Call of Duty: Elite – We give our opinions on the matter
Incase you missed it, Call of Duty MW3 was at E3
So Call of Duty: Elite will have the people talking right up until the beta. Then people will talk some more about the release. But none of it will be about the game. It will be about the premium service against the free service.
XG 24/7 is no stranger to discussing controversy and so, we asked our writers to give a brief outlook on their thoughts about the service. So see what they said below!
Sean Cleaver (Staff Writer):
“Paid for subscriptions services have never really been tried for the console market, with Xbox live and PlayStation Plus being the only exceptions. None however have been tried for a singular game, apart from MMORPG DC Universe . Whilst Activision is right when they say their community is huge and ranges from the casual player to the most hardcore player, they may have made a mistake in judgement on the players.
WoW, EVE, DC Universe and others benefit from the gamer seeing their continued payment towards the games as an investment. You invest your time in a singular game. Something that is a fairly exclusive mindset to the PC market, not the console one. I personally have played the first two and would happily do so for the investment I make in the game. But my back instantly goes up when this becomes a console game. Maybe I just associate the casual nature that consoles have so that I can’t get over my ‘prejudice’ but with so many games, and so many multiplayer options and endless updates and only limited time, why should I pay for something I’m only going to sparingly use? I’m not a CoD man myself, and I will play and complete the games, but even if my beloved Halo (which already has many of the CoDE features) wanted to charge me, I would definitely have to think twice. Maybe I’m too much of a traditionalist…
I personally don't want this to become a successful business model for multiplayer gaming. If one does it, you know they all will, and games cost enough as it is. You can bet that every single publisher is looking at the success of this scheme with envious eyes. CEO's going "Well if they'll pay for their game, surely they'll pay for ours?" It's the way of the world and we've all seen it in every other media field. So purely from a man with an income lower than the voice of the late great Barry White, I'm not going to buy my favourite games just to pay more again. It would work out that I'd have to pay to play the pay to play service on a game that I've paid for. Sorry CoDE. I'm sure the hardcores will love it but it's a step too far for me.”
Richard Newton (Staff Writer):
"From a business standpoint any kind of subscription is good business. From a consumer standpoint subscription can be a completely worthwhile option. Call of Duty Elite's subscription based model will be the first ever seen for a shooter (and for consoles) and with the complete details of Elite still unknown it's still hard to justify it - yet. However once betas have been handed out, and wallets have been made lighter, the questions and comparisons will start. Mainly "Am I getting value for my money?" "Are there similar, cheaper, alternatives?" "How is this a good investment for me, a teenager with no disposable income/student with mounting debts/adult with little free time?"
All of these can only really be answered after several weeks (maybe months) getting under the hood of Elite and it's offerings. However, gamers will naturally be drawn to make comparisons of other products, which offer similar content or demand subscriptions. World of Warcraft has a user-base of over 11 million, each forking out around a tenner a month to play the MMORPG. The game, quite literally, never ends. WoW is regularly updated with new quests, level caps and content; content that gamers will grind away weeks to get. WoW probably has one of the best "pounds paid to minutes played" ratios out there. Seconded only by a couple of games from Valve. However, I'd like to exclude Counter Strike from the comparison, the (once) free mod (still played today) has received little in terms of maps and content. What I really want to talk about is Team Fortress 2. TF2 has only asked you to open your bank balance once, at the purchase of the game. Since it's release it has received over 200 free updates: hats, map packs, hats, weapons, hats and game modes. Not to mention comics, video shorts and cross game promotions. The inclusion of an in-game store last year means players can chose to part with more cash (if they want) for in-game products such as hats and weapons - but all new maps and game modes are free for all, and all weapons AND hats can be found for free if you play long enough. Stats are also commonly used in the Left 4 Dead games. What's your success ratio? Favourite weapon? Favourite map? How many pills have you downed? All for the lovely price of free.
So Activision have got to go further and beyond the free offerings of maps and stats Valve gives it's customers, and regular updates with a never ending game mode with support that Blizzard offers it's WoW gamers. With Blizzard sharing the bed with Activision, forming Activision Blizzard, Activision probably have the best partner for advice and support for Call of Duty Elite. My personal opinion is not made up yet. I need to play it, see it, "get" it before I can say anything about Call of Duty Elite. At the moment, so long as the gamers are getting continual content, support, information and game time, it may not be too bad an offering. However, the gamers of WoW and TF2 are keeping a close eye on Call of Duty Elite, ready to let Activision know when they feel they're not getting their money's worth."
Sam Clay (EIC):
No Comment (Sit on the fence why don’t you, Sam. Go back to your Minecraft!)
Dave West (News Editor):
"I consider myself to be a "hardcore" Call Of Duty player. I often play for multiple hours a day, playing across various game-modes, using a range of weapons (rather than just the FAMAS!), I maintain what I think is a respectable K/D Ratio of 2.07 and am always looking to improve every facet of my game, from weapons usage to tactics to load-out choices to map knowledge. Therefore, I will be purchasing Call Of Duty: Elite when it's released later this year. While I will admit that the idea statistics being part of the service is a little bit confusing as most of it available already through the Playercard function, I find myself very interested in both the "Improve" and "Compete" aspects of the new service. I like the idea that Infinity Ward staff and pro players will be producing videos as to how best to use the various weapons and items and as for the proposed leagues: "I can play the amount I do now and possibly win games, iPads and cars? Yes please!".
Analysts seem to be suggesting that the monthly subscription element will likely cost between £3 and £5 per month and, while this may seem a little steep to some, at the top-end that's only £60 per year or £36 at the bottom of the scale and if you buy all three map-packs separately then you'd have been looking at round £30 anyway. With Elite, I'll get all the DLC included as well as the Improve and Compete functions for potentially only £6 more over an entire year! I spend more on chewing gum!
Of course, I'm not blind and understand people not being happy about Activision finding more ways to monetise the Call Of Duty brand and extract as much cash as possible from people who have already paid £45 for the base game but bear in mind that parts of Elite will be free anyway and you will still have the full multiplayer experience for your initial outlay. You'll only need to pay for the extra stuff which, at the end of the day, will have a cost attached to it for the company. I think Activision need to handle this very carefully but, if it's done right, I see no reason why it can't really take off and get a great membership from the core Call Of Duty crowd.”
Alex Johnson (Features Editor):
"As a gamer who doesn't enjoy Call of Duty's multiplayer I'm more confused than anything. What is this findmuckerry? Some people are up in arms about paying for online, but they need to shut up and learn to read, paying for extra features is acceptable as long as there isn't a "pay to win" system and as long as staple features aren't being held back from those who aren't CoDE users then I say Activision should be allowed to fill their boots. What's the harm in offering some cool features to those who want to pay for them?
It's interesting that you can access it on basically any platform, and if I was a CoD player then I'd be pretty excited. I spend far too much time on trains without anything to do, if I could spend an hour or so looking at maps for tactics, watching videos to learn, reading up on guns, checking out my stats or seeing what my friends have been up to I'd bloody love it! Not only that, with being able to compete for "actual stuff" in leagues and whatnot, having access to your clan in the palm of your hand would be brilliant to sort out training or whatever before the big day!
Overall I don't see why people think it's a bad thing, if you don't like the content then don't pay for it, if you don't like the idea of having to pay for it then suck it up, you paid for your game now pay if you want the things that cost money to keep running."
What are your thoughts? We would be interested to know what you guys think! Type away and submit a comment below...
