Dude, don't encourage them.
Michael Pachter, industry super-analyst, has a theory about why software sales took a fifteen percent dive last month: We're all too busy playing multiplayer games online to buy the next big thing. Clearly, the only thing that will save game publishers from a fate worse than death would be to start charging players to play online. Since Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the biggest game on the market, Pachter believes them to be the clear choice to spearhead such an effort in the industry.
Of course, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has already had the idea and it's only a matter of time before such things transpire. When (not if) it does, I'm looking forward to the supernova of rage on the internet and declarations from people claiming they'll never buy another Activision game again. Then the industry will move as a whole, such subscription models will become the standard and the vast majority of boycotters will wind up forgetting their lofty ideals. Get a firm grip on your ankles kids, because it's coming.
I would be totally comfortable with such a scheme if I thought for a second that it meant we would pay less for games where the main focus is on a multiplayer experience, with the difference expected to be made up for in online service charges. Instead, we'll probably pay the same prices we do now and get a free month of online play for our specific games.
Activision Must Start Charging for Call of Duty Online Play, says Pachter [IndustryGamers]
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Contest:
5:30 AM on 07.16.2010 | 
*Ahem*
Sorry, I've let myself go there.
if i had to pay to play street fighter online as well as the xbla subscription, i would stop playing online. just glad i don't give a flying crap about cod.
Fuck no.
Although, Pachter is right in one part: I haven't bought any games recently, because I've been playing some heavy online gaming, only I've not been playing knife of mutey: glitch borefare, I've been playing MAG.
Can see the adverts now - "CoD, only available on PS3" because the platform is "more open, like a Mac" and we can get away with charging a subscription being as though we don't have to give MS their cut.
LAWL.
Never gonna happen
Goddamn it, Michael. You are that nerd.
Seriously, P2P gaming is not an acceptable service to pay for. Partially why i avoid LIVE like the plague. "Pay? To use MY internet to HOST a game?!" Fuck no. Pay twice? Fuck fuck no!
I would say that Activision just COULD NOT JUSTIFY charging without using dedicated servers....
.. but Microsoft do it.
Of course people are going to play their multiplayer games over buying new ones. Maybe you piss money, patcher, but the rest of us don't. I dont think anyone in their right mind would throw down 60 dollars on a video game and not make an effort to get their moneys worth out of the multiplayer services.
This whole idea is batshit insane. No one in a stable mental state is going to pay 50-60 dollars for a game + extra for online game servers that are going to shut down or move on in a year. Its like patcher lives in some bizarro world where he thinks the consumer would love to vacate their bank accounts for absolutely nothing in return.
In not doing this, I carefully considered the feelings of this gaming community before resorting to such a ridiculous injustice. Activision would do well to do the same.
I think this will cover it :)
Not comparable.
1 is mass genocide and the other is being charged extra for a video game.
Stop being so fucking spoiled.
Stop being so dull
And yeah, Actiblizzvision can suck my dick if I'm buying any more CoD fillers off them, stingy cunts!
DERP!
And anyone who *does* pay a fee, when there are a ton a of great games out there, is a mind-numbed fool.
The only reason game sales have dropped is because THERE'S NOTHING GOOD OUT RIGHT NOW. Jesus, fucking analysts need to wait until the fall, when sales skyrocket. Reach. Black Ops. A plethora of other games as well.
Don't these idiots know about the ebb and flow of markets? Especially markets they're ANALZYING? For a LIVING?!?!
The day they start making me pay monthly for basic online multiplayer is the day I quit gaming. Fuck off Activision.
But, for the love of God, someone lock this man away!
And if multiplayer goes the way of monthly subscriptions, I'm so done with online.
On launchday milions of people will open their game to find out they get to pay extra...wich they will...
<a href="http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/f/finalfantasyxi/default.htm">Better tell that to Square Enix, they didn't get the message</a>
Maybe it's a ploy to push the Online FPS market back to PC. XD
A Lawyer says: "Once they have them on the hook, charge them"
A Businessman says: "Partition the finished game and sell it in pieces"
A Game Developer says: "Make better games."
So yeah, Activision, go for it. Ruin yourselves so we never have to see your ugly mugs again.