Why and how Activision must charge for Call of Duty

Swinnich writes: It makes total sense that they would want to charge a subscription fee, it really does. The truth is that to keep the brand, and maybe the entire genre alive, they may have to. But tacking it on to the current format is not going to work. If Activision wants to charge users to play, they need to step past what they’ve already established and offer something fresh.

[-Alpha]

Must?

If they "must" charge I'd like to see dedicated servers at the very least.

See, the problem is, as great as the COD formula is (I really do like how it plays, minus all the issues it's a terrific, responsive, and addictive formula-- CoD4 is still the best), they just don't have the content that someone like Bungie has.

Bungie has good matchmaking, a TON of variety in their modes and playlists, custom games with custom maps, modes, etc., a theater, split-screen online, extremely great stat tracking, etc.

That's a dev group that can earn "pay to play" more easily than Activision. Call of Duty? No. They just don't add that extra effort.

Now, I am open to them charging to us, I really am, but they really have to step it up. I'd like to see everything Bungie has given us at the very least, but even then, if Bungie can do all that for free, why not Activision?

[crzyjackbauer]

Activision just wants to put out a new cod every year
i love COD but just the ones that are made by Infiny Ward

[8800gtx]

Not only do they put out a COD ever year, they also put out 2-3 dlcs for that COD. 2 DLCs = 1/2 a game.

By Consolizing the market they have effectively take away freedom from the user, which was once present when the game was PC only.

DLC was then custom user created content which was free, obviously that was something activision didnt like. In the end the whole console gold rush has been a successful means by which freedom from the gaming community has been taken away. However since the masses are unaware it seems normal to pay to go online or to pay for content which should be user created and free.

8800gtx

[SixZeroFour]

isnt coming out with a new cod every year just like paying a yearly sub for cod online?

[rockleex]

WANT to pay for Call of Duty?

You're getting it free now, and you WANT them to start charging you for it?

Its like telling your girlfriend she MUST start charging you a monthly subscription for sex.

O_o

[Playerz8]

Before subscription: 5 million+
After Bobby announces subscription:1 (himself)

EDIT: Oh yeah, Bobby hates games that are fun.

[Panzerkanzler]

Forget it, I think most of the COD drones will pay up. They rattle their little sabers now but when it comes to the crunch theu will pay the sub and gulp down the coming buggy shit games without dedicated servers.

[Lich120]

I played Cod MW2 for a good while. The second they charge I will never be seen again. I think there are a decent number of people like me that enjoy the tight gunplay but are not ravenous enough to willing pay monthly for it. Since, well, thats ridiculous.

[kasasensei]

Wake up people!!! Hundreds of thousands people are paying for XBOXLIVE to host their online gaming session! So there is no doubt there will be a huge amount of people ready to give millions to activision if they decided to charge for the main license.

[Playerz8]

People who play COD will not pay for a subscription, they wouldn't understand.

[gamerzBEreal17]

they don't need a reson...
there activision

[Inside_out]

They don't have to anything like monthly fees, they WANT to. The spin has started a while back. Activision and the industry acting like they need to do it or else they will go bankrupt...Bullcrap. Look how much money MW 2 has made in sales and DLC. Games that have not sold well won't make more money charging extra for on line..as a matter of fact, they will lose MORE. If EA came out and charged for on line for Badcompany 2, NOBODY would of bought the game. MW2 is the top dog. People would just stay on MW2 and the competition would get buried. People won't pay for multiple games, they will pick one and stick to it. This greed will kill gaming...watch and see. 1 or 2 franchises will win big...everyone else will be fighting a up hill battle.

Of course a argument could be made that a developer could offer everything for free and become the number one came sold and have the highest selling DLC because the game is free. That doesn't always work since the product has to be number one quality. Look at Sony...free bought them last place this gen.

[sikbeta]

Why?

GREED

How?

