Hero-of-Time Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 Wow, Pachter was right! It was in the works all along. Consumers are used to paying $60 each for videogames that run on consoles like the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Now the publisher behind the industry's biggest videogame franchise— "Call of Duty"—is about to find out whether it can get them to pay a monthly bill, too. Activision Blizzard Inc. plans to launch an online service called Call of Duty Elite this fall that will work with the next major edition of the game, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3," and future installments of the hyper-realistic combat-simulation game. In a move industry executives describe as a first, Activision plans to charge a monthly subscription fee for the service, which will provide extra content that isn't offered on game discs sold in stores, including downloadable map packs that give players new "Call of Duty" levels to play. Activision executives said they haven't yet figured out how much to charge for the service, but they expect the cost to be less than fees for comparable online-entertainment services, such as a $7.99-a-month Netflix Inc. movie subscription. Portions of the service will be free, including features inspired by Facebook Inc. that will let "Call of Duty" players meet for online gun battles with others who share various affiliations and interests. Another feature of the service will give "Call of Duty" players tools, modeled on those from stock-trading websites, to analyze their performance within the game, gauging factors such as which weapons have been most successful for them in killing enemies. The plan—which comes a week ahead of the videogame industry's big E3 trade show in Los Angeles—is a potentially risky bet by Activision that it can further milk profits from consumers, who could feel the $60 they spend on "Call of Duty" in stores is enough. Charging a monthly subscription fee is more common for multiplayer games that run on personal computers. The most successful of those is "World of Warcraft," a fantasy game from Activision's Blizzard division that has over 11 million subscribers, who typically pay $15 a month for the service. For players with a Microsoft Corp. Xbox 360 console, a Call of Duty Elite subscription will come on top of the $9.99 monthly fee they typically pay for Xbox Live, the online game service that provides players of all Xbox games to meet and compete against others online. Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 console owners don't pay a monthly fee to play against others online. The PlayStation Network that provides those multiplayer capabilities recently suffered an outage of more than three weeks after a hacker intrusion on the service. Players of PC versions of "Call of Duty" don't pay to play others online. In an interview, Activision Chief Executive Bobby Kotick said he isn't worried about pushback from gamers about the Call of Duty Elite fee because players will still be able to compete against each other online without subscribing to the service. While he is coy about many of the offerings that will be included in the service, Mr. Kotick said Call of Duty Elite, and the customer-service operation that will be needed to support it, wouldn't be possible if the service was free. "This is an enormous investment," he said. "Call of Duty" is in a unique position to seek a monthly fee from customers. The game's previous installment, set during the Cold War and called "Call of Duty: Black Ops," was the best-selling game last year, with global retail sales of more than $1 billion during its first six weeks on shelves. Since Activision first began publishing the series almost eight years ago, it has accounted for more than $3 billion in retail sales, according to the company. Unlike hit movies, new versions of "Call of Duty" come out every year, with "Modern Warfare 3" due to arrive in stores Nov. 8. "It's probably the biggest entertainment franchise in the world," said Dennis Durkin, corporate vice president in Microsoft's interactive-entertainment business. Just as important is the degree to which "Call of Duty" has become the biggest online-game hit on consoles. While many gamers still play the old-fashioned way—by themselves against enemies operated by the game itself—"Call of Duty" has been the most successful console game at getting players to battle other human-operated opponents over the Internet. Jamie Berger, Activision's vice president of digital for "Call of Duty," said the company has about seven million daily players of the game who spend, on average, about seven full days a year playing the game against others online. Players often use headsets to communicate verbally with other online gamers. Like other publishers, Activision has earned money selling "Call of Duty" map packs and other digital content for one-time charges, but subscriptions to its new service could give it a continuing way to capitalize on the online popularity of the game. Rob Dyer, senior vice president of publisher relations at Sony's U.S. games division, said only a few games have the audience loyalty and size to support a subscription service like Call of Duty Elite. Mr. Dyer said he is "very confident" other publishers will follow Activision's lead. "There's money to be made there," he said.
ViPeR Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 People will pay it though. I'll stick to Battlefield thanks.
Ten10 Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 And this is what infinity ward was scared about happening to their baby.
