Analyst: Call of Duty Online could make $100 million in its first year

Rumors have been flying around about a subscription-based Call of Duty game for some time now -- Activision boss Bobby Kotick loves the idea, because he loves money, and the company's other subscription-based game, World of Warcraft, is quite the cash-printing machine. So why not go down that road?

Many still believe Activision will, including Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey. With the publisher's plans to break into China and Korea, Hickey told IndustryGamers he sees Call of Duty as the perfect platform for accomplishing that goal and strengthening ties with NetEase, the online powerhouse of the Chinese market. "We expect the Company [NetEase] could extend their relationship with Activision Blizzard, by establishing an additional license to operate Call of Duty Online in China and Blizzard's unannounced MMO, which will likely leverage their Battle.net platform," he said. "The eventuality of COD in China could bring an additional +$50 to +$100 million in sales and +$0.15 to +$0.30 in EPS in its first year of operation." EPS, to clarify, is short for "earnings per share."

Who knows what's in store for the future, but for now, rest assured: you won't ever have to fork over extra cash to play Modern Warfare 2 online.

Reader Comments (36)

I hope this does happen. This is a great way to make sure the FPS genre's oversaturation grinds to a halt.

That $60+ a year from gamers just isn't enough for Activision.

@Wiizer

YES!! totally agree.

Soo sick of all these FPS sequels. It's definitely stifling development of other types of genres/games.

@Wiizer
This shit won't fly. Unless COD becomes a MMO no one is going to pay to play.

Spoiler: No, it won't.

@Altairio I'm pretty sure it would.

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze

You can't just assume that all sales of previous COD games would count as sales for COD Online.
I personally think it would not be half as popular as they assume. People would just find a cheaper, better FPS to play.
It isn't hard.

@den69 I think you're seriously over-estimating the decision making abilities of your average Call of Duty fan, those of which that make up the vast majority of CoD sales, and have none of the blind hatred for Activision that most of us 'hardcores' do.

If they charge for Call of Duty Online.. they will make a fortune. It's not hard.

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze

True that's always been my problem lol, I assume people are smarter than they are.

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze
Many of those same non-hardcore people are not going to understand WTF is going on when the game requires them to set up a recurring monthly payment. I also wonder how the twitch community of CoD will mesh with the grindfest, community-oriented mentality of the MMORPG.

Also, you think it will sell like hotcakes just because it's Call of Duty? What about the Sims Online? That was The SIMS for crying out loud. The most moneymakingest franchise ever... And the MMO version tanked. I'm not saying it will definitely fail, but there's factors you need to consider. It's not an auto-success.

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze My roomate loves CoD multiplayer, he's on like his sixth cycle of MW2. He went through 5 or 6 in WaW and the same for the first MW. He's already tired of Activision charging so much for the map packs so he won't even buy the newest map pack. And when I told him the rumor that they wanted to charge to play online he said "How is Bad Company 2?". People may be dumb, but they're also cheap. Almost everyone I knows who played MMORPG quit when they started charging $15 a month instead of $10.

http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/154322-activision.jpg

"Analysts" need to STFU.

And in their next payment plan, Activision will require your bodies and souls to play MW3, lol. Which they spent 2 weeks making.

@ZexionArmando

But not before firing the entire team behind the game just as it goes gold, so they dont have to pay salaries or bonuses.

It'd be cool if COD Online had territorial control on a big seamless scale.

Well they could shutdown the servers of previous Cods on consoles since there are dedicated servers on pc to make Ppl mad but they know their fanbase will still pay.

You guys realize that this is the MMO Blizzard is working on, right?

So explain to me again how China is going to fall in love with a game where they play as western military forces defending democracy and all that good stuff?

Sounds like a stupid idea to me. I already pay Microsoft to play online so why should I have to cough up more money to play FPS in the near future?

But wait....I can play on my PS3 for free?

@The MARIO
Yes. And play all the modded, hacked, laggy, etc. games you want.

@Catalyst691

Uhmm what makes you think COD: Online won't try be hacked? If they did on PS3/#60 they can do it on PC.

