I'd guess that nothing's settled yet, but this article at ArsTechnica confirms that Activision has a subscription model in the works for a future version of Call of Duty:
Activision pointed out that Modern Warfare 2 was the third game in its stable to crack the $1 billion mark in sales, but everyone on the [earnings] call also seemed to realize that lightning may not strike twice... at least not in these numbers. We know that the series will continue to be released on a yearly basis, but Bobby Kotick also dropped a bomb near the end of the call.
'If you think about the success we've had in other product categories on subscription, you can get a sense of the direction that we want to take that franchise,' he said, answering a question near the end of the call.
IWnet isn't just a form of DRM. It's the first step in bringing the MMO uber-monetization model to the online FPS.
Hopefully people will realize that the subscriptions are only truly justified if the game is having constant fixes, updates, and one hell of a lot of playability. Simply being able to play 10 to 12 maps over and over again is no where near enough to justifiy subscription.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Infinity Ward will promise all kinds of shit, like this: "The biggest benefit of using IWnet by far is the fact that you don't have to worry about joining a server full of aim-bots, wallhacks, or cheaters[.]"
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that they didn't do is have any kind of demo. So, they want us to buy the game, then buy a subscription without any form of trial or demo. I am not talking about a single player demo either it would have to be done like world of warcraft where your abilities are not limited very much at all to get the full experience. I think this is a terrible idea personally. I also wonder if there are any games for the PS3 that even use a subscription or are they talking only for the PC?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there would be a subscription fee across all platforms.
ReplyDelete