Jimbob Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 (edited) No thanks, i pay enough to get on the 360 online as it is. Why should i pay extra for this?. If all companies started charging extra to play their games online, then that would soon be the end i believe. Plus, i suppose Activision want to make back the money they are losing as well. Wonder how many will subscribe, once this title arrives on the market? Edited May 31, 2011 by Jimbob
Wesley Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 Nice to see everyone saying no to something they don't actually know about yet. I'm saying no to Nintendo's next console. What is it exactly? I don't give a fuck, how dare they try and charge me for something. I'm not actually having a go at anyone here, I mean... you probably have a good reason in not wanting this, such as not liking CoD (I don't know why you thought you'd like this then) or maybe just not wanting to pay a monthly fee for any gaming service - that's fine. If this is all accurate then I do think it's a mistake to have a subscription fee on-top of the game that has essentially bonus content... I would love a more simplified CoD multilayer experience that is subscription based. Then each year ship out a disk that has single player stuff and the new content that's added into the subscription service for 20 quid. If you don't have the subscription plan you get to play for 30 days or something. People with the subscription plan would probably pick up the disks for the single player. I realise that's not to everyone's taste, everything I've wrote from "I'd love..." is obviously my taste, hence the I'd... Also, how can anyone be even half surprised, the CEO of Activision said he'd love to have a subscription based CoD ages ago. It's not like CEOs of billion dollar companies don't get what they love from their own company.
Choze Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 (edited) http://www.callofduty.com/elite The best bits look a bit like Killzone 2's feature set except you have to pay for them. We could create custom tournaments, had game/map replays etc. for free. the facebook type feeds etc. is something in KZ3 too. The rest of it seems dumb. Videos (using youtube of all...) and 'finding friends' a feature? Wut? Sounds like a worse sell than xbox live. It lacks any actual feature for a subscription which is just lazy of Activison. I expected much more. Nice to see everyone saying no to something they don't actually know about yet. I'm saying no to Nintendo's next console. What is it exactly? I don't give a fuck, how dare they try and charge me for something. I'm not actually having a go at anyone here, I mean... you probably have a good reason in not wanting this, such as not liking CoD (I don't know why you thought you'd like this then) or maybe just not wanting to pay a monthly fee for any gaming service - that's fine. If this is all accurate then I do think it's a mistake to have a subscription fee on-top of the game that has essentially bonus content... I would love a more simplified CoD multilayer experience that is subscription based. Then each year ship out a disk that has single player stuff and the new content that's added into the subscription service for 20 quid. If you don't have the subscription plan you get to play for 30 days or something. People with the subscription plan would probably pick up the disks for the single player. I realise that's not to everyone's taste, everything I've wrote from "I'd love..." is obviously my taste, hence the I'd... Also, how can anyone be even half surprised, the CEO of Activision said he'd love to have a subscription based CoD ages ago. It's not like CEOs of billion dollar companies don't get what they love from their own company. Some of us have played enough fps games to know what is going on here. Have you read about the features on the official website? edit: the video only reinforces its for idiots. Edited May 31, 2011 by Choze Automerged Doublepost
Debug Mode Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 Wait, I'm incredibly confused as to what this service is offering. Is it just extra cap such as tournaments, map packs and addition services they're charging for? Or is it that PLUS the multiplayer? I'm very cautious to come out slandering their move when I don't fully understand it. If it's additional services then that's cool, I don't play COD but some professional/gullible players may want the extra service. But if they're going to charge for the multiplayer aspect as well, although I don't play COD, that's fucking outrageous considering they don't host a single fucking ting.
Wesley Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 Some of us have played enough fps games to know what is going on here. Have you read about the features on the official website? edit: the video only reinforces its for idiots. You're right, I haven't the amazing experience you've had with FPS games. But thanks for the link, didn't see it in any news stuff. I presume Activision will just get the PR machine working straight away like when the other stuff leaked.
Magnus Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 Wait, I'm incredibly confused as to what this service is offering. Is it just extra cap such as tournaments, map packs and addition services they're charging for? Or is it that PLUS the multiplayer? I'm very cautious to come out slandering their move when I don't fully understand it. If it's additional services then that's cool, I don't play COD but some professional/gullible players may want the extra service. But if they're going to charge for the multiplayer aspect as well, although I don't play COD, that's fucking outrageous considering they don't host a single fucking ting. The multiplayer will still be free: In an interview, Activision Chief Executive Bobby Kotick said he isn't worried about pushback from gamers about the Call of Duty Elite fee because players will still be able to compete against each other online without subscribing to the service. This all sounds like a pretty silly idea to me, but I say, let Activision do whatever they want. The bubble will burst eventually, and the more they do to speed up the process, the better.
Debug Mode Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 Ah I see. Well, I don't really have a problem with it in that case. The only thing I will say is, doesn't Bungie do all this shit for free? Then again, I'm highly cynical of how publishers work these days. I gave up on big console FPS games after the map pack trend, I just went back to older and better balanced FPS games on my PC. There seems to be less man children on those games too which is a plus.
