Paid-for "second tier" COD online soon?
Analyst expects it in the next few months.
Analyst Wedbush Securities reckons Activision will launch a "second tier" of online Call of Duty multiplayer in the next few months – and charge gamers for it.
"Activision remains a top pick, primarily due to the company's potential to create and monetize a second tier of multiplayer online gaming for its Call of Duty franchise," Wedbush reported (via Kotaku). "We expect this to occur during the first quarter of 2011."
Such a venture is of course unannounced at this stage, and Activision and Call of Duty developers Infinity Ward and Treyarch have in the past promised gamers they will never have to pay to play the world's most popular FPS online.
But this is the first time an analyst has directly claimed a monetised COD multiplayer feature is in the works - and suggested a launch time frame.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has expressed a desire to make more money from the online portion of his crown jewel. Last year he said that if he could do one thing, he would make Call of Duty "an online subscription service" as soon as tomorrow.