Pachter: COD Elite Could Make Players "Defect" to Battlefield

[John Funk]

Pachter: COD Elite Could Make Players "Defect" to Battlefield

At least one analyst thinks Activision's persistent online model may have a handful of hardcore Call of Duty players switching sides.

The biggest battle brewing this holiday season is the high-profile showdown between EA's Battlefield 3 and Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - a contest which underplay the competition [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109072-EA-CEO-Battlefield-3-Is-Designed-to-Take-COD-Down]. There's no question that Call of Duty has the edge when it comes to sales and popularity, but analyst Michael Pachter thinks that Activision might be inadvertently helping the competition.

Rather, that's to say that the outspoken analyst thinks that the new Call of Duty Elite online service [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110483-Activision-Unveils-New-Call-of-Duty-Online-Service] may cause heretofore-loyal players to switch sides, particularly if Battlefield 3 pulls glowing review scores. "[We] think that Activision's introduction of Call of Duty Elite (its premium subscription service) could cause a small number of loyal Call of Duty players to defect to EA's game," he wrote in his latest research note.

Presumably this "defection" would come as a result of COD players feeling that their experience is now lessened because they aren't paying for Elite's premium features. This, however, is a perception that Activision has official FAQ [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110668-Activision-Defends-Call-of-Duty-Elite] starts off with a prominent assurance that Elite won't be taking anything away, even from those who don't pay a dime.

Pachter thinks that Battlefield 3 could sell an impressive 6.5 million units globally, which would certainly be a win for EA financially. However - a small number of defections or not - that number pales when set against the 20+ million sales that Modern Warfare 3 could pull in given the series' popularity and highly active community.

Of course, one could imagine that the small number of defectors might be evened out by any losses incurred from the game not being available via Steam [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111562-Battlefield-3-May-Not-Reach-Steam].

(Via CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/311122/news/cod-elite-could-cause-players-to-defect-to-battlefield-analyst/])

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[Jonny49]

Why not play both?

EDIT: As in, why not try both games, and see which one you prefer instead of basing what you buy on outside services.

 

[Woodsey]

Is there a way I can filter out posts tagged with Michael Pachter, but still have any pop up that relate to him being, I dunno... mauled by baby seals?

 

[Phlakes]

Why not play both?

Money. The 18-2_ demographic usually can't afford two games at the same time, but I agree anyway.

 

[gigastar]

Why not play both?

Because not everyone is willing to drop the cash on both of them. And Episode 3 will be released before people admit that they bought the wrong game.

Thus is the sparks behind every flamewar on the subject.

OT: Given the timeframe that the games are coming out in, ill be too busy enjoying other games that arent FPS's, and Team Fortress 2.

 

[T_ConX]

I imagine a large number of CoD players are going to have trouble convincing their parents to spend another $8 a month on Elite.

Besides, why pay $8 a month for features that so many other games, BF3 included, offer for free.

I hope that Elite, and the fact that IF is now a pale shadow of it's former self, causes that franchise to die a long overdue death. Kotick's executive melding ruined Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero, all that's left is CoD.

 

[BrotherRool]

I don't think this will happen. I think we will hate it, but Elite will succeed.

It'll be hard to tell, because he's only talking about a small number of hardcore players, and a lot of less hardcore players probably just buy both games

 

[Gizmo007666]

Would I be right in saying that this is the same Michael Pachter who claimed a while back games like CoD would need to move to subscription based in order to make decent return on the time spent being played?

Just checked and yup

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102117-Pachter-Publishers-Need-to-Charge-for-Online-Play

Some fantastic work by this analyst, he has given his opinion on the matter and then a few months down the line said that it will cause players to jump ship.

Seriously if this is his day job can I apply for a similar post, since it seems to involve making observations on the obvious actions of the market.

 

[TitsMcGee1804]

I dont play CoD anymore but I believe if a dev is going to spend all that time developing these tools to enhance gameplay, they should be proud enough of their game and its pricetag to include it out of the box

They should have just not even bothered

I didnt buy black ops, and i wont buy MW3...lets hope BF 3 has had some TLC rather than cut corners and they make a quality game, if it topples MW it will be a message to the whole industry, quality sells games, destroying loyalty doesnt

Or BF3 will just suck, a huge possibility given EAs track record

 

[bob1052]

And removing Battlefield from Steam is going to have players defect to CoD. Considering the PC audience is the only sizable audience Battlefield has control of right now that is definitely going to make a bigger difference.

 

[Dead Eye II]

im looking more forward to battle field 3, the graphics just look fantastic and i feel call of duty has lost its edge, its too samey now i feel. chances are i will end up buying both

 

[Jegsimmons]

if not buying the game on steam is a big fucking deal...why dont they go a buy a physical copy?
that way they dont but off EAs thing and they wont play shit MW3.


WIN WIN!!!

 

[Ritalynn]

Call of duty is for little kids with headsets who get off by calling people names and cursing.

Halo has a more mature audience than CoD at this point.

 

[MurderousToaster]

So, here we are again.

Michael Pachter, stating the obvious.

This seems to happen quite often. Why does this man have a job, again?

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

Call of duty is for little kids with headsets who get off by calling people names and cursing.

Halo has a more mature audience than CoD at this point.

You know i'm still so puzzled as to the amount of kids these days that can get their hands on COD and are still able to stay up late cursing people for shits and giggles.

I still hate the idea of kids even being able to play an FPS let alone use a mic because most of those kids are either the cursing type, E-score or the bragging rights aka "i'm better than you".

 

[TheGuy(wantstobe)]

We think that it is incumbent upon Activision, with the most popular multiplayer game, to take the first step to address monetization of multiplayer.

We think that Activision's introduction of Call of Duty Elite (its premium subscription service) could cause a small number of loyal Call of Duty players to defect to EA's game,

Consistent as always Michael.

 

[RA92]

Its the day. Battlefield 3 has been released. The game is struggling to sell but raking in good amounts none the less. Time flies by. MW3 release day. The most epic battle is about to begin, when suddenly, at the MW3 launch party...

GABE NEWELL ROLES ON THE STAGE AND SCREAMS: "EPISODE 3 BEING RELEASED TODAY!" The world crashes and burns as console owners rush to gamespot while all servers in the entire world (valve having bought all of them prior to the announcement) crash under the sheer pressure of every PC gamer in the universe trying to access Steam. No one gives a fuck about MW3 or Battlefield anymore.

I think that would be fucking awesome.

And when everyone is waiting with bated breaths, Gaben will go 'LOL, fell for it!' reimbursing his status as the biggest fucking troll in history. A CoD vs BF flame war will turn into a HL shitstorm.

And because Valve loves us, they'll then tell us they're not releasing Episode 3 because they're actually releasing Half Life 3! It would truly be an epic day!

I love day dreaming.

 

[Michael Hirst]

I'm considering noy buying either, I'm getitng tired of the whole Modern Warfare craze. I'm thirsting for some variety n my shooters and already have the earlier versions of both COD and BF which are still fairly good to play.

 

[SerFroggy]

CoD Elite doesn't give you and advantage against other players in the game, does it?