Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter has been talking about publishers, specifically Activision, launching online subscription services to better monetize the vast amounts of online play taking place these days. While Pachter thought it would happen by the end of the year, he's now backtracked on that, suggesting it will happen at some point in 2011 instead. Consequently, Wedbush has removed the Activision Blizzard stock from its Best Ideas List.
"We are removing Activision from the BIL as we believe that the introduction of online subscription services for Call of Duty will take several more months to materialize (once again, the company gave no indication that a subscription plan is in the works)," Pachter noted.
"We expect Activision to announce plans to monetize multiplayer online some time in 2011, and expect greater visibility into the release schedule throughout the year. When we have greater visibility, we think we will be able to identify positive catalysts, and we fully expect to add Activision back to our Best Ideas List at that time."
Whenever Activision or another publisher eventually does introduce extra subscription fees, they will have to tread carefully and offer a ton of value on top of the online gameplay, as many players are already paying $60 a year for Xbox Live.
Update: Pachter has again noted that investors are eagerly awaiting Activision's move to monetize online in Call of Duty and in future Blizzard titles. He also raised his sales forecast for Black Ops. Read the full story here.


25 Comments
November 8, 2010
So in the same Email we get news updates about EA is in trouble for making games pay to play and how people do not want that any more and then this post about Activision needs to go pay to play to do well in the market. I feel a tremor in the force, like a million keyboard monkey's brains juts fell out of their over thinking heads all at the same time.
November 8, 2010
this is the biggest bullshit ever, have you ever heard of a more cock sucking money grabbing company suck as Activision! Fuck, this is gay, Most retarded thing ever! No one else is doing this shit! PISSES THE SHIT OUT OF ME!
November 8, 2010
fuck u activision shitty fucking comapny i aint paying more money to play a game that i already paid for fucking gay ass if they do do this im out from call of duty forever n im not the only 1 so think about it dickheads
November 8, 2010
Activision, Really? This is honestly uncalled for. I own a PS3 but think about the xbox live gamers. They Already pay for online, and will have to pay MORE to play black ops online? I don't think this is such a good idea. This kinda of tactic either makes or breaks a company. If Activision really does they, they better be ready to have some amazing service for the players that will keep them from cancelling their subscriptions. and FREE DLC.. because if we already pay every month to play online, Maps better come in as patches or free add-on. Because nobody is going to pay to play and pay MORE for map packs. This is going to get big and fast.
November 8, 2010
Bullshit! If I have to pay another fee on top of the game ($60) and XBL (another $60) I will never play the Call of Duty franchise again!
November 8, 2010
this is Shit. if you start feeing people to play the ONLINE feature Call of duty will loose it's pride and it will become a game that's no fun at all.
November 8, 2010
So Xbox people will have to pay even MORE for multiplayer? Screw that, I'm not even going to buy the game now.
November 8, 2010
Bad move, If this happens....Goodbye CoD and good riddance.
Greedy Activision....Cant make enough money? LMAO
November 8, 2010
if they do that im selling all my cod games fuck that. why should i have to buy the game then pay to play it.
November 8, 2010
F--k, man. If Activision does this, I'll say "Screw your CoD8. I'll stick with Black Ops forever." One of the major reasons I'm a PS3 player is because I'm pretty young, still in school, no time for a job, can't pay for XBL. I'm not going to pay to play anything at this point, not even CoD.
November 8, 2010
I think this is rediculous one of the reasons i enjoy console games is that they are never pay for play, u buy the game (and now with xbox, eboxlive) and ur set. This feels like a grab for more cash and people just getting greedy, soon other games may take their lead and soon were paying for everything. Even wow has there expansion paks they charge for, could they soon release expansions to gain even more money, releasing new guns or perks or whatever and what u dont pay ur outa luck getting owned by something over powered cause u aint feeling like droppin another 30$ for an expansion?
Ur right they better offer some damn good service, and go above and beyond cause right now even if they do something big for my money i dont plan on giving it to them.
Honestly id love to have things in my game corrected like say not being knifed 50 yards away and around a corner with someone rocking comando w/ a care package, but i believe they should correct this shit for free we paid for the game and people are still buying it for months after the release date they should be standing behind there product and it sucks be like we messed up here millions of gamers who are loyal to our brand let me fix that for ya! If you hire a roofing company to fix your roof and it starts to leak, the company isnt gonna say "well its just leaking a little . . . just in this corner here" cause your gonna be like "get the freak over here and fix my roof a$$ holes" that shit dont fly in the real world why do weput up with it in a digital world?
