Activision says you should "expect" paid-for online models such as those in World of Warcraft to make the transition to other games, including Call of Duty.
Speaking during yesterday's BMO Capital Markets Conference (which sounds fun), Activision Blizzard CFO, Thomas Tippl said that while WoW's model is difficult to replicate, players should expect new monetization models for its other games soon.
"It's definitely an aspiration that we see potential in, particularly as we look at different business models to monetize the online gameplay," said Tippl. "There's good knowledge exchange happening between the Blizzard folks and our online guys."
Modern Warfare 2 launch video
Official trailer
5:18A video showcasing Activision's flashy launch night events in London
Modern Warfare 2 launch video
Official trailer
5:18A video showcasing Activision's flashy launch night events in London
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Modern Warfare 2 launch video
Official trailer
5:18A video showcasing Activision's flashy launch night events in London
"We have great experience also on Call of Duty with the success we had on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. A lot of that knowledge is getting actually built into the Battle.Net platform and the design of that," he added.
"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."
According to the Activision CFO, there is a demand from its core fanbase to pay for additional services.
"Our gamers are telling us there's lots of services and innovation they would like to see that they're not getting yet. From what we see so far, additional content, as well as all the services Blizzard is offering, is that there is demand from the core gamers to pay up for that," he said.
Not really suprised at this, although it does send alarm bells ringing. What Activision have to realise is one of the reason WoW is so popular and I feel it's worth every penny is the sheer amount of content and game there is to explore.
While MW2's multiplayer is a lot deeper than CoD4's, it's still window dressing compared to the number of things to do in WoW. You'd need some serious customisation, clan support, trackable stats, leagues, all sorts to make a multiplayer only subscription based CoD worth my money.
Is anyone else having trouble joining friends online in COD MW 2 in either Spec' Op's or m/player. Everytime any of us (on my friends list) try to join each other we get a message saying the game session is now invalid...
We have patch 1.03, hasn't made a blind bit of difference. Some other people seem to be having this problem but it doesn't seem too widespread. Wondered if anyone here could shed any light on it.
I can play online if it's just me but not with any of my friends. On the subject of online play. What an awful way of linking up with friends. What was wrong with the old way. Why do i have to send messages through PSN why do i not press triangle anymore to see what friends are playing that was so much better and easier.
any help would be appreciated as it is really bugging us. Cheers.
So, Activision, if you want to start charging for online services, how about making sure they work first...
According to the Activision CFO, there is a demand from its core fanbase to pay for additional services.
Ok, own up. Who's been asking Activision to take more of our money?
While I accept World of Warcraft and other such paid for gaming services may work on consoles, I'm not sure anyone cares to pay to play Call of Duty. Or maybe this would be some large persistent war that would have thousands fighting the same battle.
i think they've been a bit blinded by how much cash WOW has made. You can't shoe horn the business model for MMORPGs into other genres, you are just going to p**s people off big time. The costs of running COD online are minimal in comparison.
The only thing Activision seem to be good at doing is taking great series, and bleeding them dry untill they are just shallow money spinners.
According to the Activision CFO, there is a demand from its core fanbase to pay for additional services.
Ok, own up. Who's been asking Activision to take more of our money?
While I accept World of Warcraft and other such paid for gaming services may work on consoles, I'm not sure anyone cares to pay to play Call of Duty. Or maybe this would be some large persistent war that would have thousands fighting the same battle.
That sounds like your typical CVG thread, to be honest.
According to the Activision CFO, there is a demand from its core fanbase to pay for additional services.
Ok, own up. Who's been asking Activision to take more of our money?
While I accept World of Warcraft and other such paid for gaming services may work on consoles, I'm not sure anyone cares to pay to play Call of Duty. Or maybe this would be some large persistent war that would have thousands fighting the same battle.
Sorry it was me, I had a bit too much and they did their sad eyes at me.....
This idea would be ok if for instance they sold the main game for £20, but that is not going to be the case is it? Robbing gits. I am sure that gamers including myself are happy to pay for big updates that effectively change the the whole game, but I even have trouble parting with my cash for map packs as I think they should be free or very cheap especially when you only get 3 or 4 maps. I can't see gamers wanting to spend more money on services and features that should simply be in the retail game by default. However there are far more games companies out there to buy from that will not be ripping the gamers off so it looks as though MW2 may well be the last COD game I buy.
