Call of Duty Elite’s success is at this point undeniable. Though the launch was a bit rocky, Activision has since righted the ship, and has committed to evolving the Elite service for future titles. With 1.5 million subscribers, the Elite service has opened the eyes of other publishers and developers, and Jamie Berger, VP of Digital at Activision, believes more services like Elite will be popping up soon.
"I do believe services like this are going to become a necessity for real franchises that are going to be day in and day out. The world is changing, consumer behavior is changing. Social networks and the always-on connectivity of any device are changing the ways people behave," Berger said in an interview with GamesIndustry International. "They want to stay engaged with things in ways that couldn't even happen five years ago. I think as a game publisher and developer you have to get ahead of that."
Berger also admits that the service must continue to improve and adapt with subsequent releases. "What we just need to do to continue that growth is to prove that every day there is going to be something new, something interesting and evolve the service on a monthly basis,” Berger added. “So, this kind of service - membership services like Netflix, Xbox Live, Sirius, Hulu or us - it's a game of inches. You constantly grow. It's not like magical things happen, other than the launch of course; after that it's word of mouth and constant new people coming in and them telling their friends, that's how it works. We're no different.”
With social networking permeating so much of what we already do on a daily basis, and the massive success of Activision’s Elite service, it’s only a matter of time until more games adopt a similar strategy. Even EA’s Peter Moore admits, “It's incumbent upon us, whether we do that or do something one step ahead [of Activision].”
What do you think of more Elite-like services being instituted in the future? Would you support a subscription/networking service for your favorite games?
SOURCE: Call of Duty Elite-like services are ‘becoming a necessity’ [GamesIndustry]
sexyjake1387
May 01, 2012 at 10:47am
I bought into the hype and purchased Elite for MW3.. I am finding now it was a waste of money.. I would much rather just pay for the map packs when they come out.. I will not be purchasing any future Elite products. I also purchased the "Season pass" for GOW3.. I feel like I got much more for my money with GOW3 season pass.
