Potential Call of Duty MMO symbolizes 'natural evolution' of Activision Blizzard

by James Ransom-Wiley { Mar 5th 2008 at 12:10PM }

Soon-to-be CEO of merged mega-publisher Activision Blizzard, Activision head Bobby Kotick mused on latent cash cows at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in Dana Point, California. Kotick clearly senses the possibility of transforming his million-dollar franchises into billion-dollar franchises. MMOrph them! "[What] would be the natural evolution of a property like Call of Duty into a massively multiplayer environment -- how do you monetize that?" wondered Kotick. That is the question, Bobby. Lucky for you, you can just sit back and let the WoW think tank (a.k.a. your $1b investment) do the answering ... *fingers crossed*.

Tags: activision, activision-blizzard, bobby-kotick, call-of-duty, call-of-duty-mmo, cod

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Maverick Saturn @ Mar 5th 2008 12:13PM

Will there be orcs in it?

Yubastard @ Mar 5th 2008 1:54PM

World of Duty: Call of Warcraft

Call of the World: Warcraft Duty

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ Mar 5th 2008 2:27PM

Haha, you said doodie.

BananaBoat @ Mar 6th 2008 4:59AM

In all seriousness, I've been waiting for an MMOFPS for YEARS. Planetside tried, but was inevitably a miserable failure (was the equivalent of trying to play Crysis now, without being able to pick up a new card at Bestbuy to help out).

It's not a hard formula...Realistic weapons/Vehicles like Battlefield, cities to fight over, maybe add in some destructable environments for spice, and then pit 2 (Like Horde v. Alliance) factions against each other...and bam... you are rolling in money.

riggs @ Mar 5th 2008 12:16PM

haha at the pic

ill trooper @ Mar 5th 2008 12:16PM

I will never play WoW but this idea would interest me.

Maverick Saturn @ Mar 5th 2008 12:18PM

What Orcs in CODWOW?

xFenixKnightx @ Mar 5th 2008 12:18PM

Same here.

Robotochan @ Mar 5th 2008 12:21PM

I've been waiting for a good persistant online FPS for a long time, sure there have been a couple, and Huxley is coming but nothing would beat a CoD game of this nature.... well... maybe Battlefield ;)

Obie @ Mar 5th 2008 12:23PM

This will work only if:
Infinity Ward thought of it and developed it....otherwise...BIG "meh".

Obie @ Mar 5th 2008 12:24PM

And imagine the kill streaks you will able to get with airstrikes in THAT game! :O

Deck @ Mar 5th 2008 12:25PM

Be rather.. interesting. Though I am not sure if I would like COD4 and WoW combined... :-p

Sam @ Mar 5th 2008 12:26PM

oh god no. How bout put all that cash into an engaging single player story line, one that's longer than 8 hours and includes, say, RPG elements in it. CoD 4 is a spectacular game, but it mostly shines in the multiplayer area, which I feel is the easier of the two. Make the effort Ac-tards, I know you can do it.

Evan @ Mar 5th 2008 2:17PM

Adding RPG elements could certainly extend a game beyond 8 hours, but that wouldn't be a quality 8 hours. I prefer my progress through a game to depend upon my SKILL, not how many hours I spend grinding.

Jarl @ Mar 5th 2008 12:28PM

Potential, I say!

Call of Warcraft?
World of Duty?

Há!

Neon Jebus @ Mar 5th 2008 12:31PM

I just keep getting the feeling of "Hey that WOW stuff makes you guys the money. Now that we own you, lets use that idea with every other property we own."

I'm thinking we'll have oversaturation within a couple of years. Take those great properties and ride them into the ground. They already did it with Guitar Hero.

careyticoalu @ Mar 5th 2008 12:42PM

I think i would play this if it goes gold..

Been waiting for some skilled mmorpg.

Neebs @ Mar 5th 2008 12:46PM

An FPS MMO based off a very popular series? Barrens Chat would BE the game.

Phranctoast @ Mar 5th 2008 12:50PM

Thats one way for the 360 to get dedicated servers for a COD game ;)

PSN: KillaKornbread (the shirt is a lie!) @ Mar 5th 2008 12:52PM

hey i sent this in and didnt even get credit for it!

oh well, wont be the first time.

anyway, this idea seems great for an all out war style game like CoD. put CoD elements in a WoW sized world and you have urself a pretty interesting concept right there. especially since the CoD series has made quite the name for itself as of late.

NATO_Duke @ Mar 5th 2008 1:03PM

Good job! *pat on the back*

I dont know how I feel about this. I feel that WoW is the devil and fear another game getting its kind of hold on people. To me a game should be in more moderation than WoW seems to command. Though I will admit it would be interesting to have a good MMO that pulled off what Planetside seemed to shoot for a few years ago.

Jared @ Mar 5th 2008 1:03PM

You know how amazing CoD MMO would be? You choose a faction and go out and fight in battlefields against hundreds of players. It would basically be CoD4 with a giant map in a match that never ended. Probably the best thing ever. Although honestly, I don't see it being technologically possible at this point. At least not with servers that are WoW sized.

Steven Wong @ Mar 5th 2008 2:07PM

it sounds like... Iraq.

feczor @ Mar 5th 2008 11:28PM

basically a joint ops mmo or a modernday version of planetside.

Mr.ESC @ Mar 5th 2008 1:14PM

I want to see a FPS MMO with RPG elements.

Player A uses Sniper Rifle.
Player B Reflex saves:One
Player B Dies.

Your Party has Won.
Player A LVL UP
Player A learns Improved Tea bagging.

JakubK666 @ Mar 5th 2008 1:43PM

Now how the fuck are they gonna do this!? I suggest they actually think about stuff before they start spewing shit.

In other news: They're making Brawl into an MMO.

Neebs @ Mar 5th 2008 2:48PM

in this post: irony.

JakubK666 @ Mar 5th 2008 3:26PM

Very constructive and smart criticism...

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ Mar 5th 2008 2:30PM

And I thought Darth Vader and Yoda in Soul Calibur 4 was weirdass.

Sofun @ Mar 5th 2008 3:13PM

Sweet my 2 favorite games rolled into 1. You have my $15/month!

JonFitt @ Mar 5th 2008 3:28PM

Ugh. I hate game development driven by, "How can I monetize my franchise investment" over "I've got a good idea for something fun".

Everything that's wrong with the industry comes from people like Bobby Kotick.

Maverick Saturn @ Mar 5th 2008 3:33PM

I think its about time we had a darned FPS title that has you playing as an orc working for the government, sent to take out conspiring night elf parties in the depths of Isangard or something.

You and you fellow orcs have been equipped with bullet shooting clubs, which you can attach feathers to to work as silencers, if you must, you also have magical grenades which find your opponents and blow them up. While you are on this mission, you have elves firing at you and all sorts of other chaos.

Oh, and it should be MMO :) with the ability to collect money and items as you search for the conspirers.

James @ Mar 6th 2008 9:24AM

Uhm... sounds a lot like a shadowrun MMO. :P

SonofSeth @ Mar 6th 2008 6:43AM

"I think its about time we had a darned FPS title that has you playing as an orc working for the government, sent to take out conspiring night elf parties in the depths of Isangard or something."

Hey, I already play like that, but instead of orc, it's undead, and instead of Isangard, it's Ironforge.

Haletronic @ Mar 6th 2008 3:43PM

Don't even think about doing that! WoW is a great idea. CoD is a great idea. Leave the two alone! One thing Blizzard has done well - maintaining creative control of their projects from start to finish. That is what won them such a great rep in this industry. Don't go and mess it all up trying some strange mash-up.

/shakes head