Activision boss Bobby Kotick is keen on grabbing more cash from Microsoft's Xbox Live Gold subscription revenues - because he claims Call Of Duty is a major reason people sign up to the service.
According to Kotick, Activision enjoys but a "very modest amount of [Microsoft's] subscription fees" but wants more - which he pledges would go to "directly benefiting the Call of Duty players".
According to Activision estimates, Call of Duty games account for around half of the globe's total Xbox Live traffic.
When asked directly if an Activision-run subscription service for Call Of Duty may be in the offing, Kotiq was less candid.
"We have an obligation to provide a return for our shareholders," he said, in what Joystiq describes as 'playing the dependable role of businessman'.
"At the same time, I think we've probably done more to try and create innovative ways for people to pay for their games."
Activision will struggle to put in place such a subscription service on Xbox Live, which has been described as a "walled garden" by many industry execs, due to its 'closed' nature to third-party revenue generation.
What's clear, though is that Activision feels it should be earning more from the popularity of CoD Online.
In September, the firm's COO Thomas Tippl stated that some kind of premium online CoD service was "in the pipeline", whilst Kotick himself has admitted that he'd implement a subscription service "tomorrow" if he could.
Comments
42 comments so far...
Laughlyn on 13 Nov '10 said:
wasnt there a story bout activison not having a big ego?
then they come out and say their game is propping up xbox live, not egotistical at all that bobby ma boy
MattyR95 on 13 Nov '10 said:
Why would microsoft do that? It's not like activision would just stop putting cod on 360.
bazzatuk on 13 Nov '10 said:
I say let them put a subscription on the game. That way people are just going to play something else.
HHUK on 13 Nov '10 said:
Let them try it, watch as their online userbase shrinks and games are traded in once singleplayer is completed.
It's the only way they'll learn.
laminated0 on 13 Nov '10 said:
LOL @ this, so people play your game online on Microsofts console, so they buy a console and play online with the subscription they purchased, most probably not for this game but for all games they buy and you think you deserve money from microsoft for providing a system and a service from which your game can gain popularity and attract more buyers of your game? LMAO
Fr33Kye on 13 Nov '10 said:
Good point.
Great point. Microsoft has no incentive to allow something like that.
Although kotick is probably right that there are a lot of people that only use live for CoD. That also might be why silver doesn't have multiplayer, very few would buy gold if all they do is play multiplayer.
tmulford on 13 Nov '10 said:
Actually they could or release it on the 360 without the multi-player component. I'm sure SONY would very quickly find a way of making sure that Activision didn't lose out financially if they thought they would do it.
MattyR95 on 13 Nov '10 said:
@tmulford Yeah, good point. It would be a massive benefit to sony.
groble on 13 Nov '10 said:
I can't help but LoL when I see the black ops multiplayer lobby proudly telling me that multiplayer is free with a purchase of black ops. Too f**king right it's free otherwise I've payed £50 for an above average single player game.
The only problem with activision getting a slice of the xbl sub fees is that they would then have to do things like provide their map packs FOR FREE. Something which I doubt they'd want to do considering the stupid amounts of money they made off them. And besides map packs what other post release content have they ever provided?
ukdruid on 13 Nov '10 said:
I find highly unlikely sony could make up the difference that the 360 brings in for CoDs revenue just so they could have CoD exclusively on the PS3, and lets face it not many people buy CoD games for their SP anymore, so saying they could just release the SP portion of CoD on 360 would fail misserably, bobby can talk crap all he wants but hes not getting more money off MS or Sony and he has nothing to offer in return for more money.
You know alot of people bad mouth MS for making xboxlive so closed off but as we can see clearly from arcticle it stops greedy little fuc*ers like kotick from trying to squeeze even more money off us.
kimoak on 13 Nov '10 said:
Release your own console then Activision if you want to do something like that. Take the risk that MS made with the XBox. A console release is waaaaaaaaay more risky that a game release. Hey, you could try a subscription service with the PC market couldn't you? Erm... Not such a good idea.
SkyBlueJukeBox on 13 Nov '10 said:
"we'd like to see the subscription fees going towards the provision of a higher level of customer service to see some portion of the subscription fees go towards game enhancement" = give us more money so that we don't have to charge for map packs! Activision are about as subtle as Black Ops is original!
