Activision to release freemium Call of Duty, says analyst

Feb. 11, 2011 (12:35 pm) By: John Brownlee

Love Call of Duty? Prepare to pay a lot more for it. An analyst at Wedbush Securities, one of the largest securities firms and investment banks in the nation, says that a freemium version of Call of Duty is an absolute certainty.
The analyst’s speculation was sparked by comments that Activision made in its latest earnings call, saying that it had just tapped Beachhead Studios to create “new and innovative Call of Duty content and services” which would “enable tens of millions of players around the world to continue to enjoy the experience that Call of Duty offers.”
It’s the word “services” that is causing the hackles to raise on players’ necks. Beachhead hasn’t been tapped to make a new Call of Duty game, but to provide content and infrastructure for something to new.
That basically has free-to-play multiplayer shooter written all over it. Basically, players can freely download and take place in Call of Duty multiplayer, but the hardcore will be given the option of buying new levels or weapons or additional perks.
To be honest, this isn’t the worst move in the world: as MMO fans know, free-to-play has saved and even allowed to flourish a lot of other MMOs that have been gradually withering away over the years because of World of Warcraft’s success.
My problem here is that it’s yet another Call of Duty game. Activision just ran one lucrative franchise into the ground with Guitar Hero and now they look ready to do the same thing to Call of Duty. It would really be nice to see Activision be a little more responsible and a little less mercenary when it comes to exploiting their properties.