Call of Duty Elite - Explanatory Trailer and Beta

[Shawn Zipay]

Activision and Infinity Ward have kicked off the news circuit about its Call of Duty Elite service today. This includes word of a beta, a "trailer" for the service, and what is known about what is free and what is a premium service for the title.

Let's let the trailer explain the basics of the service.

The gist of it is that players will be able to join groups, make comments (good or bad), upload videos, see statistics on just about every aspect of the game, and talk crap about your fellow player. C'mon, we all the comments are going to be on par with Youtube comments.

Anyway, as for the pricing details of select features? Right now, your guess is as good as ours. The official Call of Duty Elite home page, which is also offering users a chance to get into the beta, does not offer any hint as to what of those features depicted in the trailer will be free and which will be only for those who pay a subscription fee.

Make of that what you will.

[Shawn Zipay]

Re: Call of Duty Elite - Explanatory Trailer and Beta

My opinion:

They've basically taken features that were already in past Call of Duty titles (stats), combined them with a Steam Community idea, incorporated Youtube uploads (also free and also from other titles including Dirt 3, Shift 2, and tons others), added in a detailed statistics/heatmap idea that was also from other titles and also offered free (Halo immediately comes to mind), and are going to charge users a fee for at least some of these features?

I couldn't roll my eyes any harder than I am right now.

[K-16]

Re: Call of Duty Elite - Explanatory Trailer and Beta

My thoughts exactly, word for word. However, I suspect none of these features are being charged. I have a feeling that the premium service features are still unannounced as of yet. Otherwise the features being paid for are meaningless, since we've already experienced them and the novelty already turned into a standard from other titles.

[Thortok2000]

Re: Call of Duty Elite - Explanatory Trailer and Beta

I think they see sites like Facebook and Youtube and want a piece of the pie. As I'm not really interested in either Facebook or Youtube very much, I doubt I'll be interested in this service.

I'll be interested in seeing how many people actually pay for this. Unless it provides some actual benefit (like maps or guns or customizations you can use in-game) I doubt it will really do much.