We have patch 1.03, hasn't made a blind bit of difference. Some other people seem to be having this problem but it doesn't seem too widespread. Wondered if anyone here could shed any light on it.
* On recieving the invite message - don't read it! * Sign out of PSN * Sign back in * Now read the message & hit Join
Bobby Kotick CEO made $20M this week, maybe its not enough for him.
They really are treading on thin ice and this relates nicely to Bobby saying, id charge more if I could than the £55.
reading here and other forums, a lot of people havent been over impressed in general about the game anyway. This is just another Red hot poker in the eye.
Still, im sure other will pay it like the rip off map packs they release.
According to the Activision CFO, there is a demand from its core fanbase to pay for additional services.
Ok, own up. Who's been asking Activision to take more of our money?
While I accept World of Warcraft and other such paid for gaming services may work on consoles, I'm not sure anyone cares to pay to play Call of Duty. Or maybe this would be some large persistent war that would have thousands fighting the same battle.
Sorry it was me, I had a bit too much and they did their sad eyes at me.....
This idea would be ok if for instance they sold the main game for £20, but that is not going to be the case is it? Robbing gits. I am sure that gamers including myself are happy to pay for big updates that effectively change the the whole game, but I even have trouble parting with my cash for map packs as I think they should be free or very cheap especially when you only get 3 or 4 maps. I can't see gamers wanting to spend more money on services and features that should simply be in the retail game by default. However there are far more games companies out there to buy from that will not be ripping the gamers off so it looks as though MW2 may well be the last COD game I buy.
well said. i think we, as gamers need to speak with our wallets more and nip this kind of shenanigans in the bud.
Not surprised by this. We have had enough warning that they were preparing to try to bleed us dry. The removal of dedicated server support for the PC.
So who has been knocking on Activision door and asking them to charge us for stuff that we have been able to get free in the past because of MODS etc? Sod em I say. There are plenty of other games out there I can get my fun out of without shelling out wads of cash.
Well to all the people that said "Its not a big deal their dropping dedicated server support" this is the result. I hope they do charge a monthly subscription. I would love to see it blow up in their faces. Not that he's saying it will be that kind of charge but anyways. I still haven't bought it yet as its to expensive so will wait for a sale but considering MW1 is still £20 I might have a long wait
ps if people actually pay it I will give up on the gaming community
I actually wrote to old Bob and asked him to take more of our money as I didn't think we were paying enough through the nose. I suggested we have to pay every time we want to move forward or for every bullet we fire. At first he was reluctant but has since seen the error of his ways.
Hence the real reason for no Dedicated servers, bringing the Pc market into line with the consoles ripe for the picking.
He wants his cake and to eat it with high priced games, micro payments and assorted poorly executed pish. What he doesn't realise is this won't work on the PC if there is no clan or mod scene to hold a game up long term.
I actually wrote to old Bob and asked him to take more of our money as I didn't think we were paying enough through the nose. I suggested we have to pay every time we want to move forward or for every bullet we fire. At first he was reluctant but has since seen the error of his ways.
Hence the real reason for no Dedicated servers, bringing the Pc market into line with the consoles ripe for the picking.
He wants his cake and to eat it with high priced games, micro payments and assorted poorly executed pish. What he doesn't realise is this won't work on the PC if there is no clan or mod scene to hold a game up long term.
We don't like to be fleeced just to game.
That is a great idea! Pay for bullets a bit like you do at a paintball centre. Once you run out you have to buy more! Also you only get one standard inaccurate gun. However you can purchase better guns, grenades, flares etc. I bet Activision are just drooling thinking about that!
Ya know 2 years ago (probably less) this was the sorta critisism that was leveled at EA, with Acti and Blizz (before the merger) seemingly the golden boys of gaming.
Now EA seem to be making a concerted effort (it appears) to make in-roads toward the gaming community and Acti/Blizz demanding we drop our shorts and bend over!
Madness people!! MADNESS!!!
