CoD2 maps make $1 million

By Tom Bramwell Published 7 August, 2006

Activision DLC sells loads.

Activision estimates that sales of downloadable content for Call of Duty 2 have generated USD 1 million.

Speaking to investors and analysts last week, as reported by GameSpot, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said "approximately USD 1 million" had been generated - something he called "a critical first step in exploiting online revenue potential and extending the shelf life of our games".

Activision has released a pair of premium packs for Xbox 360's top-selling World War II shoot-'em-up, priced at USD 5.00 and USD 10.00. The cheaper of the two sold 105,000 times while the more expensive managed 66,000, he said.

Xbox 360 has been widely used already as a platform for the distribution of premium downloadable content, but Activision is the first to claim seven-figure success.

Other content released through the service includes a raft of downloadables for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (all of which were released at an equivalent price on the PC), new map content for THQ's The Outfit and downloadable car-packs for Project Gotham Racing 3.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • dbeamish #1 6 years ago

    I wonder how much of that is profit compared to how long it took to make the new levels... :-/

  • smoison #2 6 years ago

    We'll never know....

  • S.J.Rogers #3 6 years ago

    I downloaded both pay Map Packs and really enjoy them.

    In my opinion it was money well spent.

    Looking forward to COD3.

  • tobi #4 6 years ago

    i'd imagine that they would double that when CoD3 comes out on the PS3 n 360.

  • gizmo #5 6 years ago

    'Exploiting'. Exactly.

  • alimokrane #6 6 years ago

    So I take it we will see 3 maps priced at 800 MP in the future again. Nice ... very nice indeed NOT!

  • t8yman #7 6 years ago

    We need more! hopefully this will encourage IW and Activision to offer more DLC, because COD3 is going to suck large donkey balls with all the boosting and teamkilling to use the vehicles. COD2 will still be huge even after cod3 comes out.

    More maps please

  • oceanmotion #8 6 years ago

    Hopefully they hit a sweet spot in price. £10 is a bit steep for what they give you.

  • Sko #9 6 years ago

    I predict games becoming leaner...

  • MrChuckles #10 6 years ago

    Personally, i'd be happier buying a game for 30 quid and add-ons for 10 rather than a bigger game for 40.

    For a start it takes away more of the profit from the evil retailer and more goes to the devs who actually work hard to make the bloody thing.

    The publisher still make dough either way...boo...

  • Darren #11 6 years ago

    It's funny really... people complain about paying £50 RRP for Xbox 360 games and possibly £60 for PS3 games but all this downloadable content adds a further £10 on top of the cost of the game as well.

    OK so it's optional and you don't have to buy it but look at GR:AW for example, it shipped with only four online co-op "story" maps and you had to pay £10 for Chapter 2 to see the rest of the "story" so in that respect the game, as it was released, was unfinished.

    I think some content is good value like some of the Oblivion ones at just over a £1 each but those developers charging between £5 and £10 for just a few maps, like EA have with the recent BFMEII maps, should be utterly ashamed of themselves because it's exploitation of the worst kind in my opinion.

  • Sko #12 6 years ago

    "Personally, i'd be happier buying a game for 30 quid and add-ons for 10 rather than a bigger game for 40."

    You think the prices will come down? You'll get your smaller game and extra add-ons, don't you worry. You'll just still be paying 40 quid for the game when it first comes out, though and whatever extra for the bits they pulled at the last minute so they could do a 'downloadable content'. ;)

  • Darren #13 6 years ago

    "Personally, i'd be happier buying a game for 30 quid and add-ons for 10 rather than a bigger game for 40." - MrChuckles

    I'm sure everyone would but that won't happen on the consoles. Instead you play £40-£50 for a game and then upto £20 more for the optional content.

    Online downloads are paving the way for the more greedy developers like EA and Ubi Soft to make more money out of a game for little extra development costs rather than shipping their games with all the content intact at the standard pricepoint as was the case prior to the Xbox coming out. Call me cynical but I've a nagging feeling that developers are deliberately holding back game content just so they can release it as downloadable content rather that putting it in the games. Of course I can't prove it but it seems so plausible doesn't it?

  • Ceatlan #14 6 years ago

    I don't see whats wrong with paying for extra content, I mean anybody who thought that the PC world of free extra content would last for ever was living in a dream world. Fan made content will remain free, content provided by publishers etc will cost money because it costs money to produce, where's the money grabbing in that ?

    If you don't like it you don't have to buy it. If you think the original game had too little content or was too expensive, wait till it drops in price or get a second hand copy. If you can't afford it, sorry but its tough, that is the way of the world. I can't afford a porsche or a house in the caribbean, but I don't go round moaning about it. Nobody has a right to expect anything for free.

  • darkbhudda #15 6 years ago

    I agree. They should release extra content with the game, rather than later.
    Especially content that is rushed and that hasn't gone through testing.
    And they can hold off releasing games for 6 extra months.
    After all, why should only rich kids get the best toys?

    /sarcasm off

    But I agree some companies will have a strategy for holding back certain content. Better than in-game ads though.

  • urban #16 6 years ago

    EXPLOITERS! BAN EM! :)