Activision: We're NOT Charging for Online Play
Activision, Treyarch and Infinity Ward say that subscription fees will never be applied to Call of Duty titles.
Last week industry analyst Michael Pachter said that multiplayer components of PC and console games were driving overall sales down. To combat this problem, he suggested that Activision should charge for online play--as seen with MMORPG subscription services--starting with its upcoming game, Call of Duty Black Ops.
A supposed "leaked" video then surfaced Monday indicating that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox Live would introduce a subscription service for the game's online mode. The video depicts the Xbox Live menu from Modern Warfare 2 showing terms such as "add Microsoft points," "membership," and "balance." This may be indicative of absolutely nothing, however rumors heated up nonetheless.
Since the video's release, Activision, Treyarch and Infinity Ward have released statements assuring gamers that they will never be required to pay a subscription fee to play online. "This video shows just a glitch-- since you can access a Live subscription renewal from within the MW2 game interface, it appears some data got jammed between two parts of Live," said Activision's Dan Amrich in his blog. "It's not a secret portal to some nefarious plot to charge people for COD multiplayer--and there are no plans to do that."
Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling followed up in his blog by adding that "there is not, and will never be, additional fees required to subscribe and play Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer." As for Black Ops, Treyarch's community manager confirmed on Twitter that a subscription model would not be applied to the game. To round out the rumor bashing, Activision rejected reports that it's adding subscription memberships with Modern Warfare 2.
"Activision has no plans to charge gamers to play Call of Duty multiplayer," the company said. But clearly, the company left the doors open to change its plans down the line.
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The future is anyone's guess. they may say something now, but they can also reverse their decision later on.
Yeah really. Wait for MW3. This was just a test using the old engine.
Whew, what a relief. Will not be applied to the CoD titles. And thank god they make nothing else. Or else they would just charge for them.
Lemon juice! Free! It's free! The cup is $15 though! But we are not charging for the juice!
Well, you won't be required to pay anything beyond your XBox Live subscription fees, that is. Not sure why everyone keeps glossing over those.
I'm still not going to buy your games.
Slightly confused....
If
Since the video's release, Activision, Treyarch and Infinity Ward have released statements assuring gamers that they will never be required to pay a subscription fee to play online.
then how can you say:
But clearly, the company left the doors open to change its plans down the line.
Much like the promise of Larissa Riquelme to run naked through the streets of Paraguay, to the promised release of Duke Nukem Forever, I anticipate this promise of "never charging for online play" was made only to be broken.
Believe me, if they add subscription fees, they would lose money. You can't compare FPS games to MMO. At least MMORPG games add free content and keep the game interesting..That's a reason to pay monthly, new items, levels whatever. Call of duty? Okay I'm gonna pay monthly and 1/3rd of the players are hackers? They can't even keep the game clean. I'm glad this is just a rumor, otherwise it would be a joke if it were to happen.
Of course Activisioon won't add "fees for online play"! They're making a killing by being THE most aggressively priced DLC on the planet. Why change the forumla when people are dropping $15 for 4 maps on $60 PC games?
Lemon juice! Free! It's free! The cup is $15 though! But we are not charging for the juice!
I'll bring my own danm cup then!
"Wait for it, Wait for it" "We are proud to announce that we will now be charging for online play" -Antivision
So wait? Who the **** is Michael Pachter again? Oh an "industry analyst".
Is this guy in anyway associated with activision/IW/treyarch? If so he should be fired for shooting his mouth off.
If not Activision will probably hire him to come up with more money-raking schemes.
"Wait for it, Wait for it" "We are proud to announce that we will now be charging for online play" -Antivision
LOL I could see that happening.
After learning my lesson, I will never buy another game that has "Activision" on the cover.
They are making a wise decision, considering the infamy they faced after their firing of Infinity Ward programmers.
CALL OF DIRTY!! im going to buy the new one coming out...at least its better than that MOH that I paid for >< stupid game...
"Wait for it, Wait for it" "We are proud to announce that we will now be charging for online play" -Antivision
it'll happen
real sad though. bet you right now they are scheming on how to present it in a good light and trying to figure out how to make fps games seem like mmo's in that paying is essential
It's understandable if the game is being update all the time like WoW that you have to pay a monthly fee but for something like MW2 other than the extra maps well, you cannot justify the monthly additional cost.
It's understandable if the game is being update all the time like WoW that you have to pay a monthly fee but for something like MW2 other than the extra maps well, you cannot justify the monthly additional cost.
How many people out there, though, would gladly fork over the ~$10 a month to play. Sure Activision says they won't be charging, but how easy is it for a company to backtrack on what they have said in the past...they are foaming at the mouth to charge monthly dues. As soon as they feel they can get away with it...
I'll bring my own danm cup then!
Sorry, Activision Lemon Juice is only compatible with Activision cups. We're not legally allowed to distribute it in any container that is not on our certification list.
Unless you want to play the latest version of the game with new maps that is.
What happened to those cash-bonuses-- 54 million dollars?! WAIT... What happened to the "FREE" multiplayer online?
Since console games use P2P for multiplayer instead of dedicated servers, I cant imagine on what grounds they could justify paying online for, they arent providing any service!
They better not. This is a warning for all other dev studios as well.
Honestly, charging for online play would be the WORST thing any company could do to a stand-alone game product at this point. DLC is really where they're going to rake in the their money from. The handlers for WoW have even stated they are considering moving away from monthly subscriptions and into the DLC model.
thank you , Activision !
Well, you won't be required to pay anything beyond your XBox Live subscription fees, that is. Not sure why everyone keeps glossing over those.
Screw Crapbox live, PC or PS3 for me.
Honestly, charging for online play would be the WORST thing any company could do to a stand-alone game product at this point. DLC is really where they're going to rake in the their money from. The handlers for WoW have even stated they are considering moving away from monthly subscriptions and into the DLC model.
The only problem I have with DLC is that in MMOs that use this model the only way to really compete is to pay. I prefer low monthly subscription fees with some DLC that does not buff a character above what normal users can achieve.
While they say this now i'm certain it will be done within a year from now. Maybe not the black ops title coming out, but soon. I've heard the console version of MW2's DLC did well sales wise, but never heard anything spectacular about the PC versions DLC. Last time i logged in less than 1% were playing that content, I for one won't pay for maps that are already on the CD but not unlocked.
Besides i coulda swore a month ago kotick compared the CoD to WoW in regards that they were considering a payment plan since multiplayer is free currently. I guess paying for DLC isnt exactly the same as a monthly fee, but if you put one out everymonth it sure seems like it.
While they say this now i'm certain it will be done within a year from now. Maybe not the black ops title coming out, but soon. I've heard the console version of MW2's DLC did well sales wise, but never heard anything spectacular about the PC versions DLC. Last time i logged in less than 1% were playing that content, I for one won't pay for maps that are already on the CD but not unlocked.
From what I can tell, more people are playing COD4 (and to a lesser degree 5) than MW2.
I don't buy shooter games, so it doesn't matter to me...
but for the many people that DO care it would be a very bad move to charge a fee (of any kind) to play online.
games are already very expensive.