get to 10 million registered players. The rapid Warzone registration is likely due to the general buzz around any Call of Duty game - with Fortnite an original IP, there certainly wasn't an established fan base at launch.

The Taking Stock with Teens survey also provides some insight into the teens' feelings about next-gen. According to the responses, 63% of teens plan to buy an Xbox Series X or PS5 within the next two years, up 2% from a spring survey asking the same thing. Even more interesting, however, is the shift towards digital, with 67% of teens planning to purchase via download, up from 61% this spring, and 26% planning to purchase all their games digitally, up from 23% earlier in the year.

Alyssa Mercante
Alyssa Mercante

Alyssa Mercante used to be a features writer at GamesRadar and is now a freelance writer and editor. Prior to entering the industry, she got her Masters's degree in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Newcastle University with a dissertation focusing on contemporary indie games. She spends most of her time playing competitive shooters and in-depth RPGs and was recently on a PAX Panel about the best bars in video games. In her spare time Alyssa rescues cats, practices her Italian, and plays soccer.