Some may call it a brilliantly bold business opportunity, many more will call it a mean-spirited cash grab, but whatever the case, Activision is taking a serious gamble with a new subscription system for the upcoming Modern Warfare 3 called “Call of Duty Elite.”
Details are still scarce on what exactly the subscription package will entail, and Activision is still unsure about a price, but it already has players up in arms, most of whom believe $60 for a game is more than enough already.
But the COD franchise is a behemoth, shattering sales records each time a new game is release. Add to that the fact that Activision oversees another massively popular subscription-based property, World of Warcraft, which millions of player have offered up $15 a month to play, and the two ideas have now merged into something that feels a bit…unholy.
“Elite,” however, isn’t the ability to play the game online, that feature will still be standard. But then, what the hell is it? That’s what’s still becoming clear, but here are the details so far from the Wall Street Journal:
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.
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.
This is all very, very strange. The first bit seems like they’re taking standard DLC, already a point of much contention in terms of price-gouging, and rolling it into a monthly package that only these “elite” members can play.
The second bit seems like yet another company trying to overcapitalize on social networking BS, as I can speak for the majority of Call of Dutyplayers when I say I don’t give a shit about the interests of the people I’m virtually shooting. And how can portions of a monthly paid subscription service be free? That sentence doesn’t even make sense.
Lastly, in-game analytics, including gun preference have been largely included in past iterations of these games, and many other shooters. Why now is this a premium feature?
There’s no price given for all this, but it’s expected to be less than say, a $8 Netflix subscription. Even still, the content described sounds like a very strange blend. “Special” maps seem like they would anger the rest of the community too much, Facebook connection is nothing more than a buzzword, and a glorified stats program certainly isn’t worth a monthly fee.
They leaked just enough information about this to piss people off, and there’s very little to calm down the howling fans now. The only consolation is that the package is still “optional,” but gamers paying $60 for the game, $50 a month for high speed internet and possibly $5-10 a month for Xbox Live, this is the last thing they want to hear ahead of the release of a highly anticipated title.
There needs to be more info about this and soon. Presumably Activision has something prepared for E3 next week, but I think they’re going to lose either way. When all the features of the service are detailed, it’s either going to seem like not enough for the money, or if it is substantial, it will feel like they’re cutting meaningful content in order to extract even more cash from loyal players.
But if this doesn’t play out right, their loyalty might finally start to falter. With Battlefield 3 gunning hard for Modern Warfare, Bobby Kotick and Activision, if they do something as decent as treat their customers with respect, it might win them enough support to make a serious dent in Call of Duty‘s armor. At this rate, with these sorts of decisions, I wouldn’t be surprised if the beast ends up eating itself in a few years time and going the way of Guitar Hero.
Details are still scarce on what exactly the subscription package will entail, and Activision is still unsure about a price, but it already has players up in arms, most of whom believe $60 for a game is more than enough already.
But the COD franchise is a behemoth, shattering sales records each time a new game is release. Add to that the fact that Activision oversees another massively popular subscription-based property, World of Warcraft, which millions of player have offered up $15 a month to play, and the two ideas have now merged into something that feels a bit…unholy.
“Elite,” however, isn’t the ability to play the game online, that feature will still be standard. But then, what the hell is it? That’s what’s still becoming clear, but here are the details so far from the Wall Street Journal:
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.
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 second bit seems like yet another company trying to overcapitalize on social networking BS, as I can speak for the majority of Call of Dutyplayers when I say I don’t give a shit about the interests of the people I’m virtually shooting. And how can portions of a monthly paid subscription service be free? That sentence doesn’t even make sense.
Lastly, in-game analytics, including gun preference have been largely included in past iterations of these games, and many other shooters. Why now is this a premium feature?
There’s no price given for all this, but it’s expected to be less than say, a $8 Netflix subscription. Even still, the content described sounds like a very strange blend. “Special” maps seem like they would anger the rest of the community too much, Facebook connection is nothing more than a buzzword, and a glorified stats program certainly isn’t worth a monthly fee.
They leaked just enough information about this to piss people off, and there’s very little to calm down the howling fans now. The only consolation is that the package is still “optional,” but gamers paying $60 for the game, $50 a month for high speed internet and possibly $5-10 a month for Xbox Live, this is the last thing they want to hear ahead of the release of a highly anticipated title.
There needs to be more info about this and soon. Presumably Activision has something prepared for E3 next week, but I think they’re going to lose either way. When all the features of the service are detailed, it’s either going to seem like not enough for the money, or if it is substantial, it will feel like they’re cutting meaningful content in order to extract even more cash from loyal players.
But if this doesn’t play out right, their loyalty might finally start to falter. With Battlefield 3 gunning hard for Modern Warfare, Bobby Kotick and Activision, if they do something as decent as treat their customers with respect, it might win them enough support to make a serious dent in Call of Duty‘s armor. At this rate, with these sorts of decisions, I wouldn’t be surprised if the beast ends up eating itself in a few years time and going the way of Guitar Hero.
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