Call of Duty Franchise to Add Subscription Service

Just hours before an agreed upon embargo is lifted, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Activision’s new Beachhead studios will be revealing the long rumored Call of Duty subscription service. Dubbed Call of Duty: Elite, the service will work alongside this fall’s Modern Warfare 3 and will be included in all future installments of the franchise.

While there is no word of a price point in the article, Activision executives speaking with the Wall Street Journal said that, “they expect the cost to be less than fees for comparable online-entertainment services, such as a 7.99-a-month Netflix Inc. movie subscription.” Important to note is that this is not a pay wall. Neither the game’s multiplayer mode or Call of Duty: Elite itself will cost players a monthly fee. Instead, portions of Elite will be free and additional content will be offered to subscribers.

Some time after the Wall Street Journal article went live a video of what appears to be the official Call of Duty: Elite trailer was leaked. In addition to confirming that the Call of Duty: Black Ops will also be receiving the Elite treatment, the trailer details the services that will be offered to subscribers. Elite will allow users to form Facebook-like groups with other users, track personal game statistics, and receive detailed analyses of your match performance. Interestingly, the trailer also reveals that the service will offer leagues and tournaments that will reward players with “real prizes.”

You can expect to hear much more about the Activision’s new service bright and early at 9:00AM EST. Personally, I’m interested to see just how Call of Duty: Elite will differentiate itself from certain other FPS giant’s similar offerings.

Source – WSJ