"Sad" and "really weird" are the words Blacklight: Retribution lead designer Jared Gerritzen has used to describe Activision's approach with new online subscription service Call of Duty: Elite.
Speaking to Gamasutra, the Zombie Studios man admitted that the Call of Duty series has seen some "amazing games" but questioned its lack of progression and doubted whether the money made from Elite would actually go into evolving the franchise.
"They see this massive fan base, and why aren't they spending that money and evolving the game even more?
"They're amazing games," he added, "but looking across the last four games, was there anything really new? That's the sad part. Think about if they tried to spend that money that they're trying to milk from the fans. It's sad. It's really weird. But there's always going to be that guy; there's always going to be the jerk."
Activision has defended the subscription service by pointing out that it will take nothing away from the COD experience, with the core single player and multiplayer gameplay remaining free of charge.
Comments
15 comments so far...
Laughlyn on 10 Jun '11 said:
Only an idiot would believe that Activision wont take anything away from the free experience. Activision is a company that has ruined almost every one of its big franchises by milking every last penny from it with constant and pointless releases.
Sure elite will start off as an extra boost to those who have it but give it 12-18 months and stuff available for free will start to dwindle down and eventually players will be forced into subscribing or the game wont be worth having. I've seen it happen before with other products. Activision have very greedy shareholders with $$$ in their eyes. I hope Elite doesnt take off, my main concern if it does is that every other company will end up trying a similar program
TheLastDodo on 10 Jun '11 said:
Pfft this guy is just another angry Battlefield fanboy, CoD is the greatest videogame series of all time and if you don't believe me then just look at the sales, any sane person knows that more sales = better game. Get over it haters, it's a fact.
thedonkeyman on 10 Jun '11 said:
Heh, this is one of the greatest troll posts I've ever read! It's funny that people actually believe things like this in reality, well done! (Of course, if this isn't a troll post... that's some very flawed logic you've got there)
gmcb007 on 10 Jun '11 said:
Err i'm pretty sure that Dodo is being sarcastic.
Now to wait for the COD fanboys to badmouth every game this devloper makes. I usually hate articles about devs slagging each other off, but its good to see the hype and praise is fading away from COD.
Very_Silver_Ownz on 10 Jun '11 said:
Its only about time before others copy them and the next thing we know we are paying for modes and features and unless you buy them then it will be a glorified demo.
@thedonkeyman - He was being sarcastic. Epic fail.
martinawatson on 10 Jun '11 said:
They sure feel sad and weird , rolling around like Scrooge McDuck in a swimming pool full of money
TheLastDodo on 10 Jun '11 said:
@gmcb007 and Very_Silver_Ownz:
Shhhh
.
Very_Silver_Ownz on 10 Jun '11 said:
He definitely lives upto his name
_Marty_ on 10 Jun '11 said:
Jared Gerritzen deserves a medal. What he has just said is basically what most sane people around here have been saying.
Activision are money grabbing b*stards, and will squeeze their customers for as much as they can, in any way they can.
Does NOT bode well for the future...
thedonkeyman on 10 Jun '11 said:
I thought he might be, but I honestly wasn't sure! That's what makes a great troll post.
gmcb007 on 10 Jun '11 said:
Haha yeah, the scary thing is that some people do get on like that on this site.
KK-Headcharge78 on 10 Jun '11 said:
Fair enough this dude Jared Gerritzen has his time in the limelight and makes a reasonable judgement albeit rather obvious and opportunistic. What I don't get is why are people so obsessed now with huge change, I don't recall people slating Mario for 'bringing out another 2D platformer' after the zillionth incarnation. COD is out every year so it's hardly likely to be brand new everytime. What is the official timescale now for the 'must change' the engine, 1 year, 2 years?? Is Gears 3 to be unveiled to rounded boos because it effectivley uses the same tweaked engine as the first? Or is it because Gears has had 3 installments over about 5 years? I just personally don't agree that the same engine/theme/tactics have to change just because of time, particularly not while a large slice of the community still love it.
Get cracking Dice on the next engine for BF4 otherwise you be left behind
laminated0 on 10 Jun '11 said:
I have nothing but contempt for this company, OK your main objective is to make money and a game that people enjoy so that you can make money with said game, but activision milk everything, they are a disgrace, trating their fans like walking wallets for them to take advantage of. Finally someone speaks out about it in the industry, well done.
<---- This is something I would imagine bobby kotick coming on the site and posting, i thought it was him at first lol
KK-Headcharge78 on 10 Jun '11 said:
laminated0: 'I have nothing but contempt for this company, OK your main objective is to make money and a game that people enjoy so that you can make money with said game, but activision milk everything, they are a disgrace, trating their fans like walking wallets for them to take advantage of. Finally someone speaks out about it in the industry, well done.'
I understand your point mate but it negates the fact that a lot of people enjoy the games, sadly any business with a highly successful product will, to a greater or lesser degree, exploit it's consumers interest whether that be Apple, Red Bull, Microsoft, Ford etc...
You of course have your right to hold contempt for them.
MANYOO4EVA on 10 Jun '11 said:
TBH i'm sicked to the back teeth of both Battlefield and COD now. There are so many great and diverse games coming this year such as:
Gears of War 3, Rage, Batman: Arkham City, Hitman: Absolution, The Witcher 2, Dark Souls, Deus Ex:: Human Revolution, Dungeon Siege 3, Formula 1 2011, Forza Motorsport 4, Skyrim, The Lord of the Rings: The War in the North, and others.
Just look at those games above. This is where I'm going to be spending my time and not playing ANOTHER military shooter clone. Battlefield 3 does look impressive i'll grant you that but i'm just not interested in it.