PS3 News: Activision: "We Will Never Charge" For Call Of Duty Online - PS3 News

Members Login: Register | Why sign up? | Forgot Password?

Activision: "We Will Never Charge" For Call Of Duty Online

EA may have their Online Pass and although Activision has hinted they want to do something similar, they now say they will "never" charge to play Call of Duty online.

Big boss Bobby Kotick was quoted by The Wall Street Journal as saying, "I would have Call of Duty be an online subscription service tomorrow," which of course sent waves through the online multiplayer gaming universe. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter had also recently predicted Activision would find a way to monetize CoD's massive online popularity. But thanks to what publisher CEO Eric Hirshberg told Industry Gamers, the many millions of CoD fans needn't worry:

"Are we going to be charging for multiplayer? The answer is no. The experience you have out of the box, connecting with the online community to play Call of Duty is absolutely integral to the experience, and we'll never charge for that. It's not going to be something we'll attempt to monetize; it's part of the package.

Nothing we or anyone else tries is going to work if it doesn't have tremendous value for people and add a tremendous value to the gaming experience. ...there are certainly a lot of behavioral shifts toward long-standing online relationships... But at the end of the day, all I'm trying to get across is I can unequivocally say we will never, ever charge for the multiplayer."

Well, they might've earned some fans back with that statement. Just remember, it has also been theorized that Activision has already monetized the market in question, as they frequently release a ton of extra DLC, and very rarely is it below the $14.99 price tag. That right there is enough to turn a big profit on CoD online players, yes?

Tags: game industry, activision, online pass, call of duty

11/24/2010 9:06:12 PM Ben Dutka

Put this on your webpage or blog:
Email this to a friend
Follow PSX Extreme on Twitter

Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on Google Share on MySpace Share on Delicious Share on Digg Share on Google Buzz Share via E-Mail Share via Tumblr Share via Posterous

Comments (22 posts)

BikerSaint
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 @ 9:38:08 PM
Reply

Let's see how long it is before kotex makes a liar out of Hirshberg's promise.
Last edited by BikerSaint on 11/24/2010 9:38:36 PM

Agree with this comment 3 up, 1 down Disagree with this comment

Mounce
Saturday, November 27, 2010 @ 2:58:58 PM

They only say that they won't charge us for it, because as for what was told before, Activision was the one actually responsible for the $10 Xbox Live price-jack, Microsoft did that so that royalties will be paid per Subscriber towards Activision due to their numbers that most people who buy their subscriptions, are the ones on the 360 playing COD games, and Activision wanted a cut of the profit, it was either to do that or to charge us. They go away with the Xbox Live price jack so that less people would complain yet at the same time, Activision would make further profits from those who pay-to-play their precious FPS/COD game.

That's why anyone who pays for Xbox Live Gold, is paying Activision, whether you play COD or not, Soooooo, Yeeaaaaaa, why I'm never going to buy a 360 and why I'll never at max, pay for Gold subscription, if anything I'll just borrow someone elses and play Lost Odyssey and that's it.

Agree with this comment 2 up, 0 down Disagree with this comment

WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 @ 9:48:51 PM
Reply

Yeah those prices monetize it, and let's face it, 360 owners already have to pay to play online so it wouldn't be fair to charge them more. Still, Kotex can always crack the whip and they will change everything. I do suspect that they will find other ways to charge for things, new modes or weapons or some fool thing.

Agree with this comment 0 up, 0 down Disagree with this comment

Shams
Thursday, November 25, 2010 @ 7:44:19 PM

I was reading on Kotaku, or N4G, that the recent xbox Live price hike was DUE to Activision. They demanded revenue since 60% of the traffic was from COD, and to assuage their wanting to charge subscription fees, MS opted to pay them $5 of each xbox live annual subscription gross.

Agree with this comment 0 up, 0 down Disagree with this comment

Snaaaake
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 @ 10:00:44 PM
Reply

Selling maps at $15 is already enough when the millions of bots just buy it immediately.

Of course they don't have to.

Agree with this comment 1 up, 2 down Disagree with this comment

gangan19
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 @ 11:22:26 PM
Reply

they better not!!!

Agree with this comment 0 up, 0 down Disagree with this comment

dkmrules
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 @ 11:48:16 PM
Reply

On black ops, the information ticker in the multiplayer is constantly saying that online is always free.

Edit: Kotex is full of shit, and his empty threats just stir up confusion and anger
Last edited by dkmrules on 11/24/2010 11:49:31 PM

Agree with this comment 1 up, 0 down Disagree with this comment

Jawknee
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 @ 11:54:51 PM
Reply

Had Call of Duty not sold like latest Hanna Montana, I bet Craptivision would be singing a different tune.

Agree with this comment 1 up, 1 down Disagree with this comment

AcHiLLiA
Thursday, November 25, 2010 @ 7:36:55 PM

Call of Duty ain't music, u mentioning it sounds like u like her music. Don't relate them both together, it already sounds stupid.
Last edited by AcHiLLiA on 11/25/2010 7:46:42 PM

Agree with this comment 0 up, 0 down Disagree with this comment

Bugzbunny109
Thursday, November 25, 2010 @ 12:07:08 AM
Reply

Activision-"We Will Never Charge", but will just charge you all through overpriced DLC.

