Speculation on the possibility of Activision implementing a subscription-based multiplayer service for Call of Duty has been rife in recent months, but according to the publisher’s CEO Bobby Kotick, the firm is more preoccupied with conjuring up fresh ideas for a more “compelling” gameplay experience.
Kotick’s comments come following a chinwag with CNBC, where the executive was quizzed as to how Activision would go about cobbling together a digital subscription effort based on a $60-a-year retail model.
"You know, we don’t really spend a lot of time thinking, honestly, about how do you convert this Call of Duty experience to a subscription model,” he replied.
"What we really spend time thinking about is, how do you create really compelling Call of Duty experiences that are going to delight our audiences, and usually people are willing to pay for the content if you deliver them something spectacular, which is out intention."
The CNBC news anchor then observed that consumers tend to gravitate towards violent games, and admits to being taken aback by the ‘Warriors of Rock’ subtitle of last year’s Guitar Hero game. She then asked: "Is it possible that a music game like Guitar Hero is having a harder time competing when other games are so much more violent?"
In response, Kotick offered: "I don’t think there’s any connection between the success of Call of Duty, for example, and the lack of success in the music genre, and I think if you look at our announcement on Friday [later today] at [New York] Toy Fair, it’s a brand new universe that’s very broad appeal and I think there’s still a tremendous opportunity for big audience type new style games that have really compelling, fun characters that are family-oriented entertainment."
Activision announced earlier this week that it has shelved its Guitar Hero business and cancelled development of True Crime: Hong Kong.
Concurrently, the publishing giant also confirmed that it has established a digital-focused Call of Duty studio named Beachhead, though didn’t go into any further details on the matter.