Aimless Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 From what I can tell all of the features mentioned in the abhorrent video are free, the premium Elite stuff has yet to be announced. In other words this is essentially Bungie.net, open to all players. Activision really shouldn't have made mention of a fee until the relevant features were ready to be properly laid out, they seem to have completely screwed up their messaging. My guess is that being a paid subscriber will entitle you to DLC slightly before general release, allow you to export higher quality videos and give you some sort of symbol next to your name in-game; think of the lengths people go to for Prestige icons to see why that would be effective. I suspect you'll only have access to extra maps whilst you are a subscriber, mind.
gaggle64 Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 So basically, social networking, video sharing, advanced stats features, competitions and map packs for a nominal subscription? That's actually kinda cool, you'd have to be in the hardcore COD set to make the most of it though. Throw in some new hats and Activision are gonna make a mint.
martinist Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 Well, I was going to buy MW3....but now they can suck it!
Ramar Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 From what I can tell all of the features mentioned in the abhorrent video are free, the premium Elite stuff has yet to be announced. In other words this is essentially Bungie.net, open to all players. Activision really shouldn't have made mention of a fee until the relevant features were ready to be properly laid out, they seem to have completely screwed up their messaging. My guess is that being a paid subscriber will entitle you to DLC slightly before general release, allow you to export higher quality videos and give you some sort of symbol next to your name in-game; think of the lengths people go to for Prestige icons to see why that would be effective. I suspect you'll only have access to extra maps whilst you are a subscriber, mind. Yeah that's what I gathered from it. Seems like a bit of a pants announcement.
Choze Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 You'd have to be a sucker to buy that. Many COD fans are suckers Still looking forward to MW3 but not this rubbish and stupidity from the fans.
Agent Gibbs Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 good god no! why would i want to pay to get features other FPS's etc offer for free? and if it tuns out ELITE subscribers get exclusive (not timed exclusive) maps/weapons etc then that will be the death of mainstream COD
Tissue Town Posted May 31, 2011 Posted May 31, 2011 (edited) Plus, i suppose Activision want to make back the money they are losing as well. Wat? Anyway. There's a market in this. Certainly not one I would want to be a part of. And it's not anything they can't do for free.. but what other franchises are they going to depend on? Take out CoD from the equation and all they are doing is hanging on the coattails of blizzard lol Edited May 31, 2011 by Tissue Town
Sméagol Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 Although the thought of where this may lead to has me worrying, I'm not worried yet. It depends on how "dumbed-down" the free multiplayer is. Basically, as it is described now, I see this as an evolution of their dlc, turning it into a subscription-based service by adding extra stat-tracking and whatnot to the already overpriced dlc. I didn't buy the dlc for MW2, I won't subscribe to this. I liked MW2, played the multiplayer a lot. But they need to tread carefully now. As it stands, I'll buy MW3, but if I find the free multiplayer lacking, they Activision will lose one of their customers who still actually liked their games.
Agent Gibbs Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 Although the thought of where this may lead to has me worrying, I'm not worried yet. It depends on how "dumbed-down" the free multiplayer is. Basically, as it is described now, I see this as an evolution of their dlc, turning it into a subscription-based service by adding extra stat-tracking and whatnot to the already overpriced dlc. I didn't buy the dlc for MW2, I won't subscribe to this. I liked MW2, played the multiplayer a lot. But they need to tread carefully now. As it stands, I'll buy MW3, but if I find the free multiplayer lacking, they Activision will lose one of their customers who still actually liked their games. I'd be highly surprised if all current multiplayer game modes are kept free I expect it to be certainly half free, half Elite only I wouldn't be overly shocked if we just ended up with death match, team death match, CTF, Team CTF and thats about it, the rest i could see them making elite only at the very least i expect some weapons to be elite only, probably some perks, some attahcments, kill streaks etc, and probably more double xp days for elite otherwise who would pay for it, if its just a glorified stats and ranking facebook? some content will surely be elite only, i expect all DLC will be timed exclusive for Elite, and possible even some ELITE only maps you ave to make it desirable else it won't work eitherway its not a good prospect if it works expect the 720/P$4/CAFé to have paid for online, and almost every game having a premium multiplayer subscription service if it flops expect COD to die, and activision to cling to blizzards shadow
Sméagol Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 Fact is, nobody knows what it's going to look like, we'll see when it's released. If I can play multiplayer like I've done with MW2 (predominantly HC mosh pit), then I'll be content. If this is not the case, I'll seriously reconsider buying the game.
Agent Gibbs Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 Fact is, nobody knows what it's going to look like, we'll see when it's released. If I can play multiplayer like I've done with MW2 (predominantly HC mosh pit), then I'll be content. If this is not the case, I'll seriously reconsider buying the game. yeah its all speculation at this point, i expect we will know more at E3, i hope i'm wrong really
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