Kotick: online COD fees not a priority

Activision boss Bobby Kotick has played down speculation that the publisher is looking to introduce online subscription fees for its Call of Duty franchise.

Speaking in an interview with CNBC, Kotick explained that he's more interested in ensuring that the games are fun to play.

"You know, we don't really spend a lot of time thinking about how do you convert this Call of Duty experience to a subscription model," Kotick told CNBC.

"What we really spend time thinking about is how do you create new, compelling Call of Duty experiences that are going to delight our audiences, and usually people are willing to pay for the content if you deliver them something spectacular. Which is out intention."

Well, judging by comments made to the Wall Street Journal last June, the Acti ogre has in fact spent plenty of time thinking about it.

When asked what he'd most like to change at Activision, Kotick replied, "I would have Call of Duty be an online subscription service tomorrow.

"When you think about what the audience's interests are and how you could really satisfy bigger audiences with more inspired, creative opportunities, I would love to see us have an online Call of Duty world. I think our players would just have so much of a more compelling experience.

"I think our audiences are clamouring for it. If you look at what they're playing on Xbox Live today, we've had 1.7 billion hours of multiplayer play on Live. I think we could do a lot more to really satisfy the interests of the customers. I think we could create so many things, and make the game even more fun to play."