Also, considering all the probs with PC MP (and i'm biting my lip to not say I told you so) and the probs experienced by PS3 owners; I get the impression that the PC version is not just a console port, but that and the PS3 version is more of an XBox port than anything else.
Lets set up a betting pool as to when Bobbi announces that the inevitable DLC for the PC will cost $10 (and probably £10, ya know, coz of that pesky conversion rate doohickey).
Activision is a business - that's the bottom line.
They have little to no interest in their 'community' other than to take ideas (demand) and give them what they want (supply) - the fact that it's going to cost you shouldn't surprise anyone. From map packs to microtransactions to join a team deathmatch game, s4!t is going to cost you money if they're going to find new revenue streams to grow their business.
The reality of the situation? Over-monetising a hobby enjoyed by many is going to marginilize your user base. A game like MW2 does not have the level of customisation and flexibility required to demand either a subscription fee or microtransactions. Let me put it this way - if you're average at games do you really want to be paying to have your ass handed to you most of the time? I doubt it...
Those 'demanding' to pay more for things they're currently getting for only £3 a month on 360 or for free on PSN are getting paid to much (either that or, as I suspect, that whole thing is Activision Jedi mind tricks) and need to be wary of how bang they'll get for their buck - will this money be going into development or the pockets of execs? I know which one of those I'd put my money on...
No, not the death of gaming, when Activisions profits take a huge hit in about 12 to 18 months they will wake up and see who really has the power. They must think we will take any amount of ****. But as EA found out to there cost they are wrong.
Activision are without doubt the absolute antithesis of what gaming should be about. Instead of encouraging community and strong support for their titles they are fragmenting their userbase and attempting to squeeze every last drop of cash out of them that they can.
I have no problem paying for bolt ons to a game I love. Map packs, extra SP missions etc etc, I still think the price is extortionate in some cases, but it's all relative, if I get 10+ more hours out of a game due to some new maps, then on average the cost is worth it.
What Activision are failing to see is that for all the fanfare regarding MW2, a lot of gamers have been left cold by it. I enjoy it, but it's not the GOTY experience I was hoping for. Next year there is Brink, Halo: Reach, Alien vs Predator 2, Colonial Marines and I'm sure a raft of unannounced FPS's as well.
What makes them think, given the options out there, that gamers would plump for a series which is blatantly being driven into the ground and set up to fleece it's own fanbase?
I'm having trouble on the Xbox multiplayer. When connecting, it locate 50 potential games, goes through them all without connecting, then finds 50 more and so on and so on...
Anyone else getting this? I'm pinning to busy servers at the moment and hoping it'll calm down in a week or so.
As for paid content, as long as the pricing is correct and the quality is there, I honestly don't mind. Anything I think is a rip off I simply wont buy.
As in "the Sheriff of Nottingham's monetization model varied significantly from that of his primary business rival, Robin Hood. While the Hood strategic vision emphasised a radical and dynamic 'top-down' rich-to-poor wealth redeployment, Nottingham's own approach maintained an aggressive stratagem for comprehensive wealth accrual, by means of a repeated charging mechanism implemented across the entire revenue stream.
Oh, and f**k Activision's very own Sheriff, the Bobby of Kotick.
Activision you can kiss my fat bottom!! While you are at it, you can stick your games up yours!!
If I didn't have xbox live, COD MW2 would be a complete rip-off, paying RRP £55 for a game that can be completed in less than 6 hrs, you are taking the p**s if you think I am paying anything else!
Right rant over, I don't think I should have had a two hour lunch break in the pub, so excuse me, I am off to pretend I am working and not a little drunk
I'm having trouble on the Xbox multiplayer. When connecting, it locate 50 potential games, goes through them all without connecting, then finds 50 more and so on and so on...
Anyone else getting this? I'm pinning to busy servers at the moment and hoping it'll calm down in a week or so.
As for paid content, as long as the pricing is correct and the quality is there, I honestly don't mind. Anything I think is a rip off I simply wont buy.
I have not experienced any problems at all. Have you checked that it is only happening on MW2?
What extra features do we really want? Leaderboards? Clan support? These things were around years ago before people had even considered a subscription based payment system for any game.
