Modern Warfare 2 Subscription Model
Activision is considering creating a premium online service for Modern Warfare 2.Published 18/06/2009 at 8:00 by nofi
MW2 UK’s Second Best Seller [43]
Modern Warfare 2 DLC Priced [60]
Modern Warfare 2 DLC Detailed [28]
Buying the game itself soon won’t be enough, if Activision’s premium subscription model service comes to fruition. Destructoid have gotten hold of a questionnaire, presumably part of some market research by Activision, asking whether gamers would be prepared to pay out for extra features and early access to new maps. The premium service, which could either be bundled with a special edition version of the next Call of Duty title, or be a pay-per-month option, would allow users access to “gameplay enhancements” and “early access to in-game content like maps”.
It’s worth mentioning that such a questionnaire has been seen before and is purely testing the waters, if everyone replied with a “no” then hopefully Activision won’t follow through with this idea, which in my mind is a very slipperly slope. Games cost enough, I don’t want to have to pay £50 for Modern Warfare 2 and then pay £5 a month just to get some new maps a bit earlier. Activision’s questionnaire suggests the subscribers could get custom rewards like different shields and attributes – fair enough – but paying for earlier access to stuff that everyone else would get for free a bit later is a model we don’t want to see.
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
toutski | 18/06/2009 08:05
Legend
4165 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
For the 360 users… would this be on top of Live as well?
nofi | 18/06/2009 08:59
Wants a custom tag.
4309 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Presume so.
Vandix | 18/06/2009 08:07
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1199 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
If it would give you the DLC and Map packs for free, which all non-subscribers would have to buy, I’d be willing to subscribe to it, but only if the monthly fee would be something like €2,00
Paranoimia | 18/06/2009 15:21
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482 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
But then surely the DLC would not be ‘free’?
I’d rather pay a one-off payment for something I do want, rather than a regular payment for stuff that I don’t want.
Averna | 18/06/2009 23:13
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335 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
They would also have to release a hell of a lot more content for this thing to actually be worth it, look at MW1. One map pack during its lifetime. If I were subscribed, I would also be really really pissed.
BrendanCalls | 18/06/2009 08:16
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc - YOHIMBÉ!!!
1420 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
I possibly wouldn’t mind paying and extra £5-£10 upfront for a special edition, but will never subscribe to a monthly fee based system, What a rip that would be.
I have a funny feeling that this will be the way the games industry goes in the future, maybe 5 or so years away. There will always have to be a free element of online play but I honestly believe eventually every console and every game will be charging for you to massacre your friends online in an FPS,
Lorcan | 18/06/2009 08:21
Team TSA: Writer
1248 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Oh god. No way.
I’m dreading the day that console games take the PC route with subscription payments. Pay to play is the worst.
Praying this doesn’t happen, but after the success of CoD4’s online, I can see people paying.
randomuser | 18/06/2009 09:45
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78 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
I disagree, if anything PC gaming is going the way of the consoles with pay to play (mmorpg’s aside). Multiplayer in PC gaming has always been free up until recently with the advent of DLC and charging for maps and a couple of new skins or whatever nonsense publishers think gamers are willing to pay for.
Subscription payments for a FPS?. What and how much content could they possibly give the gamer to justify taking our money on a monthly basis. CoD4 was one of the best selling games of all time… and still sells well to this date. It’s just the publishers being greedy nothing more coming up with more new and inventive ways to extract cash from the public.
CJay | 18/06/2009 08:22
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182 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
I certainly hope they don’t introduce a subscription system for this game.
I was really looking forward to this, and I would quite happily pay an extra £5 – £15 for a special collectors edition, but not a monthly sub.
That’s what MMO’s are for, and I already pay for one of those.
BryOnRye | 18/06/2009 08:23
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817 TSA Points | Member since: Jan 2009
If something like this did come through, how long before they start charging to play online? Works for WoW.
pOOpInFlames | 18/06/2009 08:34
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851 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
I’m not happy about paying a monthly fee,the fact that you dont have to do that on the PS3 is one of the reasons why I love it.
