The good news for Call of Duty players is that the series’ Elite premium membership will be free for Black Ops II. The bad news is that it will no longer include the membership’s primary draw: all of the game’s downloadable content.
Activision today announced that Call of Duty: Black Ops II will grant all players free access to its Elite service, including new features like multiplayer broadcasting and stat-tracking for the game’s Zombies mode. However, the monthly downloadable content drops that were part of the Elite membership for last year’s Modern Warfare 3 are being replaced by four downloadable map packs with new content for the multiplayer and Zombies modes. When they debut next year, the packs will sell for $15 each, and a Season Pass bundle for all four will also be sold separately for $50. Each pack will debut on Xbox 360 before moving to other systems, not all platforms are guaranteed to receive the maps, and pricing could vary from system to system.
Speaking with GamesIndustry International, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg acknowledged the Elite subscription may have played a part in Modern Warfare 3’s difficulty living up to the sales pace set by its predecessor.
“Well, while Modern Warfare 3’s tail didn’t match that of Black Ops, the launch of Black Ops didn’t match that of Modern Warfare 3,” Hirshberg said. “I think those two things are related. We have been able to turn Call of Duty launches into such cultural events, that they draw more and more of buyers forward into the launch window. Modern Warfare 3’s tail was still incredibly strong. That said, keeping our player community more united is definitely one of our goals with this change in approach.”
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