Yes, it’s that story again. Like a bad smell that won’t go away, the rumors of a “premium” service for Call of Duty multiplayer just won’t quit. But don’t worry. Apparently this won’t affect the experience fans get currently, simply enhance it.
Activision COO Thomas Tippl, speaking at the catchily-titled Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. Technology Conference, noted that “I don’t think there’s a one size fits all… There’s no doubt that we are looking to extend recurring revenue models and in many ways we have already accomplished that—even on Call of Duty, although it takes a different form than subscription.”
No, it comes with releasing a new game every year and then charging considerably more for map packs than any other publisher on the market. But do go on.
“Every year we have a great game, so every year we have recurring revenues that has a lot of zeroes attached to it. We are expanding revenue during the in-between periods with additional content we’ve sold very successfully with map packs.”
Okay. So we’re agreed on that. And we’re also agreed that there are enough die-hard Call of Duty fans out there who will pay anything for content with the Call of Duty name. Along with people who just play it for a while and then quit, or people who don’t feel the need to spend extra on DLC.
“But I think we have a lot in our pipeline that we believe will provide great value for our players. So I think there’s continued opportunity to expand the player base and to provide them with service offerings and products that can also enhance revenue growth.”
Oddly enough, it’s all about the Benjamins. “Great value” sounds pretty positive. But it’s a misleading term. What “great value” translates to in this instance is “more money for Activision”. Because surely the best possible value is where players pay once for the game. And then get to enjoy it as it was intended. And then don’t have to pay as much as some full games cost for a limited selection of almost-new maps. And indeed don’t have to pay any more money at all. But no—apparently there are “service offerings” and “products” that can enhance the experience.
Everyone’s favorite industry whipping boy Bobby Kotick also chimed in, adding that he believed Call of Duty could get “multiple entry points”. (There’s a joke about the things adolescent kids say in online games there somewhere, but that shall be left up to the reader’s imagination.)
“As long as we keep providing value,” said Kotick, “whehter it’s in services or new content or things like virtual items… There’s so much we can do to provide value to our customers.”
Very altruistic.
“They’re willing to pay us for it and I think giving multiple entry points to consumers to figure out how to exactly play the game is something that’s really important to building our audiences.”
So apparently, building a loyal player base is all about selling them more stuff. Who knew?
