'Call of Duty' Sets Sights on a Fee

[Bon_Clay]

I can't even criticize these type of moves anymore. Until people just stop buying their crap why would they do any different.

 

[bombadilillo]

This and Madden trying to pay for a new game and monthly fee every year? Backlash time.

Imo, if this was instead of a new game every year. As in, episodic SP game and new multimaps/guns then I would be fine with that. Cant be bothered.

 

[kortin]

isnt this monthly fee completely optional. its for cod elite so if you dont want the extra maps and content cant you just not pay for it?

so i dont see the issue here

I really hope thats true, I didn't read it all, just skimmed it. If it isn't, then I guess I won't be getting MW3.

 

[Hiphophippo]

After reading the article....so? It would be silly for them NOT to do that. People WILL pay, make no mistake. They are a business and if people WILL give them money it would be silly not to let them.

 

[Thamous]

"hyper-realistic combat-simulation game". Oh god, I need to remember that one.
Anyway, they are not asking anyone to pay to play COD, at least according to the article. It is a service more inline with say Bungie Pro, you pay more for some extra features. I still don't like the idea but your not losing any gameplay if you don't use the service.

 

[bombadilillo]

I can't even criticize these type of moves anymore. Until people just stop buying their crap why would they do any different.

Yes. I agree. I can see then doing this and everybody still buying it, saying forget this and not getting the next one. Meanwhile the copy paste mentality of the game industry will see this first success, because people will blindly buy this. And there are going to be a lot of copycat crap if this happens. Dark times my friends. Where COD goes, others follow.

 

[Still Life]

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.

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.

I'm not sure whether I should be intrigued or disgusted. But here it is.

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.

I hope this service will crash and burn.

 

[WorldFree55]

I hope people boycott this game because if this is true, then it's unacceptable. I don't see any justfication to this when they make more money in 6 weeks then all the other game companies make in a year or longer even combined.

 

[GeneralFungi]

I really don't understand why this article uses quotations to explain what CoD is.
We know what "Call of Duty" and "World of Warcraft" is. I don't know who they are targeting this article at.

Now to stuff relating to the topic; They want to put up stupid fees like this, but they still haven't reduced modern warfare 2's 60$ price. Noone has any reason to purchase it with Black Ops out, so the least they can do is reduce Modern warfare 2's price so I can try this game for myself without feeling ripped off.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

it was only a matter of time

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

Didn't they say this before?
Then say they'd never do that?
And its back again... surprise surprise.

They said they might charge for premium content. They said they would never charge to actually play the game online. Not really back as much as the premium content fees going into effect and honestly, its really better than paying $15 for a map pack every couple of months.

Unless its changed since COD4, don't they have the DLC maps in a separate matchmaking playlist?
And I think that COD4 was the only one with a GOTY version...
Well, balls. If you're THAT devoted to it, then fine. It's still bloody ridiculous. After all, wouldn't it add up to MORE than $15? Not good in the long term.

 

[Fenreil]

Was anyone else's reaction: "Fuck Yeah! Now maybe people will move away from that bloated monstrosity to something actually good, like Battlefield 3."?

I hope this marks a real decline in the CoD series. I really fucking hope it does.

 

[Yoshemo]

So who wants to bet that the game is exactly the same as MW2 except the story, and the monthly fee stuff is the new content?

 

[SovietSecrets]

Didn't they say this before?
Then say they'd never do that?
And its back again... surprise surprise.

They said they might charge for premium content. They said they would never charge to actually play the game online. Not really back as much as the premium content fees going into effect and honestly, its really better than paying $15 for a map pack every couple of months.

Unless its changed since COD4, don't they have the DLC maps in a separate matchmaking playlist?
And I think that COD4 was the only one with a GOTY version...
Well, balls. If you're THAT devoted to it, then fine. It's still bloody ridiculous. After all, wouldn't it add up to MORE than $15? Not good in the long term.

Hasn't changed since CoD 4. DLC is still on another playlist. The map packs come with the premium service as well so you won't be paying two costs for the service and then again for the map packs. Its all in one bundle so its not too much. I don't pay for the extra content that comes with it as I don't have a job, but I would gladly because it really isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

 

[icame]

Charging people even more money for a game that is worse then the competition. Interesting business tactic to say the least...

I wonder if they will have the balls to charge for the extra content on top of the monthly fee

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

Didn't they say this before?
Then say they'd never do that?
And its back again... surprise surprise.

They said they might charge for premium content. They said they would never charge to actually play the game online. Not really back as much as the premium content fees going into effect and honestly, its really better than paying $15 for a map pack every couple of months.

Unless its changed since COD4, don't they have the DLC maps in a separate matchmaking playlist?
And I think that COD4 was the only one with a GOTY version...
Well, balls. If you're THAT devoted to it, then fine. It's still bloody ridiculous. After all, wouldn't it add up to MORE than $15? Not good in the long term.

Hasn't changed since CoD 4. DLC is still on another playlist. The map packs come with the premium service as well so you won't be paying two costs for the service and then again for the map packs. Its all in one bundle so its not too much. I don't pay for the extra content that comes with it as I don't have a job, but I would gladly because it really isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

Its still overly expensive. You're already paying a damned lot for a paper thin game.

 

[Smerf]

facepalm. wow, this cod inst even as addicting as WoW. yet they expect us to pay a monthly fee?
having to pay extra for maps instead of getting them as updates like what should happen is bad enough.

i think this calls for a boycott until they wise up and stop seeing how big of a money tower they can get

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

It's optional premium content. It detracts nothing from the actual game. You get everything you have gotten in the last several Call of Duty games, except instead of a ridiculous $15 map pack, you pay $2-5 (I hope it's less than $5, otherwise I'm in the "ripoff" bandwagon) for periodic maps and additional stat tracking, things of that sort.

I see no problem with this so long as the price isn't outrageous. Honestly I will not be interested if it's anything over $4 per month.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

Here's hoping this falls flat on its face so other publishers don't get the same idea.

 

[omicron1]

"Call of Booty" is becoming more and more accurate. Seriously, Activision? You expect anyone - ANYONE - to believe you can't afford to run stats services with the $1 billion plus YEARLY it makes for you? Why not just be honest and tell it like it is - "We're charging more because we can."

This is a producer-focused action, no more, no less. If you think that Activision hopes to benefit you with any of this, you are sorely mistaken. And I hope that, if Activision does not tone down its hubris, the consumer-driven side of the market will turn on them. 'Bout darn time SOMEONE did...

Pardon the yelling. I simply find this whole debacle rage-worthy...