There was something of a watershed moment this week which I'm sure any fan of FPS's would have leapt right onto in righteous indignation.


Activision (The pin up of a generation of 12 year old mouthy brats) announced that from fall this year they would be introducing a premium service for their Call of Duty franchise. Upon announcing this the internet cracked under the strain of horrified COD fans everywhere who moaned about how Activision was cashing in, was going to ruin COD (Is that even possible?), how it was going to lead to a full 'pay to play' service, of how COD was going to bankrupt poor kids everywhere and introduce a two tier system. I'm pretty sure that Activision even got blamed for killing Princess Diane at one point such was the hate spewing forth from keyboards the world over.


So after reading the press release and looking at a few sites that have actually had a chance to review an early preview of Modern Warfare 3 and how this new system COD Elite will integrate with it I thought I'd add my piece.


Firstly this isn't a 'pay to play' subscription service by any stretch of the imagination... yet. What it is is the option of getting all DLC 'free' (If free means paying a monthly fee for it), potentially before other users as well as being offered additional perks and opportunities to take part in a massive variety of online competitions with real cash prizes. Early indications are that it will work well with the franchise and a beta is due to kick off this summer which will link in with COD BLOPS.


So why is this part of my weekly whine?


A few reasons.


Whilst this is in no possible way a pay to play system at the moment, what Activision have done is put the first flag down for subscription online, if and this is a big if, people are willing to pay for it. And you can bet that EA and all of the other big games publishers will be looking at how much uptake Activision receive come Autumn for Elite. Because if there is one thing Activision cannot be disputed on it is there knack of being able to wring cold hard cash from the gaming community. The COD franchise has been the biggest seller every year for the last 3 years, I see no reason for that to change come Autumn. But what other publishers will be interested in is the numbers for Elite. And sure you'll get plenty of people who will convince their parents/partners or themselves that paying the undisclosed fee (Reported to be cheaper then any other current subscription service available at the moment) that this is a good deal. But what of everyone else who refuses?


Will the COD community become a two tier system? Will Elite players have an unfair advantage with perks and access to maps earlier then non payers? Will it actually pay to pay for the service? So many questions as yet unanswered. But what you can be sure of is this. If Elite is a success then expert everyone else to jump on the bandwagon. And this is the crux of it.


It is down to us as a gaming community to do one of two things this Autumn. We can all either accept that gaming has become such a big business now that we are all going to have to pay through the nose for the pleasure of taking part in our hobby OR we can all make a stand and refuse to pay for a service when we have already paid for the package in our trays.


There are going to be advantages and disadvantages to both these choices.


If we choose to pay for the service then you can bet that the next step will be to make a paid to pay service (Expect to see this in the next 18 months) and expect everyone else to join in to. Expect to see even more penalties for buying second hand games as well. And considering the recent exposure of Sony to the hacking community, do we all really want to be giving another company our personal details and credit card info?


Or look on the brightside, this could mean cheaper/free DLC for premium payers, it could mean actual prizes for playing (Maybe encouraging the whole gaming as a sport community), it could lead (Unlikely I know) to cheaper off the shelf games at release. Afterall why would a games publisher charge £50/$70 for a game when they know they are going to recoup that plus much more on a new release through subscriptions? It could lead to more stable online environments, with some publishers deciding to introduce dedicated servers who maybe wouldn't have considered it before because of the cost involved.


Either way what was announced this week is one of those situations that comes along every few years which changes how our hobby evolves. The question is, are you going to put your money where your mouth is?

As a non-COD player, this doesn't affect me at all.

Yet.

Depending on what goes down, I can see several franchises going this way. Hell, even Rockstar are looking into it, with their Rockstar Pass, which is essentially pre-ordering DLC before it hits. While ever so slightly different, the basics are the same. Pay for early, cheap access to shit.

And you're right. It will create a two-tier system. Elite Members, and MW players. One set are mindless zombies looking for their next fix, and the other have stuck with playing the best game in the series. This is how it will always be. Latest COD owners, and MW players.

One thing I do want to say though...



Because they can, they will, and people will still suck that shit up. Its why WOW and all its expansions aren't free.

That's the thing though, this isn't just about Activision now, because in 6 months time if they have sold a shed load of Elite passes then it will open the floodgates to everyone else.

You just know EA have had this exact idea sat on the shelf for Madden and Fifa and Battlefield for probably the same amount of time as Activision have. The only difference is that Activision know they have the market leading FPS so can afford to take a few risks. If it doesn't work it doesn't work, they ditch it and continue to hold 'most popular game on the market TM'

For EA and everyone else, its going to be a case of biding their time and seeing what happens.

I agree with your point about price though, I think I was being far to generous to the games publishers by saying it could lead to cheaper off the shelf products, we all know it won't but it would be nice to think that it might cause them to have second thoughts on charging silly money.

I liked it better when I wasn't being taxed out of the ass to play fucking videogames. This is probably why I've retreated into single player games for the moment