I hope this doesnt go live…
gnipper | 18/06/2009 08:35
Member
709 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
oh dear. I mean I guess it was inevitable really. But what really gets my goat is that they want £50 for the game. £50!? I know most games retail at £49.99 but most shops have em in stock for <£40 but you’ll be hard pressed to find this cheaper than £45 from most places.
I for one ask everyone to join me in Boycotting buying this!…..
*tumbleweed*
Ah well, back to work then.
rubbishmonkey | 18/06/2009 11:03
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77 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Everywhere I have looked it has a RRP of £54.99 I’m guessing this just because its going to sell a shitload.
Most games I have purchased in the past have retailed at £44.99 or £39.99
Severn2j | 18/06/2009 12:00
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1553 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
I wont pay more than £30-£35 for any game, even if it means waiting a bit longer for it.. I was looking around town yesterday for a copy of InFamous, but the cheapest was Asda at £37.99 (most others were £42.99). I’ve seen it online for under £30, so Ill get that instead. Charging upto £50 for a game, is just corporate greed and I wont play along, just like I wont pay for DLC that should have been in the game in the first place (i.e. anything available within a week or so of the games release).
If enough people dont buy it, then they wont sell it..
haz360 | 18/06/2009 08:54
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424 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Like others have said, I wouldn’t mind paying an extra £10 for a special edition version of the game, but a monthly subsription would be a no.
fid | 18/06/2009 08:55
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207 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
Monthly subscription = VERY SLIPPERY SLOPE!
gaffers101 | 18/06/2009 09:02
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302 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
I’m not really bothered about paying extra for limited edition versions of games, but I would be prepared to pay for a better online service. I stopped playing World at War because of the problems I was having online.
Why don’t Sony offer a free standard service and a pay monthly premium service for a faster, more reliable connection service. That way we have the choice!!??
cc_star | 18/06/2009 09:28
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7878 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
I’ve never had a problem with my PSN connection and can never understand why people think there is a superior connection out there. I think i’ve tried to get on the psn once in over 2 years whilst it’s been down for maintainence not bad for free and I’ll certainly never pay for just access.
this isn’t about paying for a network service though it’s about paying activision for access to online elements of this particular game.
Watchful | 18/06/2009 09:44
Team TSA: Writer
2084 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Likewise. Never had a problem getting onto PSN that wasn’t due to it being down for maintenance or a problem with my ISP. For me it has been at least as reliable as Xbox Live which I pay £40/year for.
DarthSharkey | 18/06/2009 09:03
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1044 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
It’s enevitable that something like this will happen but it would have to be something truly special to tempt me.
hannes_truce | 18/06/2009 09:19
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2919 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
I dont like this idea one bit.
Br0ken | 18/06/2009 09:22
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78 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
Terrible Idea, glad its just a survey.
Watchful | 18/06/2009 09:24
Team TSA: Writer
2084 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Haven’t Halo and Gears on the 360 done just that. You could choose to pay for new maps now or wait three months and get them for free. So it’s not a new thing and maybe Activision are looking to get their piece of the action. Can’t blame them if it worked for Bungie and Epic. And it’s not that different to DLC falling in price over time anyway. I don’t like to see games fragment their online player base with premium DLC but it is a necessary evil as you cannot expect devs and publishers to keep producing content for free.
randomuser | 18/06/2009 09:53
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78 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
thats bull****. It’s called ’supporting the game’ when they give maps and skins out for free. People that made the games before actually used to care about their fanbase. Not the case anymore nowadays it seems it’s just about getting rich.
Watchful | 18/06/2009 10:29
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2084 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
And what exactly do you expect to pay the devs salaries while they’re “supporting the game” and giving you stuff for free? DLC’s a new concept to consoles anyway. The vast majority of PS2 were never online so they never had any DLC. You imply that those devs didn’t care about their fanbase.