Call of Duty Elite Service to Launch With MW3
Activision's new plan of getting you to play even more Call of Duty.
If you know anyone who is a hardcore Call of Duty player (or are one yourself), you'll know that the time spent in the shooter franchise is nearing MMO levels of devotion.
According to Activision, more than 30 million people have played Call of Duty online. Of those, 20 million do so at least once a month. The real dedicated ones who keep up the daily playing schedule number at an impressive 7 million. All that time added up spreads out to 170 hours per player. To put that in perspective, that's more than all six seasons of the Sopranos or Lost combined.
"The average Call of Duty player spends 58 minutes per day playing multiplayer. That is more than the average Facebook user spends per day on Facebook. And yet, right now, there are very few tools to unite and super charge that social community," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing.
Clearly there is a lot of Call of Duty loyalty out there, and Activision has given us a sneak peek at a new technology and service that will have players spending even more time involved in the game – if that's possible.
Perhaps taking a page from its Blizzard business side, Activision is developing a new online service called Call of Duty Elite. It will launch officially alongside Modern Warfare 3, but there will be a beta running this summer that'll work with Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Call of Duty Goes Social
At the demonstration that we were given in New York City, the developers at Activision subsidiary Beachhead Studios said that this is a new digital platform where Call of Duty goes social. We're not talking about social like Facebook or Twitter, though there are some interesting elements in how Elite will be able to get Call of Duty players to gather and group together.
The social aspect will allow players to join groups. Just like how people can "Like" groups on Facebook, Call of Duty Elite will allow players to be a part of as many as 64 groups. Such groups can be built on a commonality, such as a group made of LA Lakers fans, or those based in Brooklyn, or those attending the same school, or even those who have an allergy to peanuts.
Joining and playing with members of certain groups ensures that you're playing with people with whom you share common ground. This could lead to extra interaction about the on-going NBA or NHL playoffs.
For more serious play, however, there's also clan organization. While one can be a part of up to 64 groups, each player profile may only belong to a single clan. Given the competitive nature of clan play, that's the rule.
Belonging to groups (and to a lesser extent, a clan) is an important part of the social experience because of a new 24/7 service Activision is launching inside Call of Duty Elite called the Program Guide. The Program Guide is an ever-changing set of "events" that players can partake in. There may be special matches or certain requirements for groups to achieve, such as a multiplayer scavenger hunt or a screenshot contest.
Up for grabs in the Program Guide events are both virtual and real prizes. Virtual prizes include badges and other special online perks, while the real world prizes can be something as small as a Call of Duty belt buckle to as big as a Jeep. Some challenges may be completed as a group, so belonging to an especially competent group can net you some cool prizes.
For the Obsessive Statisticians
For those who have no interest in being social at all (or getting free stuff), the Call of Duty Elite service also has something to offer the lone wolves too. Beginning with Call of Duty: Black Ops, Activision's online partner DemonWare has been tracking all the statistics relevant to a player's play.
Call of Duty Elite will take all of these tracked stats and present them all in an easy-to-understand and meaningful fashion so that players can dissect their performance. Players will be able to review their performance with specific weapons, headshot percentage, and even how they kill and get killed at specific points on a given map.
Activision said that this kind of performance statistic tracking will lead to players analyzing their performance in ways similar to how golfers try to perfect their golf swing.
Sports fanatics are also known for being obsessive about statistics, which also makes the "baseball card" summary seemingly appropriate. Players will have their career history summarized in a baseball card for other players to view if they please. This will no doubt lead to some competitive comparison among friends.
Of course, friends lists will be a main part of Call of Duty Elite. Those who are friends with each other will often see how they compare on the leaderboards against each other against various other metrics. Players will be able to differentiate themselves from their friends and competitors as being stronger in some areas and weaker than others.
Making Your Game Better
Call of Duty Elite will also have built-in tutorial pieces for gamers looking to improve a part of their game. There will be special tutorial pages with tips dedicated on weapons and maps, among other areas.
Players can also share their favorite gaming moments via video using built-in YouTube integration. What's more, players can tag other players in the video, much like how tagging adds a social link in Facebook.
It Runs Inside Your HTML5 Browser
We saw Call of Duty Elite demonstrated on a 17-inch MacBook Pro with a 2.66 GHz Core i7 with 4GB of RAM. Really though, it was just running inside a Chrome web browser. The entire Call of Duty Elite service and interface is coded in HTML5, which means any compatible browser, including those on smartphone and tablets, should be able to run it.
The HTML5-powered interface was slick and polished, with pleasant transition effects between each different section of the service. Activision is also working on smartphone applications for those who want to check their Elite profiles on-the-go without going into the mobile browser.
Free DLC for Premium Subscribers
Call of Duty Elite will be available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC players. The social groups that players can join can be spread across platforms, but clans (for obvious reasons) will be confined to all players on a single platform.
