Monday, June 6, 2011

Activision Finds New Way to Monetize 'Call 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.

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.

Found this article a few days ago and decided to let you know so everyone apparently needs to invest in activision-blizzard stock!!!

50 comments:

  1. i heard about this, it seems they are just trying to score extra cash.
    but i might be wrong

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  2. That's wrong, their making enough money already!

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  3. They are constantly looking for new ways to charge money to people instead of looking for new ways to make gaming better...

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  4. Making Bobby Kotick the CEO was the Board's worst decision. They have sold themselves out and it is only a matter of time before gamers defect to a game designer that cares about their needs

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  5. this makes me want to switch from CoD. :(

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  6. dont know how i feel about this

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  7. Do they not realize we are all crunching for money right now?

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  8. It's so boring when company's only care to earn more money, instead of doing a next hit game.

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  9. This Call Of Duty craze is getting ridiculous. I don't see how a subscription based game is going to work when they release a new game every couple months anyway :P

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  10. It's terrible, I hated the Activision/Blizzard merge, and always will.

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  11. can't say i'm surprised...

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  12. They are all after our money.

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  13. they gonna ask money for playing online, I gonna quit it

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  14. Well hey, people keep buying the games, I'd keep milkin' the cash cow as well.

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  15. Those two are the evil of all gaming companies!

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  16. I read about this over the weekend. so lame.

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  17. they are gonna make so much money with that!

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  18. Not sure about this... I think it will piss alo of eople off. Myself included.

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  19. I heard about this, this must flop, I don't want to see other game do the same

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  20. As much as I appreciate how popular their games are, I can't help but feel they're getting excessively greedy. Companies like Activision/Blizzard, and Electronic Arts are gonna go the way of the dinosaur if they keep milking people for money this way.

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  21. This is just no surprise ! :D
    I follow

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  22. terrible isnt it. following your blog!

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  23. Yeah I learned about this merger a while ago thanks to Youtube. So it not something thats too new.

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  24. activision is taking over the world

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  25. Jumping on the bonus pay train, eh? Well, the system doesn't look like it's too badly implemented.

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  26. Disappointing news. Thanks for sharing though, followed.

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  27. These big companies are getting way too greedy. I just wanna play some games, man. It's bad enough that it's $60 for the game, then $5 a month for Live, $10 for a map pack, ect. Just put out a game, and let me play it. No more paid DLC, no BS subscriptions.

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  28. Fuck COD and Fuck WOW, too. If I hear one more girl say she is a nerd because she plays those games XD

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  29. Haha good thing I'm a PC gamer and will probably get battlefield 3!

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  30. love your blog, man! good stuff

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  31. not too surprising. still love the game, tho

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  32. Activision + Blizzard = your bankruptcy

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  33. activision already makes so much cash from CoD as it is. Now they're just getting greedy

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  34. I've been bashing cod since Modern Warfare 2 and i'm proud of it!

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  35. i kinda wish blizzard stayed as their own company :/

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