It’s usually not too uncommon for gamers or analysts to take slight pot shots at Activision and the way it conducts its business side of things, but it’s odd to watch another major publisher do it as well. With the recent talks of Activision moving to an online subscription model for its Call of Duty franchise, the publisher has been under constant attack from gamers who enjoy the series.
Today, Ubisoft’s CEO Yves Guillemot states that Activision has already been charging for its online play, just in a different way.
“I’d say that CoD is already charging customers for its [online] service, as Activision are already launching DLC regularly,” he said, “customers are already buying content.”
While it’s hard to disagree with his logic, it’s also hard to take it as a subscription service already being implemented. After all, most, if not all, titles that have some strong emphasis on its online component offers a decent downloadable piece here or there. Does that mean games like Uncharted 2 already charge for its online usage then?
Regardless, I think it says a lot when the CEO of a major publisher comes out to make a statement about your business strategy in the first place. I wonder if Bobby K. will come firing back.
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Sometimes I miss the no DLC/no online days of consoles.
~d
in the old days if there was a glitch to be fixed, or some content to be in the game, you were getting it on day 1 with youre original purchase
now they just make a glitch infested 1 half of a game, sell the other half online, and fix(or should i say “beta test”) the game 6 months later with a bunch of bulsh** patches
I think everyone’s missing the more obvious point.
If you take the RRP as a guide, Modern Warfare 2 was, and Black Ops will be, £10 dearer than all other games.
Even if you get it cheap at a supermarket, Activision still get their increased cut.
That’s your online fee right there.