Consumers accustomed to shelling out dollars to rent or purchase videogames that run on consoles like the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will not be please by what is likely to be an extra surcharge for online gaming, beyond what Xbox and Sony already charge for online access. Activision Blizzard, Inc., the publisher behind the industry’s biggest videogame franchise Call of Duty plans to charge a monthly access fee as well.
Activision plans to launch an online service called Call of Duty Elite this fall that will work with the next major edition of the game, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” and future installments of the hyper-realistic combat-simulation game. In a move industry executives describe as a first, Activision plans to charge a monthly subscription fee for the service, which will provide extra content that isn’t offered on game discs sold in stores, including downloadable map packs that give players new “Call of Duty” levels to play.
Activision executives said they haven’t yet figured out how much to charge for the service, but 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. Portions of the service will be free, including features inspired by Facebook Inc. that will let “Call of Duty” players meet for online gun battles with others who share various affiliations and interests.
Another feature of the service will give “Call of Duty” players tools, modeled on those from stock-trading websites, to analyze their performance within the game, gauging factors such as which weapons have been most successful for them in killing enemies.
Activision’s move would compel gamers to play online for a fee that is in addition to the monthly/annual Xbox Live charges or the undetermined fee Sony Online Entertainment plans to implement in the future.