In short, bad idea not happy, would hear em out but whatever they offer they should be givin it to us free . . . . BTW tired of these map packs sucking both my balls and im not able to turn off these shitty maps! Id rather wait for Justin Beiber tweets then play some of the maps that have been released. Peace and love yall, we all gotta be united: this community is for real without people who u playing with? yourself.
November 8, 2010
you greedy fucks if you do this you better be ready for the consequence because know one is going to pay for the game pay again to play online and pay again for map (for xbox player its more money) you are making a bad move you are going to lose money out of it.
November 8, 2010
the only people that will pay for the COD online are the spoiled ratten childeren of the world and grown ups that think there rich
this is a slight exaggeration but you know who will still play COD if this is true
November 8, 2010
While this is pretty unlikely, think about the PC gamers guys.
This better not be true, I'll be disappointed beyond words.
November 8, 2010
lol dosnt activision make enough money? if i speak in truth this will break the damn game so badly it will be retarded. the xbl people will pay over 100 dollars to play online anyways because of buying the game and for xbl and now it will cost even more for them ? poor guys. lucky im a pc player
November 8, 2010
ok... so guys i was thinking to get black ops so should i get? or go straight to medal of honor advice plzzz
November 9, 2010
way that greedy...
im not gone get this game now
its so fucking retarded of activition,and to get me to bye thos game
i want back the dedicated servers free maps and good servis of activition
November 9, 2010
If this does happen i will be selling all of my call of duty games and will never play and call of duty game again. there are over 10 Million people playing call of duty online, they pay for the game which is a hefty amount in general on top of a yearly subscription then we have to pay for DLC too? Activision is taking this way too far, Everyone i have told about this has agreed if this does happen then they will do the same as me sell their games and not play them. Activision will make no profit out of this as they will lose millions of online players. Therefore this is the worst idea i have heard all year.
November 9, 2010
This is so fuckin stupid are you fucking joking me If this happens I will never buy another cod game ever i mean alot of teens have to save money just to buy a fuckin copy and now they are charge for online there are more alternatives to cod so all I gotta say is good fuckin luck activison you just lost like way more than half of your gamers
November 9, 2010
If you do this then you are going to lose customers from ps3 and call of duty and im not gonna buy anymore call of duty and im gonna switch to xbox and just play halo you are making us buy a 60$ game and then pay fifty to play it online thats 110 dollars a year screw that thats not right at all. And i agree with the Unique Hunter
November 9, 2010
ONE THING HOW IS ABOX LIVE GOING LET THEM TAKE THERE MUNNY GREED IS GOING TO FACE GREED LOVE HAVEING AN XBOX360 NOW IF THERE NOT PAYING XBOX THE MAKER THAT IS IN SOME WAY IT NOT GOING DOWN IF YOU HAVE AN XBOX 360 LIKE ME GREED FACES GREED XBOX LIVE ^.^ AH HA HA HA HA WE ARE PAYING FOR IT THE NOW PS3 GUYS YOU ARE NOT WHAT IS SONY GETING OUT OF THIS IF THERE NOT GETING PAYED YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT YOU CANT CHANGE THE WAY THEY RUN THINGs CAN YOU ^.^" this is not a pc game that how there looking at it when it not
November 9, 2010
This is just retarded I agree with all the posts. I will never buy another cod game and will prob get rid of the ones i have. What a greedy move, everyone is getting greedy xbox just jacked the price for a yearly subscription and now this.
November 10, 2010
man seriously i do feel for the xbox gamers, but since microsoft and activision have an exclusivity deal i think that if this were to happen that they should treat it like all the map packs and let the xbox gamers deal with it for a month before us ps3 gamers have to deal with it... lol that would be a total bitch move!!! would be hilarious though!!! and on the same topic, i'm down for melting my copy of black ops, mw2, mw, cod1-2-3 down and building a miniature toilet out of them just for the thought of charging us to play!!! i will be willing to pay for online as long as all, and i mean "ALL" DLC that comes out afterwards is absolutely free of charge!!! i'm not paying $80 for a game, $15 for map packs, and an additional $9.99-$29.99 or whatever they would charge for the online subscriptions!!! thats my 2 cents... i really hope this is just a rumor and not going to really happen!!! add me XxDannZxX on ps3!!!
November 26, 2010
are u shitting me we already have to fucking pay for xbl and now ur gonna make us pay more for online thats fucking whorseshit
December 3, 2010
do they honestly think im gonna pay for a subscription not a chance even if i wanted to i wouldnt have the money im broke enough as it is