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Online monetisation for Call of Duty?
Author: Joe MartinPublished: 16th November 2009
Activision has been hinting that online monetization - i.e. subscriptions - could be coming to Call of Duty.
Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets Conference last week (via Joystiq), Activision's CFO Thomas Tippl mentioned Call of Duty specifically when quizzed about whether it would apply WoW's online business model to other franchises.
"It's definitely an aspiration that we see potential in, particularly as we look at different business models to monetize the online gameplay," Tippl said.
"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," he continued.
According to Tippl there is a specific and strong demand for online business models among gamers - information which is probably drawn from a survey Activision did earlier this year.
You can read our full review of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for more information on the latest game in the series, or just let us know your thoughts in the forums.
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Also, forgive if I am wrong but I am a little out of the loop on PC things, did they not get rid of dedicated servers? If that's the case what's the charge for?
As for the console side of things, I already pay a sub for my XBox Live Gold membership, no way I will pay addtional fees to play particular games online.
They will burn themselves if they carry out this money grabbing strategy. People will abandon them just like they abandoned EA.
"Money grabbers"!
Looks like EA has lost its crown as the top mercenaries
The servers are the users own machines, so no cost to them for 'hosting' the game. Just running that crappy IWnet farce. This (on a pc) would be charging for the right to use it online which should be included in the higher purchase price, after all it is advertised as having online play out of the box and does so at the moment.
It should be noted however that the MP splash screen does say they have the right to remove online play at any time. No master plan there then.
The extra stuff you get though really has to be worth the money, and it's hard to think what you can get 'extra' that isnt gamebreaking (for example, super powerful guns that you have to buy to use give an unfair advantage to people with more money), or that is actually adding something to the Call of Duty magic. They've already got all the game modes pinned down with players, guns, maps, etc. so what more can they offer?
-Multiplayer world vastly expanded - bigger levels with more players on DEDICATED servers.
-Rolling battles and territorial league tables for sure.
-New battlezones added alongside new equipment and other 'content'
-Massive overhaul to character customisation and weapons etc.. think WOW style
-Supports Clan factions within your designated world zone.
-Monthly sub to enter the 'Battlezone'
-Free to play though out of the box using rubbish P2P on very small maps with hardly any players. If you want the real MP deal, then you have to sign up to the COD Shooter Universe for £4.99 a month
... and then along comes Battlefield 3 and takes a huge dump on the COD Shooter Universe. Business case now in bin.
"monestization" :?
Man when did EA become the saviour, I think i seen this in an episode of sliders. Very weird.
It also depends on whether the changes to the game are detected as cheats by VAC or not.
I second that emotion... lol
i shooting players and losing the Ping war resulting in my death, the replay happens it shows that he shot me first when i let off a lot more shots
Don't you mean everybody will play it?
For a game so many said they'd boycott, it's sold a heck of a lot of copies.
Yeah, console tards may not care about dedicated servers, or even understand what they are, but when someone starts charging them to scream at random strangers on the Internet, then even they'll be up in arms about it.
When's the award ceremony? Someone needs to invite Kanye.
After years of criticism, EA tried to make changes for the better, both big and small, to the way they operate. They're now posting some of the largest losses ever and cutting more jobs than anticipated.
Meanwhile ActivisionBlizzard is making record profits while acting like jackasses. They need to learn from EA's history that although immediate profits are great, soon enough all that bad publicity takes a serious toll.
It's no secret that at the height of EA's dickishness a lot of the best game developers avoided them completely, leading to a massive lack of talented people who were prepared to work for them. Their only option then being to buy out other studios and become bloated.
Oh god. This is just getting better and better.
No point boycotting or getting up in arms about subscription based sales, look what happened to MW2, we all slagged off the idea of the console port and no-dedi's and they still managed to sell £300 million plus on the first day ...
They'll chuck in a system similar to the free mmo's out there, small fees for extra weapons, camo, upgrades etc...