Agree with this comment 2 up, 1 down Disagree with this comment

LowKey
Thursday, November 25, 2010 @ 12:28:43 AM
Reply

I`m sorry I dont mean to sound like a jerk or anything... But umm its not really theory... if u want to play the extra maps and have to pay. then the market has been monetized. You still are paying for an online experience. albeit only paying once.

Agree with this comment 2 up, 0 down Disagree with this comment

Gregory Freeman
Friday, November 26, 2010 @ 11:36:40 AM

hehe yer right man :P

(Ps. It's Mordie :) )

Agree with this comment 0 up, 0 down Disagree with this comment

Lawless SXE
Thursday, November 25, 2010 @ 1:35:27 AM
Reply

Well, at least one publisher is thinking about the fans... But then, Activision markets their games well, and they sell more than enough copies to pay for the server upkeep. It's kinda pointless when you think about the profit margin for Black Ops. As if they would think they don't get enough money out of that. Not to mention the timed map exclusivity deal with M$. If they did start charging, I would lead a one man riot against the injustice.
Peace.

Agree with this comment 1 up, 0 down Disagree with this comment

___________
Thursday, November 25, 2010 @ 2:20:03 AM
Reply

thats what sony said about the PSN.......
funny how things can change so quickly!
they probably wont charge for online, but they will make it that everyone who does not gets a inferior experience.
like locking them out so they can only play with other non paying players, not give them any updates stuff like that.
rumor has it antivision are the reason XBLA had a price increase, antivision found out that 86% of people on XBLA spend the time playing COD games, and they felt they should get some of that honey.
have to get a piece of every pie dont you bobby?

Agree with this comment 2 up, 5 down Disagree with this comment

Lawless SXE
Thursday, November 25, 2010 @ 3:38:27 AM

Sony does not charge for the PSN. Sure, Plus is a paid subscription, but those that have it don't really get any extra features or anything of that ilk. It simply reduces the prices of some items, gives you a higher chance of getting into some betas, and throws you the occasional freebie. That's how I see it anyway.

And your comment about the pay to play model (or however you choose to name it) is basically what they already do for the additional maps.
Peace.

Agree with this comment 4 up, 0 down Disagree with this comment

aaronisbla
Thursday, November 25, 2010 @ 5:47:41 AM

its like he never bothers to look at how stupid his post reads before he post it. Please show some examples of sony nerfing some modes in any game released since psn+ was introduced. Also, please display your online bill for gaming on the ps3...

Agree with this comment 5 up, 1 down Disagree with this comment

daizycutter
Thursday, November 25, 2010 @ 2:43:08 AM
Reply

"we will never charge for call of duty online" because we would never get away with it ...so instead im coming out with a holier than thou message!

Agree with this comment 0 up, 0 down Disagree with this comment

Beamboom
Thursday, November 25, 2010 @ 11:29:30 AM
Reply

I actually look forward to the day the PS3 get a game with online fee, cause that means it'll be a multiplayer online rpg. The real deal, a persistent world, thousands of players, etc. Of course, it has to be good too, but then I'd gladly pay. It's worth every penny imo.

These online ftp's on the other hand... No way they will be charged a fee for, that'd be stupid. It's usually even the players themselves who host the game, so what would there be to charge for? The match-making prior to the player hosted games? Tsk.

Agree with this comment 1 up, 0 down Disagree with this comment

Fane1024
Friday, November 26, 2010 @ 4:29:32 PM

Given the lack of success most non-WOW MMORPGs have had recently when using a subscription model, I think that model may be dying in favor of free-to-play models.

LOTR Online apparently tripled their revenue when they went free-to-play.

Agree with this comment 0 up, 0 down Disagree with this comment

Alienange
Thursday, November 25, 2010 @ 6:29:14 PM
Reply

Treyarch's products are sub-par and with the talent recently sucked out of IW they wouldn't stand a chance anyway.

Agree with this comment 0 up, 0 down Disagree with this comment

yuyitzo
Thursday, November 25, 2010 @ 7:17:15 PM
Reply

hello ! this is my first comment i love this web is amazingly accurate in reeviews! especially ben im from Ecuador

Agree with this comment 2 up, 0 down Disagree with this comment

AcHiLLiA
Thursday, November 25, 2010 @ 7:33:41 PM
Reply

Still have to make pay for DLC. Damn it!

Agree with this comment 0 up, 0 down Disagree with this comment

Leave a Comment

Please login or register to leave a comment.

Popular Cheats

Recent Reviews

Recent Previews

Sponsor

Our Poll

Do you still care about Final Fantasy Versus XIII?
Hell yes, I still can't wait!
Sort of, I just wish they'd tell us more.
Not really, I've started to lose interest.
No. Don't care about vaporware.

Previous Poll Results