Call of Duty Subscription Still Coming

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has sold over 20 million units worldwide. What’s one way to make more money? Charge a subscription fee, of course. Notable game industry market analyst Michael Pachter has said that Activision must lead the way by starting a pay-to-play Call of Duty game.

Once Pachter’s statements reached the CoD community, Business Insider writes, there was outrage and Activision’s community relations people were quick to say that Modern Warfare 2 will always be free for gamers to play. But despite that, many other analysts and pundits see Activision as going to a subscription model in the next few years, maybe supported by a ‘free’ limited version.

Here are Pachter’s estimates regarding popular online games:

(number of users playing an average of 10 hours a week, both PS3 and Xbox 360 combined)

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – 12 million users
• Halo – 6 million users
• All EA Sports games – 3 million users
• Other games – 5 million users

Gamers on the Xbox are paying Microsoft $50 a year for Xbox Live, but those 12 million hungry gamers are untapped. Pachter says that if Activision and their (unpopular) CEO Bobby Kotick can get a successful subscription model installed on Call of Duty, then that’ll revolutionize the popular online multiplayer game market.