Activision Finds New Way to Monetize 'Call of Duty'

[NYjetsNY1]

http://blog.games.yahoo.com/blog/722-ac ... ll-of-duty

"Call of Duty" might be the best selling franchise in the video game industry, but Activision-Blizzard is looking to double down on its earnings potential.

The company has unveiled a subscription-based online service called "Call of Duty: Elite" that will provide extra content for players, including map packs and social network functionality for players.

Due to launch this fall alongside "Modern Warfare 3," the next installment in the series, "Elite" will not only give players access to downloadable content for the game, but will offer in-depth tracking of player statistics and an advanced matchmaking service, letting people play multiplayer games with friends or opponents with similar skills.

People who do not subscribe to the service will still be able to play the games online for free.

Analysts have been expecting the move for some time and say Activision-Blizzard seems to have modest initial aspirations for the service, but the company expects to grow "Elite" substantially in the years to come.



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"I think Activision hopes to get up to 1 million subscribers this year," says Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities, who predicted the company would begin offering a subscription service for "Call of Duty" last year. "From there, they hope to get it up to 3 million next year, then up to 5 million. Over time, they'd like to migrate everyone over to it."

Activision has not yet announced what Elite's monthly subscription fee will be, though analysts expect the charge to be between $5 and $8 per month.

That would be on top of the $60 players pay for the original game - and, if their preferred platform is Microsoft's Xbox 360, they're likely also paying $60 per year for Xbox Live (which allows them to play online).

That starts to become a high price to pay a video game, but "Call of Duty" has long since transcended the "just a game" category. The franchise has sold over 100 million copies - and when new versions come out each November, they cement a spot at the top of the sales charts for months. Over 7 million people play "Call of Duty" games every day, spending hundreds of hours playing multiplayer matches.

It's a regular habit, too. Activision says the average customer spends 58 minutes per day playing the game - more time than most people spend on Facebook.

While "Elite" is an ambitious effort, it's one that could have a long-term impact on the stock, says Pachter.

"I think they're in this for the long run," he says. "For their next [fiscal] year, 1 million subscribers [to Elite] is about an added 3 cents per share. It's meaningful, but who knows ultimately if they'll end up with 1 million or 10 million."

At its heart, "Elite" appears to be a slightly more robust community than the one that is currently offered for free to players of games like Bungie Software's "Halo" and Blizzard's "Starcraft". That might cause some grumbling from players who are reluctant to pay more for the game, but the success of "Elite" could have an impact on free services like that.

Modern Warfare 2 Blizzard, after all, is already a part of Activision. And Bungie has signed a long-term deal with the publisher that will see the two working together for the next 10 years.

"The reason the Bungie guys went to Activision is they're psyched to start charging for their stuff," says Pachter. "Blizzard's kind of going that way, too, with all of the customizable stuff on 'Starcraft'."

Activision is launching Elite - and its added services - at a critical time in "Call of Duty's" evolution. The game is expected to see its most serious competition to date this year, when Electronic Arts launches "Battlefield 3" against "Modern Warfare 3".

"This November we're launching Battlefield 3," said EA CEO John Riccitiello at the Ad Age Digital Conference in April. "It's going up against the next Call of Duty, which is presently the number one game in the game industry. ... [Battlefield 3] is designed to take that game down. If you're looking for a battle of the titans, a Red Sox versus Yankees, if you're trying to understand if it's Microsoft versus Google and what the tip-off point is for this holiday season - this is it."

 

[PS3andCOD]

Yeah, I don't like this elite thing... They showed a video and they claim what was in it is all free with a sign up, I'm cool with signing up to get the stuff but not paying. It isn't really clear just yet what is pay and what is free, or even exactly what's going to be available. By the time I found out their trailer was off youtube.

 

[Ben]

Yeah, I don't like this elite thing... They showed a video and they claim what was in it is all free with a sign up, I'm cool with signing up to get the stuff but not paying. It isn't really clear just yet what is pay and what is free, or even exactly what's going to be available. By the time I found out their trailer was off youtube.

I'm not sure if they know yet for sure either.. I think the trailer was just seeing how people would respond to it and stuff..

Having apps for it sounds pretty cool though

 

[Xx Binno xX]

Old news. On topic I was reading that people who pay might not have to pay for map packs that come out and will be able to enter contest to win prizes and such its all rumor and unclear and the beta starts this summer and comes out same day as mw3

 

[odingalt]

Can somebody please start the website www.boycottcod.com already? Seriously, I never would have even bought World At War if it weren't for the fact that all my customers do, so I'm forced to buy the game and support it...