@The MARIO

so much fail on my reply.

What makes you think CoD: Online won't be hacked? If people did it on PS3/360, You think they are not gonna try it on PC?

fixed/

@The MARIO

I'm not saying that COD: Online won't be hacked. I'm just saying that almost every game I play online on my PS3 (Killzone 2, MOD2, etc) are all heavily modded by the community and almost no fun to play. You get what you pay for. Anyway, back to Halo 3 :D

@Thrasher666
Pay per level.

@daytripper Pay per bullet

greed is a hell of a drug.

@Paradox596 pay per click.
And install a hidden keylogger that detects every click on the computer.

I think they are making a mistake and I can't wait to see them fail, it will be so friggin funny!!

I hope they try implementing this and the gamer community boycotts future call of duty games, I will be partaking in that boycott. I refuse to pay 60 dollars for a game, then pay 40 bucks for xbox live, then pay another fee just to play an fps. Subscription to WoW is one thing, cod is a different story.

Check out my opinion on my youtube video plus I have better facts as well! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF2xKjiN0jE

Stopped reading at analyst, read the comments, had to go back and make sure this was all pure speculation from a source with absolutely zero credibility, and it was.

Battlefield bad company 2 and medal of honor

Totally over the whole Call of Duty thing now. Next please...

I kinda hope this happens. it will cement Activision as the evil empire they really are. Bobby Kotick is satan and Activision is hell.

Alternately Bobby Kotick is The Emperor and Activision is the Death Star.

analysts are wrong, it will probably be a huge flop and everyone will just play "medal of honor: we're not copying, honest" instead.

Analyst: Call of Duty Online could make $100 million in its first year

Reader Comments (36)

Posted: Jul 30th 2010 10:34PM Wiizer said

Posted: Jul 30th 2010 10:53PM Hawaii Jeff said

Posted: Jul 31st 2010 3:50AM daytripper said

Posted: Jul 30th 2010 10:35PM Altairio said

Posted: Jul 30th 2010 10:36PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Jul 30th 2010 10:53PM den69 said

Posted: Jul 30th 2010 11:08PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Jul 30th 2010 11:23PM den69 said

Posted: Jul 31st 2010 12:59AM sigma8 said

Posted: Jul 31st 2010 2:44AM Genaldar said

Posted: Jul 30th 2010 10:36PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Jul 30th 2010 10:37PM Bubbameister33 said

Posted: Jul 30th 2010 10:41PM ZexionArmando said

Posted: Jul 30th 2010 10:45PM DevilSei said

Posted: Jul 30th 2010 10:59PM GuardianLegend said

Posted: Jul 30th 2010 11:21PM Alaon said

Posted: Jul 31st 2010 12:07AM jimplayercoop said

Posted: Jul 31st 2010 12:52AM sigma8 said

Posted: Jul 31st 2010 1:55AM SRC101 said

Posted: Jul 31st 2010 2:14AM The MARIO said

Posted: Jul 31st 2010 2:25AM Catalyst691 said

Posted: Jul 31st 2010 3:28AM The MARIO said

Posted: Jul 31st 2010 3:30AM The MARIO said

Posted: Aug 18th 2010 4:44AM Catalyst691 said

Posted: Jul 31st 2010 3:58AM daytripper said

Posted: Jul 31st 2010 8:12AM Paradox596 said

Posted: Jul 31st 2010 2:42PM golobulus said

Posted: Jul 31st 2010 3:04PM Teh Rei said

Posted: Jul 31st 2010 3:14PM Turbotim3 said

Posted: Jul 31st 2010 4:55PM buzski said

Posted: Aug 1st 2010 1:26AM WGD BATMAN said

Posted: Aug 1st 2010 2:42AM ticklefist said

Posted: Aug 1st 2010 3:51AM PICKLEBOY said

Posted: Aug 1st 2010 7:45AM Tomsta666 said

Posted: Aug 1st 2010 6:46PM Undying said

Posted: Aug 2nd 2010 1:46PM Swizzler said

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