MortaL Streams Call of Duty: Mobile for First Time; Could This be the Spark that the Game Needs?

The darling of the Indian PUBG Mobile community, Naman ‘MortaL’ Mathur streamed Call of Duty: Mobile for the first time last night. The 22-year old is easily one of the top YouTubers in India and manages to pull a ridiculously high number of viewers every time he goes live. Currently, also a professional player, MortaL continues to be both a successful content creator and a seasoned veteran of India and is close to hitting 4 Million subscribers on YouTube. 

Despite Call of Duty: Mobile’s initial success and popularity, the game’s growth has stagnated in India especially on YouTube. While an entire generation of youngsters have managed to find their place as content creators on YouTube largely thanks to PUBG Mobile, the same cannot be said for Call of Duty. With incidents such as 8bit Thug being snubbed by PUBG Mobile India for streaming COD:Mobile, there has been an increased resistance in content creators willing to take a risk with both their audience and the publishers and try streaming a new title. 

Also read: 8bit Thug alleges PUBG Mobile India cancelled his PMIT invite because he streamed Call of Duty: Mobile

However, this could very well change now that a big name such as MortaL was seen streaming the game. Although nearly 4 months late, MortaL finally played the title on his stream and was seen enjoying it with his usual entourage. Names like 8bit Rebel, Regaltos, 8bit Beg4Mercy and even ScoutOP joined MortaL's stream. While this is the first time he has streamed the game live on his channel, MortaL did upload a VOD on his channel earlier this month. In the short 13 minute video, he can be seen exploring the title and showcasing some of the different modes in the game. 

Also read: iFerg Welcomes MortaL to Call Of Duty Mobile

Call of Duty: Mobile’s crisp gameplay and natural competitiveness makes it ideal to break out as an esport. It’s popularity in the west and already successful PC version make fertile grounds for the title to transition and perhaps be even bigger than PUBG Mobile one day. However for now, the growth has been slow, despite an initial surge in the opening month. Perhaps the association of such a big name with the title will revive the interest and help spark a change in the community.