‘Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’ Gets Ranked Play For January; ‘COD Online’ Goes Live In China

The Opening Season for the Ranked Play in "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" is already starting, and it will be ongoing until Jan. 31. This event will pit players who have the same skill set against each other in a 4v4 match.

Developer Sledgehammer Games announced via its official website that the Ranked Play will let gamers experience eSports settings while playing in game modes like Search & Destroy, Capture the Flag and Uplink and Hardpoint. Every match won by a player gives him or her the chance to be promoted to the next division, while losses will incur penalty and loss of points.

The ranks are broken down into seven divisions, namely, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master and Grand Master, the last rank of which counts the top 100 players. An incentive to getting into the higher division is the exclusive Divisional Gear, which is obtained at the end of the season. These gears can be used in the next season of Ranked Play, the multiplayer and in Exo-Survival.

The full list of Ranked Play Rules and Settings can be seen in the link above. Mainly, what one needs to do is get 100 division points then do a best of three matches for a Division Promotion Challenge. The good thing about it is even the matchmaking will be taken into account when giving winning points or taking away losing points from the players, as it will depend on the predicted win or loss in the matchmaking system.

"Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" is not the only COD game that's looking at some new updates. The China-only title "Call of Duty Online" has just been released on the PC as a free-to-play title.

The new "Call of Duty" game has made waves as a title that has been tailored for the Chinese market. But more than that, the promotional trailer featuring Chris Evans, known in the West for his role as Captain America, has also made a buzz in relation to the title.

"We believe 'Call of Duty Online' is going to be a game-changer for Chinese gamers," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO for Activision, in an interview with GameSpot. "We couldn't be more excited and we look forward to winning the hearts and minds of a new community in China."

Activision may be looking at tapping the very vast audience in China, but the good thing about it is how it's doing it: by ensuring that the game is one that would appeal to the market. The source adds that it will feature both multiplayer and single-player modes, as well as a Cyborg mode that would replace the popular zombie mode. The latter is to allow "COD Online" to comply with China's rule on zombies, as these are not treated the same way as they are in the west.