Fine-print, you buy the every year COD and when you want to play on-line, BAM! there it is... a pop-up window saying you have to pay a fee for playing on-line... how you didn't know that, they don't "advertise" this fee (obviously) and keep it in secret, that's illegal, pffft, they add a text in the back of the cover or some other place, stating that you're buying a game which its on-line-MP is not available if you don't pay a fee

[MariaHelFutura]

Why? Because XBL rakes in alot of $$$ doing basically the same thing. Plus, alot of companies have to be very jealous of Blizzard and how much $$$ they make.

[Theonik]

Except Activision is merged with Blizzard now.

[big_silky]

" The truth is that to keep the brand, and maybe the entire genre alive, they may have to."

*crosses fingers that they don't charge now* I'm sure it would be an international day of mourning if Cod and fps' died. I wouldn't know what to do with myself. /s

There's more gamers out there that don't play fps' than there are people who do.

[ZombieAutopsy]

Do it like EA, buy it new or pay 10-15 dollars to play online. That's the only way i see it being fair, and having dedicated servers.

[Merivigian]

They must charge so they can get rid of all those pesky fans.

[UltimateIdiot911]

I've stop supporting Activision since after CoD4. I don't care too much if Activision charge online for their multiplayer but please don't let other publishers do the same. I hate to see people willing to pay and the rest follow. So I guess if they do charge, I hope people are smart enough to boycott and stick to it.

Imagine having a monthly subscriptions to every other games you own. Let say the monthly subscription is $10 and you own 5 different online games, that's easily $50 down the drain.

Sure if you don't play the game anymore, you can just simply stop paying but what if I decide to pull the game out again and go online. I can't because I haven't been paying the subscription.

Leave the subscription to MMO.

/rant

[TruthbeTold]

F Activision, and F the slightly above average game they put out year after year.

[Alos88]

Why? Greed. How? By withholding multiplayer until we pay up. This is highway robbery, and if it happens I will refuse to play any Call of Duty games that use it.

[whitesoxfalife]

as final fantasy 11 haunts Xboxlive don't do it Activison

[Demonsdown]

If Valve hasn't had to charge a subscription for Team Fortress 2 then Activision sure as hell doesn't for COD.

[RockmanII7]

Team Fortress 2 on consoles isn't that great. Only 6 maps, 6 gametypes, laggy, hackers, and the online community is dead. Valve knows better not to charge PC gamers because they could just pirate the game and probably find ways around paying for the online.

[solidworm]

to play this gens most broken game then your dumb enough to pay for the privilege. The reality of this opens up a massive can of worms that will make gaming thee most expensive hobby ever and will see most gamers going campaign only in the future. Hopefully a subscription will see the death of the Cod series and a return to common sense and better thought through games.

[Silver360]

Halo Killzone Medal of Honor Tom Clancy Games all good online games. Too many alternatives.

[monkeyfox]

Just because a game is successful does that mean you can just start charging a monthly subscription to play it?? Maybe in the future when the business model is different for this type of product but for now when we have paid out £44-99 for a game and more on top for map packs etc i just think they would be taking the pi$$ if they ever tried this.
Considering how many units they have shifted of MW i think Activision would be extremely greedy if they ever try to adopt this approach and if they DID, i think (or would hope) that it would come back to bite them in the a$$.

[REDHULKSMASH]

I ain't paying for shit. You want money for doing nothing basically. Blow. I'll play uncharted, gears, and killzone, what do you think about that activision? I don't need your average franchise and poor camaign and blasé maps. You make better and more maps...i'll pay gladly, you charge me for online after I paid $60 for the whole game, multiplayer and campain(shitty,stupid,boring campaign) and not give multiplayer I paid for=our business is done. I'll craigslist all my call of duties to some idiot kid that's willing to pay.

Why don't you try doing like mag?...online only and not waste your time and money making that campain noone plays. Then you're charging for what everyone wants.

Yeah only one problem you can't double dip.

[snoopgg]

games online. Yeah activision there should have been recalls of mw2, because that shat you put out wasn't worth playing. How are you going to charge us for that glitch fest you published? And any of you that do pay these clowns that put out utter garbage should be shot yourself.

