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The Wall Street Journal just broke news of a planned Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 “Elite” subscription service which Activision was hoping to keep under wraps until tomorrow morning. this goes against statements from Activision representatives over the past year regarding rumors that Activision was indeed looking to monetize the Call of Duty franchise in such away. from the WSJ:

Consumers are used to paying $60 each for videogames that run on consoles like the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Now the publisher behind the industry’s biggest videogame franchise— “Call of Duty”—is about to find out whether it can get them to pay a monthly bill, too.

Activision Blizzard Inc. plans to launch an online service called Call of Duty Elite this fall that will work with the next major edition of the game, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” and future installments of the hyper-realistic combat-simulation game. in a move industry executives describe as a first, Activision plans to charge a monthly subscription fee for the service, which will provide extra content that isn’t offered on game discs sold in stores, including downloadable map packs that give players new “Call of Duty” levels to play.

Activision executives said they haven’t yet figured out how much to charge for the service, but they expect the cost to be less than fees for comparable online-entertainment services, such as a $7.99-a-month Netflix Inc. movie subscription. Portions of the service will be free, including features inspired by Facebook Inc. that will let “Call of Duty” players meet for online gun battles with others who share various affiliations and interests. both Infinity Ward’s Rob “FourZeroTwo” Bowling and Activision’s Dan “OneOfSwords” Amrich are in damage control mode on Twitter, suggesting that Call of Duty’s core online experience will continue to remain free just as it has in past games.

What we’ve gathered so far is that Modern Warfare 3 Elite will be much like Sony’s Playstation Plus in purpose in that it will enhance the online experience. Benefits include detailed stat tracking, social networking, clan support, league play, and even unlockables for players to use. Rumors suggest that Elite may even offer discounted or included map pack access as they release (which can also be purchased separately without Elite). The service is expected to cost less than what most entertainment based subscription services currently charge.

So what do you guys think? are you willing to reserve judgment until full details are released tomorrow, or have you already cancelled your MW3 pre-order? The only thing I’m left wondering is why Activision chose to do this when it was Infinity Ward’s turn at the wheel again. Wasn’t the dedicated server and executive firing drama from last year enough to warrant giving them a break?

Update: An “Elite” trailer featuring a popular Youtube COD star is out in the wild now.

<a href="http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/60122/The-Hard-Parttag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/60122/The-Hard-PartWed, 04 May 2011 18:27:08 GMT 00:00″>Voodoo Extreme – News, Screenshots, Videos, Reviews and More!

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