The hope in transitioning to freemium model thus seems to be an attempt to attract a wider swath of Activision’s already impressive number of loyal “Call of Duty” customers. In a statement announcing the switch in its digital distribution and business strategy, Activision was quick to maintain that it will still be offering the Elite service in a relatively unchanged form.
The only problem with the pre-existing COD Elite model was thus that it bifurcated users between the “casual” players who weren’t sure if they wanted to put forward another investment that was almost as expensive as the game itself ($59.99 at the time of release) and those willing to spend over $100 on a single game up-front. The new downloadable content, in total, therefore costs just as much, if not more, to the average “Call of Duty” customer. But downloadable content will not come as part of the Elite package, instead being sold separate either in four individual map packs for $15 each, or for $49.99 as a bundle called the “Black Ops II Season Pass.” With the changes for “Black Ops 2,” all “Call of Duty” players will receive the networking features for free with the game.
And thanks to his company's unprecendented success with franchises like "Call of Duty" and more recently "Skylanders," Hirshberg hasn't had to experiment with the sorts of digital-friendly publishing models that many of Activision's competitors have adopted. For a $49.99 yearly fee, users would get access to additional social networking and management features that tracked their performance and facilitated the game’s general spirit of ferocious, sports-like online competition. But more importantly, in terms of content development, the Elite service also offered its users discounted downloadable content (DLC), such as new map packs and items for the virtual soldiers, which were rolled out on a monthly basis.Īctivision CEO Eric Hirshberg, for his part, has been wary in the past of what he sees as the video game industry's heedless rush into the "next big thing," free-to-play gaming being a big part of that today. The Santa Monica-based gaming juggernaut, which broke entertainment industry records last year and the year before with its last two “Call of Duty” titles, will instead offer the “Call of Duty Elite” service for free to all users and charge for individual content packages following the initial release.ĬOD Elite was first launched with “Modern Warfare 3” in 2011 as a paid subscription. (Nasdaq: ATVI) is switching away from its successful “Call of Duty Elite” service for the release of its highly-anticipated “Black Ops II” title next month.
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