Fr33Kye on 13 Nov '10 said:
I could see them releasing a CoD console. They did say consoles are in the way or something. Releasing a CoD console, and a console solely for guitar hero games lol.
thedriffter50 on 13 Nov '10 said:
Acti and M$
A match made in hell. The games industry would be better without them full stop.
MattyR95 on 13 Nov '10 said:
@thedriffter50
Yup
lwill on 13 Nov '10 said:
Why does Bobby Kotick feel the need to endless talk?
It's all rather self indulgent, immodest and far too self important.
And whilst I realise I don't have to read these articles, I don't believe CVG should give him the satisfaction of posting irrelevant news every time the guy opens his mouth. It's feeding the ego.
pRM8 on 13 Nov '10 said:
So not only do you want us to buy your overpriced games and DLC year upon year, you want an even larger slice of the current subscriptions made from the people who play these games online.
In other words, more money for you, same crap for us.
Paranoimia on 13 Nov '10 said:
"We have an obligation to provide a return for our shareholders"
Yeah, sure - everyone's in it to make money. Fair enough.
But as a game company - in fact, as any company - shouldn't your first priority/obligation be to your customers?
Mind you, given the way the sheep keep flooding to buy CoD games regardless of what Kotick/Activision do or say, they probably don't have to worry about that at the moment.
metallicorphan on 13 Nov '10 said:
actually Bobby...i signed up for XBL because of Star Wars Battlefront...and i haven't been overjoyed with Call of Duty since Call of Duty 2
kirankara on 13 Nov '10 said:
lol cant wait to see who wins this battle, Activision (who own possibly biggest franchise in world) or Microsoft(who want to keep their profits for live, and personally I cant really blame them, but what would happen if they forced COD to a ps3 exclusive?)
Will Microsoft put up live charges to compensate or will they allow Activision to charge separately and open up floodgates to other companies throwing their toys out their prams?
Personally, hope they tell Activision to jog on, and then Sony tell them same, and watch them get taken down peg or two. Cod black ops is awful game, and ps3 port is woefully bad despite most firms heading closer to parity in ports, and I took my copy back and got bad company 2 instead, much better game imo.
Activison can shove their COD charges up their backside
freds1 on 13 Nov '10 said:
Fixed.
altitude2k on 13 Nov '10 said:
People paid for XBL a long time before CoD. I think it's good of MS to give them ANYTHING AT ALL, to be honest.
Seriously, who the f**k does this guy think he is?!
KMakawa on 13 Nov '10 said:
Activision should be thankful that Microsoft have already grasped the Call of Duty franchise with warmth, Not only do they send a huge chunk of cash to Activision for DLC Exclusivity but also they hold events for Activision's COD Launch partys that surely cost a bomb also.
Black Ops' UK Launch Party was hosted and launched by Microsoft/Xbox Live, and if Microsoft wasnt interested -- I highly doubt Sony would of coughed up dough to run such an event, call in operators etc etc.
I highly doubt Microsoft will give any more of a percentage of Gold subscription profits to Activision, if Activision wants more dough then it just prooves the spirit and nature of the company even further.
They can also create a subscription system within their own game, and finally lay the franchise that has drifted away from its true meaning, finally to rest.
Grapple on 13 Nov '10 said:
Meaning "yes there will be a subscription for COD". As for getting sheckles out of MS, I think he's swinging his dick in the breeze but he's a CEO, always looking for revenue
altitude2k on 13 Nov '10 said:
I'm really glad I don't like CoD. They can charge whatever they like - I ain't paying. "Duty to shareholders" my arse - as opposed to every other publisher, eh, Bobby?
laminated0 on 13 Nov '10 said:
Porblem with making it PS3 exclusive is sonys online is free, which means Sony wouldnt gain much from it becoming exclusive meaning activision couldnt get as much money as with microsoft, on the other side microsoft dont owe activision anything, I also hope MS tell activisionm to shut their mouth and go and try and try and rip off some more customers so Bobby kotick can make more money and keep bringing out the same game over and over.
BenThomasFoster on 13 Nov '10 said:
K- Kill the chunt
O- Oh what a d**khead he is
T- Tear off his balls
I- Ignite those balls
C- Cut his arse as wide as his mouth
K- kick the crap out of him.
Wait if i keep putting these messages on these here forums i'm probably going to get the police around :S
Dentrassi on 14 Nov '10 said:
COD will lose its popularity at some point, just like it wasn't always the Behemoth it is today. Was COD 2 on 360 the reason people bought GOLD? No they buy it because that is the only way they can play the damn games online. What about the people on PS3, Wii and PC who pay nothing to play COD games? How is Kotick gonna get that non-money?
