Activision Still Plans Constant Updates for Modern Warfare 3

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
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Activision Still Plans Constant Updates for Modern Warfare 3



Shooter fans demand constant content, and Activision is going to give it to them.

Despite EA's best efforts, Call of Duty is the a tie-in vehicle is probably a big deal [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114685-Modern-Warfare-3-Beats-Avatars-Fastest-Selling-Record]. The latest game Modern Warfare 3 launched with a service called Elite that demanded a premium annual subscription of $50 for every piece of DLC released for the game. According to Eric Hirschberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, his team is committed to bring all kinds of content including standbys like extra multiplayer maps, but also special missions and modes. Doing so will make sure that Activision's flagship franchise is "always on".

"The idea of giving people constant incremental playable content and making it so you're never more than a few weeks away from the next new experience within the Call of Duty universe is part of what we're experimenting with," Hirshberg said. "This franchise doesn't really behave like most franchises. It's become something of a year-round activity for a large percentage of our player population."

Consumer testing of Elite pointed out that gamers want smaller updates more quickly. "One of the things that was most appealing when we were researching these ideas with consumers is the idea of breaking up the DLC so that it comes more often and more regularly," he said. "We want to provide DLC to people more often and also experiment with more of a variety in the forms of playable content."

"The nature of this kind of service requires constant iteration," Hirshberg said.

That sounds all well and good, but Modern Warfare 3 has been out for nearly two months and to my knowledge (let me know if I'm wrong) Activision hasn't released any DLC for it. Anyone who forked over 50 bucks for Elite might be a little miffed, that's all I'm saying.

Source: Wired [http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/01/activision-call-of-duty/]

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Kenjitsuka

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Sep 10, 2009
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"Consumer testing of Elite pointed out that gamers want smaller updates more quickly."
Then VALVE employees started commiting Sepuku, as they though of this 10 odd years ago.
They had the IDEA, but whoops! they ATE Episode 3 accidentally.... :\
 

108Stitches

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Mar 24, 2010
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That sounds all well and good, but Modern Warfare 3 has been out for nearly two months and to my knowledge (let me know if I'm wrong) Activision hasn't released any DLC for it. Anyone who forked over 50 bucks for Elite might be a little miffed, that's all I'm saying.
Could not agree more. Even more aggravating is the fact that BF3 has already seen their first DLC pack...
 

Nurb

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Dec 9, 2008
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If subscription based gaming beyond MMOs becomes the norm, I'm going to be pissed.
 

isometry

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Mar 17, 2010
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"Smaller updates more frequently" is industry code for "you're screwed." "Small" sets up a low expectation of quality, that they won't even quite meet, and short delays for each update add up so the content comes no more frequently.
 

Konaerix

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May 19, 2010
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Can we get an update that fixes the collision problems with the knife?
or are we just talking about new maps?
 

Saucycarpdog

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Sep 30, 2009
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Yay. More DLC for Activision to charge $15 for.

I feel BF3 has more changes in its DLC. It includes new vehicles and weapons along with the maps. Activision just includes more camping spots.
 

Phlakes

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Mar 25, 2010
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And if they hadn't announced this, everyone would hate on them for not supporting the community. Seriously, people, you're impossible to please.
 

bpm195

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May 21, 2008
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Nurb said:
If subscription based gaming beyond MMOs becomes the norm, I'm going to be pissed.
Contrarily, MMOs are realizing subscriptions are too restrictive and moving toward free to play. That way the people that want to throw money at a game they love have all the microtransactions they can handle.

Microtransactions are the wave of the future; CoD:Elite is either an isolated fuck up or an experiment on just how little bang they can provide for a buck.
 

silverbullet1989

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Jun 7, 2009
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Nurb said:
If subscription based gaming beyond MMOs becomes the norm, I'm going to be pissed.
If the mindless sheep keep subscribing to elite, or their mums keep buying it for them, (raising flame shield)Then other developers / publishers are gonna see that, and try and do the same for their game, so yeah, i recon were gonna see a few more games come out with a subscription based service which will increasingly restrict content unless you pay for it.