 

[PS3andCOD]

lol I know, I only buy them becuase all my friends move on and I'm stuck on the old one by my self if I don't.

 

[IrishStyle]

They showed a bit of it at E3 and I have to say it looked pretty cool. You can search for players based on geographic location, based on skill level or by a specific search.
The usual clan bit as well as a chat/text system that is redone. I am still on the fence with the elite service, it offers some cool stuff but what is the cost gonna be?

 

[Voodoo]

I heard, no word on how credible the source, that the fee was going to be $5-7 per month, which seemed high to me for your combat profile and a COD Friend Finder.

 

[NYjetsNY1]

They showed a bit of it at E3 and I have to say it looked pretty cool. You can search for players based on geographic location, based on skill level or by a specific search.
The usual clan bit as well as a chat/text system that is redone. I am still on the fence with the elite service, it offers some cool stuff but what is the cost gonna be?

If you can pick skill level, I'll always pick the lowest skill - it's more fun to kill than be killed. Even an amazing player would rather go against easy opponents ... right?

 

[Voodoo]

They way I understood it, basicly if you pay. Then you only get tossed in matches with other roughly similarly skilled people. Say your a .25 k/d person, they're not going to have you play the 10+ k/d guys all the time. You'd play with other player less than or equal to say .5 k/d. Where as a 1.0 guy would roughly end up play with other 1.0ish people. That was the way I understood it, but I could be way off. I think it ultimately sounds like rubbish though. No one likes to lose, but come on if you only ever play shit players then how do you get better? You can't compete with those 10+ guys if you never see one. Sure being a good player you could just go in and cause trouble for the noobs, but if the monkeys never see then they'll never do. If they never face adversity, they'll never learn to overcome.

Just sounds like more kindergarten crap to me, everyone's a winner. Sorry you're not really, but if you give us some money maybe we can help you feel like one.

 

[Voodoo]

Have to make a part 2 post here.

I've had conversations with my brother that sort of apply to the heart of my prior post.

He plays a ton of Combat Training, he is amazing against the bots. However, when he gets in a real match, it all goes to hell. Not that he turns into a bad player, but he has trained himself with bots and bots just don't play right.

Well, that's his point. He likes that the bots don't hide, they keep moving around the map, even if it is always in the open. lol Anyway, point is when he gets into pub matches and stuff, he feels the other people in the match "aren't playing right" they just camp or this or that.

Point being, camping, claymores, etc are all a reality of online multiplayer. If you never learn to account for it or good players, if you never see a good player, you'll never really be one. Just killing bots or noobs all the time dulls your skills. Thats why you see good players seeking out tough competition, only way to improve that I know of.

Love to hear other's thoughts.

My two cents.

 

[IrishStyle]

I totally agree, you play up to the level of your competition. I see the matchmaking as more of a crutch, but it can be good for some peeps who never get better and quit playing because of it.
I am not sure if you can sandbag like that to lower your stats, its not like my bowling league lol. At some point you have to do well and I would think it would move you out of those brackets.

 

[NYjetsNY1]

Oh I understand now!

 

[PS3andCOD]

They way I understood it, basicly if you pay. Then you only get tossed in matches with other roughly similarly skilled people. Say your a .25 k/d person, they're not going to have you play the 10+ k/d guys all the time. You'd play with other player less than or equal to say .5 k/d. Where as a 1.0 guy would roughly end up play with other 1.0ish people. That was the way I understood it, but I could be way off. I think it ultimately sounds like rubbish though. No one likes to lose, but come on if you only ever play poop players then how do you get better? You can't compete with those 10+ guys if you never see one. Sure being a good player you could just go in and cause trouble for the noobs, but if the monkeys never see then they'll never do. If they never face adversity, they'll never learn to overcome.

Just sounds like more kindergarten crap to me, everyone's a winner. Sorry you're not really, but if you give us some money maybe we can help you feel like one.

lol that wouldn't work. They could group them like that to start, but then the players would spread out within the categories. For every death there is a kill, if someone in a match has a 0.25 K/D someone else has to balance him out with a 4.0 K/D. Basically it would make K/D mean nothing anymore. I could see a starcraft style tiers system come in though...

I got an email about a beta invite today, it doesn't mean I get one, I had to sighn up for a chance from the email... Must have a decent chance of getting one though because I only put in my email birthdate and console, not some sort of long survey. That's nothing they didn't have from my forum membership.