Pay-to-Play Call of Duty, Would You Do it?

As the anticipation of Call of Duty: Black Ops nears closer, dropping to a store near you on November 9th, the idea of paying for multiplayer online has been brought back up to the front burner. The idea of having to fork over $60 for a game is really mind boggling, but it’s easier to swallow than paying for the game AND paying to play online. Crazy idea? Not really. According to industry analyst Michael Pachter, he is suggesting that Activision do what we gamers hope doesn’t come to pass, playing Black Ops but having to pay-to-play multiplayer online.

It has been reported that the Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst is lobbying Activision to start this service beginning with the highly anticipated Black Ops game. Michael Pachter said, “We think that it is incumbent upon Activision – with the most popular multiplayer game – to take the first step to address monetisation of multiplayer. It is too early to tell whether that will be a monthly subscription, tournament entry fees, micro-transaction fees, or a combination of all three, but we expect to see the company take some action by year-end, when Call of Duty: Black Ops releases.”

This is probably coming from the greedy idea of Activision chief Bobby Kotick who has said just last month that, “I would have Call of Duty be an online subscription service tomorrow. When you think about what the audience's interests are and how you could really satisfy bigger audiences with more inspired, creative opportunities, I would love to see us have an online Call of Duty world. I think our players would just have so much of a more compelling experience.”

Seriously? I can’t believe that after a very lucrative year for Activision, Mr. Bobby Kotick would even suggest such an asinine idea. Modern Warfare 2 has already sold over 20 million copies since release, not to mention the Call of Duty franchise has earned them $3 billion. Additionally, the Stimulus Package broke Playstation Networks and Xbox Live records from so many people ordering the download content, even when the price was jacked up at 1200 Microsoft points. After all of this, the idea of pay-to-play still exists. If Activision wants to start an massive multiplay online game and charge for that is one thing, but continuing the regular console games and then charging extra for online play is ludicrous.

Although, I guess I answered my own question. It’s simple, really; the answer is greed. It comes down to the all mighty dollar and even though most people will pay, this gamer has bought his last COD game and refuses to give in to these corporate money hungry thugs.

Sources: Pay-to-Play Story | Activision Boss Bobby Kotick Story | MW2 Sales - MCVUK Story