[bunfighterii]

I would only pay to play online if the upfront cost of the game was in the region of $15 (Australian dollars)- because that's was COD single player is worth. If we're still going to get charged on top of the $90+ we already pay to have a copy of the game, then I will never pay to play online.

Plus isn't one of the main selling points of the PS3, for example's sake, that gaming on the PSN is free? And Xbox users already pay a subscription fee- and there are plans to charge them more?

Sony and MS should simply say: 'Not on my system, Kotick!'

[N4OGs]

especially not if they charging 60 bucks to buy it. that would mean you are paying 60 bucks for that 5 hrs cheap campain that has done nothing new and innovative and is basically a standard war fps.

[phinch]

Probably start playing it on the ps3. Paying for gold membership, then paying again to play the game online is ridiculous.

You've paid for your internet
You've paid for your game
You've paid for your console
You've paid for your Gold subscription
and then you will have to pay another subscription for the game

It's pure bull

[Acquiescence]

They rake in all this money, but it's never enough. Makes me sick to my stomach.

[bjornbear]

DOUBLE THE MONEY!! WOW

[lugia 4000]

The more they think they should.

[wiseguys313]

They really don't have to charge they could do what EA has done for their sports games.. Only way you could play online is if you bought the game new with a one use passcode for your game.. that cuts out the people and retailers buying used.. But the brilliant part about EA is that they give you a 1 week trial if you don't have a passcode.. So you get to play become addicted and halt you cant play anymore because you bought used I guarantee they purchase the passcode which is a subscription if you bought used..

But all this talk about the industry is changing.. the industry knew this was going to happen just like the automotive industry knew it was going to happen.. What you guys thought with multiplayer games we would still go out and buy 7 8 games.. NO.. multiplayer solidifies replay value because the outcome is unknown and social unlike story campaigns. Its all about the gaming community not buying 10 games in the past like snes when there wans't any online so after you beat the story you went and bought another game hence 7-12 games you purchased if not more.. the industry knows that we spend more time online than off and they're trying to make money off it.. But they need a ground breaker what better game than Call of Duty Franchise which is played buy everybody on every console..

Well it couldnt be halo gears or killzone why?? Simple.. their only on one console it would be discrimination for lack of terms..and not as lucrative.. Call this stage the beta or testing stage with Call of Duty.. its up to the gamers to change the future of gaming I'm not going to protest on N4G but you guys know what you must do if you disagree with what the money hungry industry is trying to do..

[wiseguys313]

Wait a minute didn't Activision just sell over 5 million copies if DLC at the price of $15 dollars.. Do the math lets just say it was over 70 million dollars on top of what the game sold in stores which was a killing how many copies someone tell me it was record breaking I remember.. All that success and still trying to finds ways to get more money WOW.. Shame on this author.. what is he getting out of this deal?

[bjornbear]

I ain't paying for this POS i'll stick to free stuff.

thats why I love single player

[Psycho_Mantis]

Because Activision knows that there are COD junkies out there who want their COD fix every year with each new COD game so why not charge them for it so they can make even more money. Hey, money talks and bullshit walks. Thats what Activision probably only cares about because they know that COD prints money!!!

[wicko]

I'll post here what I posted there:

“But providing new maps every month would go a long way in justifying the price. Continually balancing the gameplay would as well. Creating new team-based modes and gametypes could also go do the series a lot of good. ”

You mean how modding communities used to do it for free? Maybe next they’ll offer dedicated servers! Please, those features are nothing new, modding communities have been doing that for a long time at no cost to everyone else. If they start charging for that, its an even bigger insult to modders, and the players they’re trying to charge.

[THE TRUTH]

How about I keep my money and play halo reach and.then killzone 3. F U activison F the CoD series with or without a monthly subscription kiss my Ass the FPS genre is full of alternatives

[HeartDisease]

lol yet another "gamer" begging to pay for a FPS game online. i hope activision DOES charge so they can see themselves lose 50+% of their current players. i think the industry needs to realize that they can only push their customers so far before they find greener pastures

[kevin360uk]

Let the COD loving idiots pay for a subscription. If you've got any sense at all you will not pay an extra £/$ to Activisions greed.