All Call of Duty players can access Elite for free, though there will be a premium tier available at a monthly charge. Activision did not reveal pricing, but did say that it will be "cheaper than any other online service." While it's still unclear what the premium paid tier will include, what we do know is that anyone who subscribes to the premium tier will get access to all the DLC at no additional charge. Given that some of the map packs are priced at $15 a pop, it may not be a bad deal.
There will be a public beta available for Call of Duty: Black Ops players this summer, with the final service to hit its full stride with the launch of Modern Warfare 3 on November 8, 2011.
THELEGENDofKARL's Explanation of Call of Duty Elite
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okay that looks nice but still not interested. Don't have the luxury to play games to actually pay for subscription.
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Oh good, something else that will more than likely do nothing but INCREASE the lag. I'm sure it'll work fine for the 360 players but, PS3 and PC will be screwed over, yet again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZE [...] re=related
How to make Call of Duty game in 12 easy steps:
Step 1: Use an outdated game engine from 2005
Step 2: Insert crappy storyline about Russians and nuclear weapons
Step 3: Design a character that 12 year olds will perceive as "cool" and refer to him only by his mysterious call sign.
Step 4: Kill said character in a scripted event 2/3 way through the campaign.
Step 5: Kill key bad guy in another scripted event involving slow motion
Step 6: Add a halfbaked multiplayer mode. Make sure that there are plenty of glitches and imbalances and good places to camp.
Step 7: Profit.
Step 8: Release overpriced map pack.
Step 9: Profit some more.
Step 10: Add a subscription service for detailed stats, clan support, etc. and other features that would normally be free in many other games.
Step 11: Profit some more.
Step 12: Repeat steps 1-12 until series has been sufficiently milked dry and Bobby Kotick has enough money to fill an Olympic size swimming pool.
Ya COD has become cookie cutter gaming, very little innovation at all..
I think cronik93 missed a step. When your game is hacked during beta and is filled with wallhacks and aimbots when it is released do nothing to fix it, this just adds to the challenge for players.
With those stats about the amount of players CoD has, I really I'm a minority here. Jesus, how can this many people actually like CoD, games complete garbage.
I see people using "You for MMO subscriptions.." as a lame ass excuse.
MMORPG's=/=FPS
Having better stats isn't bad, but they can keep the rest of their gimmicks and kill streaks. Since BC2 sold 5-6 million copies, I am hoping BF3 clears 10 million. If BF3 clears 10 million, it should be able to compete with Call of Duty since the last two installments easily cleared 10 million. I won't complain if BF3 sells more copies, though.
Lol. I'm really sick of what happened to that series. Once upon a time it was realistic and visceral. Now its like playing out a game with as much ridiculous action as the transporter or die hard (good movies though..). After i played MW2 it became apparent that they appreciated short and ridiculous singleplayer plotlines (filled with plot pot holes) and pushing it out the door without enough testing. It was really fun to play Rust with an AC-130 with no reloading but that quickly faded...now i await BF3.
@cronik93
LOL
COD has a really outdated engine.
LMAO @ any sucker who is willing to pay a monthly subscription fee to play COD!!!!!!!
who cares.. BF3 wins. Flawless victory...
I have a strange feeling that if it was EA that introduced a paid service like this for B3, there'd be a much different public reaction from gamers. I'd bet I'd be reading comments like "BF3 FTW!!!" with people arguing that EA, unlike Activision, is actually innovating with its shooter franchise.
In any case, I wonder if people reacted with this much hatred when publishers first introduced paid subscriptions with MMOs, or if this negative reaction is focused mostly on Activision and its CEO.
Another fail MW... everyone after the first MW was terrible. Now it's all just riding on the coattails. Can this die like Guitar Hero already?
Bungie already does a ton of this stuff for Halo players for free. And anything they may have missed is picked up by halocharts.com.
booo! lame!
same old tech, bunch of social stuff i don't care for. how about bigger maps and a better spawn system instead?
Marcus Yam, I am afraid you messed up with sub title. It should have been:
Not buying. Its like EA's FIFA soccer now. Releasing crap every year (at least for PC). Yes YOU ADD something new, but it's crap because you add not what people need. Keep bringing new concepts when you can't fix what is not working properly. There is plenty design solutions for any type of games. But still these companies care only about a profit.
bs!
