Activision: We’ll never charge for CoD multiplayer

Multiplayer in Call of Duty is part of the package and will never become a paid-for service, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg has told IndustryGamers.

Hirshberg’s comments follow speculation from Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter that the publisher is readying a subscription plan.

“Are we going to be charging for multiplayer? The answer is no,” said Hirshberg. “The experience you have out of the box, connecting with the online community to play Call of Duty is absolutely integral to the experience and we’ll never charge for that. It’s not going to be something we’ll attempt to monetise; it’s part of the package,” Hirshberg stressed.

He added: “Nothing we or anyone else tries is going to work if it doesn’t have tremendous value for people and add a tremendous value to the gaming experience. [Pachter] is probably looking at meta-trends in the world and in culture about online services and new ways things should be monetised from Netflix to cloud-based computing.”

Hirshberg concluded: “All I’m trying to get across is I can unequivocally say we will never, ever charge for the multiplayer.”

Call of Duty: Black Ops is out now for Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii and DS.

You don’t get a firmer denial that that. We’re often left with the typical no comment on “rumour and speculation”, but here, Hirshberg has flat out denied that any such multiplayer subscription will be introduced in order to play online.

What still remains a possibility, however, is a premium service similar to PlayStation Plus, which would grant members access to a host of additional content, perhaps getting their hands on map packs first, private servers, that kind of thing.