Call of Duty to get WoW-Like Subscriptions?

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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Call of Duty to get WoW-Like Subscriptions?

Activison CFO Thomas Tippl has said the company is looking into monetizing the online components of some of its biggest franchises.

At the BMO Capital Markets Conference Tippl said that gamers should expect to see efforts to monetize Activision games in the near future.

"It's definitely an aspiration that we see potential in, particularly as we look at different business models to monetize the online gameplay," he said. "There's good knowledge exchange happening between the Blizzard folks and our online guys."

"I think it's been mutually beneficial, and you should expect us to test and ultimately launch additional online monetization models of some of some of our biggest franchises like Call of Duty."

According to Tippl, a monetized platform would work, citing DLC and WoW's successful subscription model as evidence. "Our gamers are telling us there's lots of services and innovation they would like to see that they're not getting yet. From what we see so far, additional content, as well as all the services Blizzard is offering, is that there is demand from the core gamers to pay up for that," he said.

What's especially worrying about Tippl's comments is that he might be right. Modern Warfare 2 sold in enormous amounts, and if the next iteration involves some subscription fees to get the best experience, Activision could do very, very well out of it.

Source: CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=227204]


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Lvl 64 Klutz

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Apr 8, 2008
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Love the wording. Yes, Tippl... we're demanding to pay extra for additional content. Who in their right mind would want free stuff, anyway?
 

GamingAwesome1

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May 22, 2009
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They better fucking not, we pay for the online anyway (Xbox owners only this applies to) and having to pay two companies for one service, that's bullshit.

Also "there is a demand from core gamers to pay up for that". What? People want to pay to have subscription fees? If there are people like that they need to have their wallets shoved up their ass!
 

XJ-0461

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Mar 9, 2009
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If that comes into effect, I'm not buying Call of Duty anymore.

The price has already been jacked up here in the UK, they don't need any more of my cash.
 

CompanionCube

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Aug 5, 2008
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As important as subscription fees are to a game, I don't believe Activision can use the same level or responsibility Blizzard has.
 

MasterStratus

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Oct 19, 2008
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Aww, damnit.
This sucks.
If they do this, a lot of people will actually buy it.
Soon enough we'll be paying subscriptions for most of our games.
Hopefully that won't happen.
 

Turtleboy1017

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Nov 16, 2008
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And so it has finally happened...

Another money making scheme from them. As if the 50 million they pull in monthly from WoW isn't enough already.

To me this is nothing but the beginning of the end. It was bound to happen eventually. (End of me buying anything other than D3 from Activision/Blizzard.)
 

fix-the-spade

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Feb 25, 2008
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I find any story involving Activision deeply depressing thses days, they really are working to be the Disney of gaming and people in their infinite stupidity pay them to do it.

Besides Planetside I can't think of any subscription based FPS, CoD's rpg elements and scale certainly don't match that, yet here they are contemplating charging for it on top of £60.
As much as I dislike piracy it would be incredibly awesome for Activision's sales to flatline under the poison of a million torrents...
 

IamQ

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Mar 29, 2009
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Monthly subscription? Well, I don't play WoW anymore and going over to more games ain't gonna help with them any more.
 

ninjapenguin981

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Jul 10, 2009
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If they do that I'm sure that the boycott for that will actually happen, unlike the stupid PC one which everyone bought the game for anyway.
 

BaldursBananaSoap

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May 20, 2009
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Hah, why subsribe to Modern Warfare 2's unbalanced, cheap ass online full of kids when you can buy Counterstrike or Battlefield 2 for £10 and get a much better online experience? Oh well, most console gamers still quite happily be over-charged for it like most of do with DLC that PC gamers get for free.
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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[HEADING=1]HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA[/HEADING]

He's serious? My god that's stupid.
 

maddawg IAJI

I prefer the term "Zomguard"
Feb 12, 2009
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Who the hell did he talk to? I'm sure when they said they would be glad to get some new features they meant DLC not a monthly subscription
 

Assassin Xaero

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Jul 23, 2008
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GamingAwesome1 said:
They better fucking not, we pay for the online anyway (Xbox owners only this applies to) and having to pay two companies for one service, that's bullshit.
You are paying for internet and Live already, so don't you mean paying three companies for one service?
 

Emphraim

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Mar 27, 2009
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If they do make COD online into a subscription based service, then people will just move back to COD5. The COD5 community is still quite large and vibrant with plenty of servers still running, so why would I pay for what I can get for free?
 

Bigeyez

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Apr 26, 2009
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Before everyone goes on and starts shouting gloom and doom lets look at this logically. If Activision actually supports Call of Duty with regularly content patches then a sucription system might be worth it, BUT we're talking about ACTUAL content here, not just a couple of weapons and skin changes. That definitely would not warrent a sub cost. Now if Activision and IW actually launch new modes, missions, content, etc on a regular basis like Blizzard does then a base cost of say $5-$10 a month might be worth it for the die hard CoD player.

That said I would never support a forced subscription method. If it's implemented it should be completely optional.