Activision to introduce monthly subscription fee to Call of Duty series.

[TheInternets]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000....html?mod=e2tw

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.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...#ixzz1NxIjEt4L

[TheInternets]

It's important to note: 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.

But even so, this is ominous. How long before CoD goes fully pay to play?

[baseline bum]

Does Activision think it's still 2008? No one's going to pay for a subscription to play a tired series that hasn't been good since 3 games ago.

[TheInternets]

Does Activision think it's still 2008? No one's going to pay for a subscription to play a tired series that hasn't been good since 3 games ago.

The good news is that it's optional. The bad news... what could be so good about the Elite pack that people are going to be willing to pay $10-15 a month for it? Either way it's going to end up kneecapping a huge segment of gamers who don't want/can't afford to pay the Elite fee.

[symple19]

crofl

COD mega fail

[MannyIsGod]

Dumb.

[Kai]

[Creepn]

Just because of that stupid option, I'm not even going to buy the game.

[4>0rings]

crofl

COD mega fail

Yup. Thank God I quit this series right on time.

[MannyIsGod]

Eh, its not either or for me. I actually have enjoyed the single player campaigns in both MW games but they're just short.

[mingus]

Does Activision think it's still 2008? No one's going to pay for a subscription to play a tired series that hasn't been good since 3 games ago.

Well I liked WaW the best, but I agree with you on no one paying for this bull.

[LnGrrrR]

Activision.

Battlefield 3 looks like it's going to obliterate every game (with the exception of Skyrim) this holiday season.

[resistanze]

These ers are even killing my will to pirate MW3.

[Spurtacus]

Let me get this straight. Activision will still release a COD game every year but then have a service that has extra stuff not available for retail games and charge $10 a month for it?

[ElNono]

Translation: they stripped 3 or 4 fully functioning levels out of the game, so they can sucker you into paying a monthly fee to download them later on. So, instead of charging $100 upfront for the game (which nobody in their right mind would pay), they instead choose to charge you $60 for a 'lite' version, and you pay the rest on comfortable monthly installments. How nice of them...

I stopped buying Activision games a long time ago, and like reinforces it was a good decision.

[TDMVPDPOY]

10 per month = 120bucks = you can get 2 games

wtf does 120bucks per month = map packs? gtfo

[symple19]

10 per month = 120bucks = you can get 2 games

wtf does 120bucks per month = map packs? gtfo

please change your avatar

thnx

[BlackSwordsMan]

Wow.

[BlackSwordsMan]

microsoft and sony for allowing them to do this and not telling them to sit on a 14 incher.

[Nathan Explosion]

You actually don't need to buy the Elite service to get the map packs, so it really isn't that big of a deal. It's a money grab for sure, and stupid as , but you can just choose to not use the service and be okay.

Or you can just not buy the game. I never understood people's need to about these things and say that "So and so game is going to be so much better..." Who cares? Just buy or don't buy the damn game. Vote with your dollars instead of your mouth. Activision doesn't give a what you have to say, just where your money goes.

[Creepn]

. Vote with your dollars instead of your mouth. Activision doesn't give a what you have to say, just where your money goes.

Mos Def.

Money Talks.

[TwAnKiEs]

that . I'm not paying $10 more a month to get camped and , most likely, hacked. I'll take my $60 extra and get the pc version of BF3..

[Slydragon]

I just hope that some stupid high power gun is not part of the deal because then everyone will buy it just to used 1 gun and give money away so they get a few more kills and talk .