Call of Duty continues to be a massive money maker for Activision, with the recent Black Ops once again setting entertainment records. The rumor has been going around for some time now that the publisher would soon look to monetize all the hours gamers spend playing it online, and recently Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter outlined his thoughts on a subscription plan. For its part, however, Activision is insisting that it will not look to charge people to play online in the future.
Speaking to IndustryGamers as part of an in-depth interview on the business (stay tuned for more next week), Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg told us that charging for multiplayer simply just won't be happening - not now, not ever. "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," Hirshberg stressed.
Further commenting on Pachter's assertion about a variety of online subscriptions, he continued, "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. He's probably looking at meta-trends in the world and in culture about online services and new ways things should be monetized from Netflix to cloud-based computing. So there are certainly a lot of behavioral shifts towards 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."
So there you have it. Do you think this will hold, or will Hirshberg have to eat his words sometime next year?
3 Comments
November 24, 2010
"Further commenting on Pachter's assertion about a variety of online subscriptions, he continued, "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."
I wonder if he's tried explaining this to his boss Bobby Kotick. While I get it(as most gamers do), journalist get it and most publishers get it but Kotick seems to think people will pay for a COD subscription "just because" COD is the hottest gaming property out there(and has been for the last two years).
Others have touched on this before but I really don't see how it would be worth it to a shooting/fps fan like myself to pay a monthly subscription on top of XBL. They alreay offer optional map packs and you can get better weapons/equipment by simply playing enough and leveling up(in some games). What more could they do to make someone want to pay them more money?
Anyway, I'm glad that Mr. Hirshberg is setting the record straight. However, if it's one thing I've learned about Bobby Kotick it's that he simply can not keep his mouth shut. How long before he makes a statement to refute this claim of "not charging for multiplayer"?
December 8, 2010
December 8, 2010
hallo+