With one year of Elite in the books, Activision detailed the full DLC scheme for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2- including the fact that Elite will be free for all players.
It’s a little bit of a surprise to me as the Elite service wasn’t exactly a flop at the paid level, but it certainly is good news for gamers nonetheless. As far as the mega-publisher sees it, the fledgling Elite was a job well done and now it’s a case of the more the merrier.
“We’ve learned a lot in our first year of Call of Duty Elite, and we’re very proud that we over delivered on our commitment of playable content to our premium members,” said Activision Publishing CEO, Eric Hirshberg. “What we have realized is that several of the Call of Duty Elite services which are currently only available to our premium members for Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3 are things that would further unite, engage and delight our player community. So we are going to make them free for Call of Duty: Black Ops II.”
Making Elite free in Black Ops 2 actually does make a lot of sense when you think about it. The service was always meant to keep players in the loop and constantly connected to al things CoD, making it free to indulge in will only further that goal. Oh, and a pretty cool side note on the ‘new’ Elite? It takes the popular zombies mode into consideration now.
As a free service for Call of Duty: Black Ops II, the Call of Duty Elite platform will continue to evolve as the definitive Call of Duty headquarters, with the inclusion of new and enhanced features such as:
- Player HQ
– Track Call of Duty: Black Ops II performance with rich game statistics, including enhanced match information such as heat maps and recent match data; track challenges and extensively modify your classes like never before using Treyarch’s new Pick 10 Create-a-Class system.
- Clan HQ
– Join an existing clan or start your own, invite friends and then take part in Call of Duty: Black Ops II clan competitions with cool digital prizing.
- Zombies Support
– For the millions of Zombies fans out there, now you can track your Zombies personal statistics and compare it to other players’ around the world.
- Call of Duty Elite
TV – Launching with tablet support with Call of Duty: Black Ops II, the new Call of Duty Elite TV will deliver a renewed community focus featuring developer tips and strategy programming, custom class overviews and more.
- Social Sharing and Notifications
– With Call of Duty Elite’s new notification system, you can stay updated with what is going on in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, as well as communicate directly with your clan.
Aside from the Elite news, Activision and developer Treyarch also unveiled their plans for downloadable support for the game. Unsurprisingly, that mainly involves map packs and a ‘season pass’.
The packs (of which four are planned) will be priced at 1200mspts or $15 USD each. If you buy in for a season pass though, that cost will be shaved down a tad and sit at a collective $49.99 USD. So that puts each pack at about $12.50 USD each- not too bad of a discount if you pretty much know you’re going to be in for the whole DLC deal.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 air drops onto store shelves and download services (globally) on November 13th for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC with a Wii U version landing on the 18th. The new Elite and Season Passes should also be up and running by then- and you can actually find passes right now at GameStop stores if you just can’t wait.
This does surprise me. I guess the Call of Duty game itself is selling so well the subscription is unnecessary. But still… it's the precise opposite of what current game business wisdom is all about – "subscription is more important than box products."
Brave move by Activision.
Yeah it really is. I almost couldn't believe the release – had to read it twice!