The problem with that is that its difficult to impliment without unbalancing the game, and if the £££ upgrades dont offer any benefit to the player they wont buy them.
so in summary
FAIL
Where its says gamers should it read shareholders? And was the survey done at Activision's last AGM?
I don't see people showing the same amount of rage at all of the incredibly high priced DLC for Railworks heheheh
Yes, but was that total sales or PC sales. What do console gamers care about the way the PC port is being crapped on. The game was designed for them and then they decided, well I guess you PC guys can play too.
They already charge for DLC. Thus this can only mean pay to play.
If that is the case then I see it as more of a spin-off from the series, rather than a standard CoD. They'll release CoD as per usual in November which will retain the "standard" (I use the term loosely in reference to the recent changes) formular (story mode and standard fps multiplayer), but alongside, I'm guessing they'll release a sort of persistent world (online only) subscription based game where 2 sides do battle FOREVER... taking the idea of FPS with RPG elements on its next logical step.
With add-on packs released a regular intervals, of course!
i think they should rethink the dedicated server position.
Yes, dedicated (or close to it) will probably be hacked aswell soon.
Just like they hacked the Developer Console today. =)
I can't believe how good Activision are at getting worse and worse every time they do something, whether it's opening their mouths or actually taking a decision.
What's next ? Are they going to charge us for NOT buying the game ? Or will I get a bill because I heard "Call of Duty" somewhere. Am I going to get sued for treason because I played Medal of Honnor back in 2001 ?
WHAT DO YOU WANT ACTIVISION ? TELL ME WHAT YOU WAANNNNTTT
actually nevermind, I know what you want ... $$$$$$$$$
Well apart from the millions who happily pay for xbox live, muppets. of course everyone else is going to want to do this can't have MS and Activision laughing in the face of other publishers now can we.
but seriously Activision aren't stupid enough to make all forthcoming titles in the CoD franchise subscription based...it'll be probably be an offshoot (like WoW is to Warcraft)
it is actually much more important than just a single game... everything has been said in the 25 mw2 threads, have fun reading
yeah, but they havent stopped laughing since CoD3........best racing game ever
Actually will we be better off? Because let's say CoD:2010 arrives, we pay the first months sub of say £6 or $9, game turns out to be wank, we cancel sub ...
Problem I have with this is that monetization turns something that isn't profitable into something that is, not taking something that's already extremely popular and charging even more money for it. That's extortion. We're already paying over the odds for DLC (way over the odds, considering how many people buy it the profit margins are INSANE) and now they want us to pay more.
Now, "Online Monetization" has one meaning, taking online play which is currently free, and making money off it somehow. It could go the subscription route, and it could go your DLC idea route, but the biggest profits to be made from players right now are microtransactions. 50p for a silencer/red dot sight/grenlauncher. Oh wait, you want a grip for your SAW? That's a high level upgrade. £1.
Those prices are probably way inflated on what they would be, but by playing things out with fractional costs to them, players are more likely to purchase not realise how much they are spending. If you think £10 a month is too steep to pay for a game, imagine paying 10p per upgrade. Most people might think this a reasonable price, until you think about upgrading every weapon. Then think about buying DLC and what new weapons / upgrades the DLC will contain. A game that cost you £35 could cost you in excess of £85 over time.
Crock of ****. This isn't "monetization", it's extortion.
/sleepy rant. :)
yeah and we know how well EA is doing right now - im kind of happy to see them abandon half their stuff - but firing alot of employees is bad... and its bad for their stock portfolio. It's a toss up in the economy we are in now i guess.
leave the "make people pay for it" to WarCraft... and xbox live!
It seems that there is hidden content shipped with the game:
http://www.modernwarfail2.com/2009/11/17/unlocking-hidden-mw2-game-types/
Also, how to display ping in numbers:
http://www.modernwarfail2.com/2009/11/17/showing-pings-in-numbers-instead-of-signal-bars/