News

Activision unveil digital Call of Duty platform, exclusive content
Posted: 10.02.2011 11:17 by Simon Priest Comments: 4
Publishing goliath Activision has announced a new internal studio call Beachhead, and that they've been developing a digital platform for Call of Duty.

Acti were impressed with Blizzard's Battle.net services and so wanted something similar for Call of Duty. It's been in development "for over a year".

"Beachhead will create a best-in-class online community, exclusive content and a suite of services for our Call of Duty fans to supercharge the online gaming experience like never before," declared Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg.

"The platform will support in-game integration and bring online experiences and console play together for the first time," he said. "The platform has been in development for over a year, and we're very excited about the increased value we can bring to the community."

This all came out at last night's Q4 earnings for Activision. Bobby Kotick said that they've "...leveraged our internal platforms to offer audiences choice and convenience through the provision of direct distribution of Blizzard games. We expect to enhance the Call of Duty experience in similar ways with our new digital platform from Beachhead."

This likely means map pack and other DLC treats made exclusively available through this digital platform where they may introduce a subscription based membership alongside microtransactions. The multiplayer itself will always remain free they say.

Comments

By Jake_SI (SI Elite) on Feb 10, 2011
Jake_SI
I hate the idea of there being so many digital platforms, it's because of Battle.net that I never bought Starcraft 2, and if CoD makes the same move (ie. no longer releasing on Steam), then they'll have lost any (potential) future sales from me.
By corneliusw (SI Newbie) on Feb 10, 2011
corneliusw
This is old news, it was confirmed by this Modern Warfare 3 website http://mwarfare3.com/call-of-duty-mmo-confirmed-by-source-28 in January that a Call of Duty MMO game was in development and would be released in 2012. It sucks that it will be available to the China market only, maybe if it's successful there they will bring it over here.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Feb 10, 2011
herodotus
Kotick finally emerges with his oft denied pay-to-play MP in this thinly-veiled announcement. He's always wanted "CoD" gamers to pay for their time on the servers, and this is his plan. No thanks.
Activision Blizzard are making too many strange decisions of late (eg. "Diablo III" for console).
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Feb 11, 2011
FoolWolf
Agree with Hero - I really hope that Blizzard will stay a powerhouse to decide a lot of what they need for their own. I really like Blizzard games - but the latest Battlenet is shit IMHO.