Activision Not Fond of Closed Online Models Like Xbox Live

by Mike Bendel on July 5, 2010 @ 3:30 pm


While publishing giant Activision has voiced its intent to bring Call of Duty into the MMO fold, concrete plans have yet to emerge. Console platforms, by nature, are closed and that represents a significant challenge. This especially rings true in the case of Xbox Live, where Microsoft is in complete control.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick feels the singular approach of closed online services are stifling his company’s ability to provide additional value to consumers.

We’ve heard that 60 per cent of [Microsoft’s] subscribers are principally on Live because of Call of Duty,” explained Kotick in an interview with FT. He added, “We don’t really participate financially in that income stream. We would really like to be able to provide much more value to those millions of players playing on Live, but it’s not our network.”

Looking towards the future, Kotick has his sights set on the PC space to break the so-called “walled gardens” of console platforms. In pursuit of its vision, Activision is keen on expanding the PC market by “aggressively” supporting ongoing efforts by Dell and HP to connect PCs to televisions. Presumably, Kotick is referring to the low-end, mass market segment of the PC business, as nearly all dedicated graphics cards these days ship with either HDMI or DisplayPort-out.

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Comments
Craig Fairfax says:

I always give timed exclusive DLC to things I'm not fond of.

Abe Froeman says:

Mark my words, Activision and EA will be charging $5-10 per month for the ability to play their games online by the end of next year.

Robby says:

:(

I can see this happening. Charging money to play CoD online, Madden, etc

FrozenIpaq says:

Activision is greedy and of course they aren't going to like a closed model like what is available on the consoles. They could easily charge us monthly access charges to bypass Live and PSN by connecting it to another account (say your EA account).

I wouldn't be surprised Abe if you were right, I hope you aren't though

Riorio99 says:

Wow, Activision not liking something they can't make money from. Who expected this to happen? [/sarcasm]

I can seriously see the major online games like CoD having a seperate fee this time next year.

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