If the big company's keep doing things like this they are going to find that indie companies are just going to get bigger and bigger. Indie companies make better games anyway.
I hope it is just micro-transactions, because there's no way anyone is going to pay a subscription for what they can get free elsewhere.
ActiBliz are definitely heading the way that EA did several years ago, and that's definitely not a good thing. They worrying part is that as long as they're making all that money from WoW they'll continue to think they can make their own rules.
At least EA felt the losses when big bunches of gamers turned away from their product (BF2142 had disappointing sales mainly because of the built-in advertising), but with WoW making hundreds of millions of dollars profit every year, they don't need to worry as much. But us gamers certainly do.
I've written to Activision many times, demanding more opportunities to pay out more of my money to play their games. I'm glad to hear they've finally listened.
As in "the Sheriff of Nottingham's monetization model varied significantly from that of his primary business rival, Robin Hood. While the Hood strategic vision emphasised a radical and dynamic 'top-down' rich-to-poor wealth redeployment, Nottingham's own approach maintained an aggressive stratagem for comprehensive wealth accrual, by means of a repeated charging mechanism implemented across the entire revenue stream.
Oh, and f**k Activision's very own Sheriff, the Bobby of Kotick.
Thanks Beau, that's the best laugh and accurate parallel i've seen in ages. Bravo!
Also, noone asks to pay for things, not even the brainwashed CoDiots are that dumb. I'm sick of being milked to s**t by companies like Activision, and I bet I'm not alone on that.
Bobby Kotick is probably on his volcano base right now, stroking his white cat, laughing maniacally and plotting how to steal from us further.
I was very surprised when I realised activisions plan too try out a subscription based episodic business model on W@W and it was a great success thanks to the zombie level.And it seems the majority of console gamers are more than happy to keep on keeping on.
well this is what you get when bean counters get involved. they will ruin this franchise like they'll ruin every other one. the people that call the shots are not gamers themselves, they couldn't give two hoots. they think of 'product' and 'profit'. how sad for such a creative industry.
a lot of the people who'll complain about this are the same type of people who signed the petition over the dedi servers then still went and bought the game on release.
i boycotted it,dl'd a cracked version and don't care if i get s**t for theft from any of you.
the multiplayer is broken on so many levels that it wasn't worth the purchase of the pc version for single player and spec ops but no multiplayer.
i know mp is available but i'm one of those that can't shake the '360 port' vibe off about this game: i mean there's no lean in the pc version ffs,no screenshot tool either,no console,no mods,no dedi servers,18 player instead of 50 plus etc...
cod will be pay to play online soon,that'll be on top of your xbox live sub and overpriced dlc, enjoy. as a result the franchise will be dead in a a couple of years,activision will see to that by this constant "f**king the consumer over" attitude.
i'll stick to cod4 with dedi servers and mods thanks.
Bast*rds! Hopefully Microsoft and Sony will reign them in though as it will turn people off their consoles and reduce their piece of the pie in royalties from games(less games sold = smaller percentage). Saying that maybe Activision will offer them a percentage of the monthly fees as a sweetner. I will never pay more than a live sub. No way.
My most recent brush with DLC was in Dragon age (no were nerar the RPG of the Decade) origins. They are that desperate to get you to buy the ****ing thing they put the quest giver in your rest camp to keep raming it down your throat. Admittedly I don't have to buy it, but it really annoys me that he's there as a constant reminder of what they would like me to do.
I blame the people that were happy to folk out 8 quid for four maps. In doing that its opened the door for charging more.
This is why I havent bought a single DLC and dont intend to either.
Agree with you. The time they start charging for this is the time I end the game. I thought £22 for MW2 just for updated maps was to much. I can see MW2 as my last CoD buy.
MW2's multilplayer is a bastardised f**k up in comparsion to CoD4's version. f**k IW for spitting in the face of every PC gamer who helped them by buying their games. I hope the f**kers go bankrupt and spend the rest of their lives on the street but the chances of that are non existent.
As in "the Sheriff of Nottingham's monetization model varied significantly from that of his primary business rival, Robin Hood. While the Hood strategic vision emphasised a radical and dynamic 'top-down' rich-to-poor wealth redeployment, Nottingham's own approach maintained an aggressive stratagem for comprehensive wealth accrual, by means of a repeated charging mechanism implemented across the entire revenue stream.