So this Elite is really the typical COD game with a new way to connect to others. Nothing new. Gee what a shocker. All the same. And off course it will sell millions because of websites like IGN.com a bias and help hype MW3. It really doesn't matter to me. I know i'm playing BF3 that will actually keep me entertained for years to come. I have 528 hours in BF2, 540 hours in BC2. BF3 will most likely hit 1000 hours easy. I got BO and with in 2 weeks, i was bored playing the online. Bored, just run and shoot and die, repeat. If this is pay to play, then people paying for this are real suckers.
if they dont get rid of the tomahawk and silly speed running around with a knife perks im not even buying it. they need to make this game more real life. i bet %98 percent of people in the world could get a tomahawk to stick in a tree from 10 ft away ,,, oh yeah and you can take 50 bullets from a gun and live but get hit in the big toe by a tomahawk and die instantly???????? plus in real life you would never run around with a knife cause you would be dead in no time flat. they should use the damage model from , operation flashpoint
if they dont get rid of the tomahawk and silly speed running around with a knife perks im not even buying it. they need to make this game more real life. i bet %98 percent of people in the world couldnt get a tomahawk to stick in a tree from 10 ft away ,,, oh yeah and you can take 50 bullets from a gun and live but get hit in the big toe by a tomahawk and die instantly???????? plus in real life you would never run around with a knife cause you would be dead in no time flat. they should use the damage model from , operation flashpoint
I wonder when COD fans are going to realize how bad Activision fucks them in the ass.
They already have to put up with buying the same game again and again every year and paying for expensive map packs. Now they are being asked to pay money for features that should be included in the game.
I have a strange feeling that if it was EA that introduced a paid service like this for B3, there'd be a much different public reaction from gamers. I'd bet I'd be reading comments like "BF3 FTW!!!" with people arguing that EA, unlike Activision, is actually innovating with its shooter franchise.In any case, I wonder if people reacted with this much hatred when publishers first introduced paid subscriptions with MMOs, or if this negative reaction is focused mostly on Activision and its CEO.
people wouldnt pay for that and would disown ea altogether, because it seams they are ruining studios like bioware. mass effect 3 got delayed because ea wants it to be ever more main stream...
i pay for an mmo because the massive amount of servers, and community that come with it... any fps worth playing can go on forever because the players who like the game will buy their own damn servers
if they dont get rid of the tomahawk and silly speed running around with a knife perks im not even buying it. they need to make this game more real life. i bet %98 percent of people in the world could get a tomahawk to stick in a tree from 10 ft away ,,, oh yeah and you can take 50 bullets from a gun and live but get hit in the big toe by a tomahawk and die instantly???????? plus in real life you would never run around with a knife cause you would be dead in no time flat. they should use the damage model from , operation flashpoint
i hate to say this because i sound like i'm defending mw, but you really don't understand what a game is and what it means right?
its sad however that realistic tactical fps games died as a genre.
Psshh.. atleast there is some dedication to improving the multiplayer.. I for one am getting it, nothing beats spending 1-2 hours a night with your buddies stomping kids out.
Steam has had this type of service for free for years...
@Alidan
Ouch. That Mass Effect comment hit close to home. Good point.
Also good point on the servers in a shooter vs. MMO. I guess the bottom line for me is, I'm not offended by this at all because I think paying a subscription fee for an MMO for years on end is insane, but if there's a market for it, then who the F am I to judge, right? As long as I can still play CoD online without an Elite membership, then I'm okay.
Steam has had this type of service for free for years...
Indeed it has. And if you gave sodium pentathol to Gabe Newell and asked him if he could go back in time and figure out a way to charge some fee for at least parts of the Steam subscription service, I think you know what his answer would be.
I think what we're seeing is that in the real world, there's still only 24 hours in a day. Until the tools used to make video games drastically advances so that a reasonable number of employees can work 8-10 hr shifts and get twice as much quality work done, we'll continue seeing the same engines and the same formulas used year after year.
CoD titles certainly lack innovation in regards to some other titles out there. If they built a new engine, new technologies, the workforce has to increase to meet it. Then there's still no guarantees they'll sell more copies to make additional profit to offset the above added costs of production. I think right now they're pretty good at predicting the # of copies sold. Anytime a company invests millions into a game, they're taking a gamble, even if CoD is in the title.
It's hard for me to complain anymore... mostly b/c everyone else is complaining about the same things. The best I can do now, since Call of Duty 3, is not buy their titles.
Activision will have no problem getting users for this. especially the xbox 360 user base as MS already has proven they will buy anything no matter how badly made it is
Will MW3 have:
Dedicated Servers?
Lean around corners?
Theater / Spectator Mode for catching hackers?
...if the answer is no to any of these questions, then who cares?
Cheers,
CList
Sorry Alidan i don't agree with your assumed comment about OFP. IMO best ever hands down FPS ever made. If operation flash point were to be basically updated to a engine thats not um 2 decades old! i would be all over that like.... well you see where i am going. Nothing more fun then a game where the devs put some real time into it. Nothing less fun then a average death match pos game that seems to pass as a good fps these days. I guess the closest thing ill get to a good FPS anymore is Battlefield so here is hoping the 3rd is good.
Also on topic here i prefer steams way of doing this. I know its not totally the same but, It's as far as i care to go with the idea. I sure wont pay for it no matter who does it. It doesn't add anything that hasn't been in a fps for many years anyways other then a GUI irc channel.. Even thats free!