Yellow6 on 14 Nov '10 said:
originalbadboy on 14 Nov '10 said:
Jesus Christ ... seriously ...
Kotick you c**t, do you really think XBL is popular simply because of your games .... f**k sake someone shoot this t**t in the head ...
lwill on 14 Nov '10 said:
Sorry, but that's a very naive thing to say. Their absolute first priority is to make money, then it's to give a f**k about the customers.
Although they are in a position to do both.
tmulford on 14 Nov '10 said:
If Activision was to introduce a subscription for CoD it would be double dipping as people are already effectively paying a quarterly subscription for the map packs that are invariably released (not to mention that half the maps seem to be 'classic' maps from previous incarnations of the series). The CoD map packs are usually priced around £10 and there is usually 3-4 of them. Activision see a larger share of this revenue as they are only sharing it with SONY/MS, are not making any physical copies and have no risk of shops discounting price to compete with each other. The annual cost of CoD map packs at £30-40 seems to me to be quite close to the actual cost of an annual sub for XBox Live.
ted1138 on 14 Nov '10 said:
Go ahead and try it on PC first, it's not a "walled garden"(it's more of an open stable)...
Gaseous Snake on 14 Nov '10 said:
A combination of Joystiq and Kotick? Dear god...
I am writing to you to complain about the birth of Bobby Kotick. How much had you drunk when you made him? You should be ashamed of yourself.
Yours sincerely, Snake.
P.S. Don't hurt me!
Hasn't anyone ever noticed that when someone says 'dear god', it sounds like they're writing to him? I just thought it needed pointing out in the cheesiest of manners.
Stopspot on 14 Nov '10 said:
Activision has really gone down the drain fast. And with Kotick manning the steering wheel it's not hard to see why.
They pump out games on the same level as the Fifa and NHL series nowadays, A non original shooter and about as many guitar hero games as they can sign bands.
Kotick can try the whole subscription for COD thing all he wants. It's not going to work.
damoxuk on 14 Nov '10 said:
Or just buy the PS3 version and get free online...
metallicorphan on 14 Nov '10 said:
maybe the letter should be addressed as 'Dear COD'...as it seems its Call of Duty that has spawned this monster,or at least its that title that the guy keeps harping on about and getting him headlines
wattz3 on 14 Nov '10 said:
Kotick is a complete bellwad
,the only game worthy of a subscription is a pc game "world of warcraft" 
. and thats only due to the quality of the game itself and the amount of work blizzard constantly put in + the in game support ,activision have none of the above, trying to charge noobs for playing console games is a joke much alike activision and mr cock face kotick ,if this happens with this game an others all that will be achieved from this is that all the console fan boys an girls will end up moving into pc gaming where we pay 4 NOTHING!!!(apart from wow and the monthly cost of broadband lol) no monthly fees or nothing i mean geez i dont even buy games i aint bought one(apart from warcraft) since broadband was invented due to being able to download any game i like for fek all an quite often b4 they are released in this country lol an as for paying to play on pc theres plenty of private free servers to be played on i play mw2 which i downloaded for free online all the time 4 free same as cod4 etc...all of which are playable with a xbox 360 controller just with smaller hitboxes with more skill needed than the console versions i dont think the ps3 people ought to be thinking hahahahahahaha we play for free either theres plenty of ways Kotick can implement ways of making u pay in game rather than thru ur beloved playstation network 
no1 is safe apart from the pc gamer 
edit // (sorry bout the messsy post im dyslexic and struggle really bad took me a long time just to write this lol)
JaxStax19 on 14 Nov '10 said:
Anyone else a bit suspicious of the COD points system? Seems to me like it could pave the way for a new 'free to play' Call Of Duty game, where the consumer pays for upgrades ect. (thereby earning MEGABUX for Activision)
And also that little message announcing that COD multiplayer is free .... hmmm
TOKEN on 14 Nov '10 said:
COD is so boring now because its so milked now and can it really make the same impact in the future?
veato on 15 Nov '10 said:
Not only did I sign upto XBL long before playing COD on Xbox but I dont play any of the COD series at all right now.
Barca Azul on 17 Nov '10 said:
The price of exclusivity perhaps!
This will end in tears
Further hike in gold membership?