Analyst- Activision Must Begin Multiplayer Fee's. Pay to Play basically. - Polidicks

Latest bad idea in the history of bad ideas. [release]Publishers must find a way to profit off online multiplayer, says Pachter. July 16, 2010 by Jim Reilly If the videogame industry is going to rebound from its decline in software sales, publishers will need to look at monetizing online multiplayer, said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter in his latest investor report. Pachter believes one of the main reasons software sales for PS3 and Xbox 360 are down year-over-year is due to gamers continuing to log substantial hours into a handful of online games and not picking up new titles regularly. "We estimate that a total of 12 million consumers are playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 for an average of 10 hours per week on the two platforms' respective networks, and the continued enjoyment of this game (along with an estimated 6 million Halo online players, 3 million EA Sports players, and 5 million players playing other games, such as Battlefield, Red Dead Redemption, Left 4 Dead and Grand Theft Auto) has sucked the available time away from what otherwise would be spent playing newly purchased games," he said. Pachter also noted that Activision needs to make the first move with multiplayer charges, and expects we could see something with Call of Duty: Black Ops, set for release this November. "We think that it is incumbent upon Activision, with the most popular multiplayer game, to take the first step to address monetization of multiplayer," said Pachter. "It is too early to tell whether that will be a monthly subscription, tournament entry fees, microtransaction fees, or a combination of all three, but we expect to see the company take some action by year-end, when Call of Duty Black Ops launches." Pachter says he expects the publisher will apply a World of Warcraft-like business model to its Call of Duty franchise. Activision will likely continue to offer some form a free multiplayer for awhile, he says, but notes that it's imperative the company capitalizes on the estimated 4 billion hours of time spent online since the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. "We are quick to point out that the average single player game has an expected play time of under 30 hours, suggesting that a staggering 133 million units of equivalent game play have been spent (so far) playing Call of Duty online, with Activision only seeing revenues from the original 20 million units sold, plus an estimated 8 million map packs sold," he added. Activision hasn't been shy in the past about its intentions for some of its key franchises. The publisher has said several times it's looking at new online business models for Call of Duty and Guitar Hero. In a recent interview, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick also made his displeasure known over closed online networks such as Xbox Live. "We've heard that 60 per cent of [Microsoft's] subscribers are principally on Live because of Call of Duty," said Kotick. "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." [/release] And they wonder why gamers hate them. :rolleyes: Sauce: [url]http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/110/1106732p1.html[/url]

So, if I'm reading right, Activision is making Modern Warfare 2 p2p so people will have more time to play other games? Okay, I re-read it, and now I'm gathering they're planning to add subscription fees to future games because they aren't getting enough money from just the sales of the games themselves. If that's correct, then great. Now all we need to pay for is the console, then the game, then the online service, then the OTHER online service. Fan-fucking-tastic.

Save us, Valve (Refer to Gabe's "What have I done for my customers today" speech)

I love the comments on the articles page: [quote]No one cares what you think Pachter, and you are never right anyway. Why can't I get paid lots of money to make all kinds of bogus predictions?javascript:WebForm_DoPostBackWithOptions(new%20WebFor m_PostBackOptions("ctl00$cphCenterColumn$ccAddButtons$btnPre view",%20"",%20true,%20"",%20"" ;,%20false,%20true))[/quote] [quote]Geez these companies are getting greedier and greedier. That's like being charged to read a book you already own, in these tough economic times I just don't see it working. This Pachter guy obviously doesn't have kids, or he wouldn't make stupid remarks like that[/quote]

*sigh* I'm gonna miss Bungie when they get ruined by Activision as well.

I remember reading this in /v/. Someone summed it up pretty well by saying that instead of pirates killing the industry, it was instead people who actually play games, because the time they've spent playing games has stopped them from using that time to buy more games and that we're all cancerous faggots for enjoying video games.

Doesn't Activison have enough money already?

I guess they need more money fountains to piss in.

Oh Lord, will this cycle of Stupidity end?

Well, they'll do one thing right with this move: Many people will have LOTS more free time, time they can use to play games made by devs who aren't just looking to squeeze every cent out of the consumer.

He replied it's a definite no

This analyst is an idiot. [editline]04:22PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Ghostz;23432684]*sigh* I'm gonna miss Bungie when they get ruined by Activision as well.[/QUOTE] Activision doesn't have any power over Bungie. They just pay them to make games. If they stop paying them or try to threaten them, Bungie goes "Fuck you." and goes to EA or something. Activision has absolutely no power over them.

Uhh, okay, I just won't play Activision games.

Only one thing left to do. :suicide:

Why does this guy say Activision are the ones who need to do it? They're by far one of the richest game companies. If anything, they're the ones who need to do it least.

How troublesome.

Enough of Activision games for me.

Remember guys this is an analyst, not a guarantee that this is going to happen. At least I hope not.

[QUOTE=compwhizii;23433266]Remember guys this is an analyst, not a guarantee that this is going to happen. At least I hope not.[/QUOTE] Analysts know what they are doing.

From a business perspective - Good observations and sensible proposition. From a players' perspective - Money-grabbing cunts.

[QUOTE=Gubbinz96;23432472]"has sucked the available time away from what otherwise would be spent playing newly purchased games"[/QUOTE] Because people should only be playing brand new games :rolleyes:

Finally, let's hope people have enough brains to realise they should stop paying activision now.

From a strictly business perspective I can see where they are coming from, bungie could be potentially drowning in money if they charged for halo 3 online since it's still actively played years after. But seeing how I'm a gamer not a stock holder fuck activision those greedy sons of bitches :argh:. I'll still buy activision games no reason to miss out on a few good games over the publisher.

[QUOTE=JustExtreme;23433593]From a business perspective - I'm a money grubbing cunt but I really couldn't give a fuck. LOOK AT ALL THIS MONEY! From a players' perspective - Money-grabbing cunts.[/QUOTE] Fixed that for ya!

I'm pretty sure one of the reasons Activision wants to do this is because Call of Duty is going downhill rapidly. It reached it's peak with 2 and 4, and now it's just going downhill, so Activision is trying to milk it's cashcow for everything they can get. I think Black Ops will be my last Call of Duty game.

Instead of trying to get people to stop playing multiplayer how bout you guys make games that don't fucking suck shit through a straw and charge $60 for each of them. Food for thought.

Complete and total lack of business ethics and care for the consumer. Neat. We need to stop douching around and protest Activision, fucking seriously.

Instead of doing fees, why don't they just make a or a couple or good games so the company can depend on retail game sells rather than depending paying fees to play mediocre ones.

well fuck their shit.

This just in : To make more money get rid of 90% of our community!