Oh, and f**k Activision's very own Sheriff, the Bobby of Kotick.
I laughed so hard at this, even though, sadly, I suspect it's pretty close to the truth.
To be honest, how much more do we really need for COD multiplayer? We have the Private Match option, which can be used for clan battles, we already have all the basic stuff like leaderboards. I think this would be for competing in competitions or something similar, for real cash, like the pros do. Any other unlockable attachments would surely just be repeats of what's already available. If they're thinking of charging us to play multiplayer then forget it, I'll burn my copy tomorrow if it's true.
Now, don't get me wrong, this p**ses me off too, but guys, apart from that 'extra fiver' which really wasn't so bad, seeing as (to me, atleast) MW2 is certainly worth a fiver more than some of the heaps of s**te I see on Game's shelves, Activision really aren't that bad.
This isn't the first time they've mentioned something about a subscription fee, but just think. They aren't going to put that in MW2. Ofcourse they aren't, there'd be a huge uproar, because pople buy it on the basis they believe it's only a one off payment, if all of a sudden you have to start paying subscripion fees to get what you were expecting, the public/watchdogs just wouldn't have it.
MW3 on the other hand, is where you start to get worried, but even then, I think this was just a silly, sweeping statement from a silly Activision member. Also, to those 'boycotting' MW2, which, I can tell, is mostly out of stubborness/morals/something else, I think you're ridiculous. It's like being one of 3 fans who don't turn up to a sold out Wembley staidum at the FA cup final, boo f**king hoo, see if they give a s**t.
Having said that, I do hop we never see some sort of subscription hitting games where it doesn't belong, I honestly can't see it happening, so stop fretting guys!
My most recent brush with DLC was in Dragon age (no were nerar the RPG of the Decade) origins. They are that desperate to get you to buy the ****ing thing they put the quest giver in your rest camp to keep raming it down your throat. Admittedly I don't have to buy it, but it really annoys me that he's there as a constant reminder of what they would like me to do.
sorry?. You don't like dragon age?. why?. its tremendous. A marvel to play.
Am I the only one here who's actually interested in seeing what can be done with a sub based FPS game? As far as I see it, IW have taken the current FPS model as far as it can go, and there are plenty of COD players out there now who just play COD and nothing else.
PS, and seriously, who out there has paid more for MW2 than they paid two years ago for a copy of MW1?
they're really trying to say people have been asking for ways to give activision more money? kotick proved he was a greedy bottom, now we discover he's a frakking liar. now we know why there's no dedicated server support, because if people can set up their own servers activision can't charge you to play online. glad i didn't buy this game.
ohhhhf call of duty ACTIVISION NOW GETTING GREEDY 4 MONEYYY ohhhhh! just what i though we watching u dogs we know got alot of money already so much that u could bill a tunel with moneyyyyy ohHHHH but im sorry i guess now we are watching now u want more money of youre faithfull players aight see if things wont change u showing all that hunger 4 money lets see if u get it ...they aint no more indians no more call of duty mw2 people go with quality and excellent customer support and u really just want only all the money u think u could get OHHHHHHHHHHHH! BATTLE FIELD BAD COMPANY STAND UP$$$$$$ BABY BABY (COD MW2 GO DRAW SOME BETTER GRAPHICS RIGHT NOW TIRED OF THE SAME PIECE OF BULLs**t RIGHT NOW PS3 ONIDDY XBL ONIDDY ...STAND UP MY PEOPLE THIS COMPANY IS GREEDY AND TRYING NOW 2 TAKE ADVANT4 REALLLLLLL! HAHAA
Im really Tempted to buy this pre owned now. I was going to wait till after Christmas to get it cheap, but now I think ill either borrow it off someone who has bought it or get it pre owned, then Activision dont get any money for it.
How do you like those Apples Bobby?
Plus if they started to go to subscription and people pay it, it will open the doors for other company´s to do the same.
I said the same with Map packs, but people still folked out for them.
I dont have time to play online much, so if it went to some kind of subscription it would be a waste of money for me to even consider.
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