Halororor Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 It appears Activision Blizzard is considering a potentially controversial new way to generate revenue. During yesterday's quarterly conference call, CEO Bobby Kotick hinted that the Call of Duty franchise will head the way of World of Warcraft and become subscription-based. Activision Blizzard acts as the publisher of the Call of Duty games developed alternately by Infinity Ward and Treyarch. Though the franchise's latest installment, Modern Warfare 2, was the best-selling videogame of 2009 and generated more than $1 billion in revenue according to the NPD Group, Activision Blizzard still reported a $286 million loss in its fiscal fourth quarter. The loss was due, in large part, to the bottom falling out of the Guitar Hero franchise. Conversely, Blizzard's World of Warcraft franchise continues to be a cash cow for Activision, raking in $15 subscription fees from a reported 11.5 million people every month. It costs how much for a tactical nuke? Put the pieces together and you can understand the company's thinking: a financial loss, an enormously popular franchise, and a proven subscription model that generates a river of revenue. Kotick described the future of Call of Duty this way: If you think about the success that we've had in other product categories on subscription, you can get a sense of the direction that we want to take that franchise. World of Call of Duty? Subscription fees on the game's online multiplayer? Kotick had nothing else to say on the matter, though the company did confirm that the next installment in the series is due out late this year. Hotsauce Wow. I really didn't see this one coming. /sarcasm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CommanderCrazy Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 As long as its not subscription for SP, im fine with it.If it does, they are on the highway to losing even more money, solely for the fact that there is already a great multiplayer experience with the Spec Ops mode in MW2, so people probably wont continue buying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTerminator2004 Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 This is, of course, assuming Infinity Ward make a new Call of Duty game. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/03/02...-infinity-ward/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Illiad86 Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 The loss was due, in large part, to the bottom falling out of the Guitar Hero franchise. bua hahahah!! I was right lol...I knew it :P They milked it too much and killed it and lost money in the process...ahh I'm a very very happy person right now lol. But, this is stupid....ffs they make, supposedly if really 11.5 million players play WoW, $172.5 MILLION a month! They have enough god damn money...sorry for the language but this is making me sick... there are rumours spreading about that they are going to start charging monthly for Battle.net as well...they probably don't realise how much money and fans they will lose if they do that. I won't be getting Starcraft II or Diablo III if it happens... Blizzard has gotten incredibly greedy...even more so with Activision being a part of them. With how all the video game companies are acting with their anti-piracy and money laundering, I won't be buying a game for a long long time. I miss the good old days when games were actually challenging, well made, and ONLY cost $50-60.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vagrant0 Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 there are rumours spreading about that they are going to start charging monthly for Battle.net as well...they probably don't realise how much money and fans they will lose if they do that. I won't be getting Starcraft II or Diablo III if it happens...Word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skotte Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 there are rumours spreading about that they are going to start charging monthly for Battle.net as well...they probably don't realise how much money and fans they will lose if they do that. I won't be getting Starcraft II or Diablo III if it happens...Word. Agreed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vagrant0 Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 there are rumours spreading about that they are going to start charging monthly for Battle.net as well...they probably don't realise how much money and fans they will lose if they do that. I won't be getting Starcraft II or Diablo III if it happens...Word. AgreedYep, it's bad enough that we're essentially just buying permission to play the game by means of DRM and online activation requirements. To toss in a monthly fee on top of that is just adding insult to injury and essentially turning it into almost a rental agreement than a software purchase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Illiad86 Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Exactly how I feel...so sad..ah well guess I'll be playing Oblivion forever :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilneko Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 I'm thinking the subscription will only be for the online multiplayer. Online multiplayer's the biggest draw for this series, right? Well, what better way to curtail piracy than slap a subscription gateway on the multiplayer?* Sure sure the pirates'll still get to play single player, but if multiplayer's the main attraction, requiring a subscription may just be a cunning plan to ensure that even pirates buy the thing. Heck, maybe even let 'em have a little taste of it without the subscription. I think it'd work. * - after all, you don't hear about people playing MMOs for very long without a subscription. WoW's been out how long now, and doesn't seem to have a problem with freeloaders... sure, you can share the software all you want as it has absolutely zero copy protection, but you need a key to create an account and some way of paying for the account. Heck, even if you did get a key by less-legal means, Blizz still wins in the end when you pay for the subscription. It's super easy to see why subscription models are attractive. The only time they lose is if someone both manages to fake a key, AND pays with stolen credit cards, which the vast majority of pirates simply cannot do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTerminator2004 Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Its easy enough to stop unauthorised copies of the game connecting without a valid serial, without making people pay extra. Just check for a valid cd key before letting the game connect to the server; its only possible to crack local content, not online stuff. Nope, the only purpose of having a monthly subscription fee would be to try and suck as much profit out of the franchise as possible before it finally collapses. Which, the way Activision have been treating it, can't be long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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