Pachter: Activision needs to charge for Call of Duty multiplayer

Pachter would change his tone if he actually had to pay for any games he owns

you cod folks deserve this for having no standards in the first place.

Does this guy just live on negativity and absolutely ridiculously sounding ideas?

If Pachter had his way we would all be hooked up to IV's while gaming and Activision would take a small drop of our blood every minute we played.

I can tell you this much, I'm already upset with the COD franchise, and barely purchased this last one at all. (It's not like they don't milk us for more money with map packs, oh and they don't have to dedicate near as many servers for fps, just a matchmaker server the rest is hosted by players)  I've held out, but if they tried this crap I would no longer be playing their game.

I see where some are are coming with regard to DLC since no doubt there is a hefty profit margin within the DLC.  However, DLC has production costs and in terms of defining as a product can be separately identified to the core game.  A further identifying factor is that it is optional. 

This chap is talking about a different pricing model to further exploit the original product, the core game if you will.

My issue with the model being examined is that I do not think many purchase the COD games for single player.  Therefore there would have to be a drop in the cost of the original product for an idea of this ilk to have any legs at all.  

Thereafter, there would likely be a much lower take up in any case.  Whilst the alternative subscription model is likely to be more profitable it is also likely to make less money via the loss in volume of sales.  I personally avoid subscriptions and contract like the plague.  

It could be argued further that an exodus from COD would be caused and that this exodus would strengthen Activision's rivals and their franchises.  

I saw it mentioned below that there would be no chance that PC gamers would pay to play by way of subscription and I agree with that statement.  Activision may end up losing an entire demographic of gamers by presenting such a payment model.

I think that the bottom line is that, similar to most other things in life, you can't have your cake and eat it.  Activision is already thought of in a dim light amongst gamers (not its shareholders!!!) with regard to profiteering and a change to the pricing model of COD, such a popular and dare I say it influential game due to the masses it reaches, may well have further ramifications for Activision than the commentator anticipates.

I do enjoy a spot of COD myself, but also Battlefield and other franchises and so having said the above, if changing the pricing model brings Activision to its knees and introduces further competition among the market franchises (leading to better games) then I'm all for it :)

Michael Pachter, the only man who can be consistently wrong and not lose his job.....

MMO's are already moving away from the subscription services. This guy just sees money and no other variables.

That's just absurd- WOW is much deeper than a freakin FPS!  I would never, NEVER pay to play any FPS online!! 

die.

They play it all day because they can. You start charging, chances are half of them will just stop.

Online pass and their ilk is EVIL  - end of.

remember sheeple...the companies can only get away with what you allow them to...and unfortunately these days it seems that you all allow them to do whatever they want.

... a mistake because it keeps those people from buying and playing other games ...

well ea/bioware got there first, their multiplayer flagship me3 killed the replay value of me1&2, which is why the single player felt so much like a smack in the face.  Replay value is dying out fast because it doesn't make money.  genre is equally eradicated by these people, because it is too much work to cater for different likings, so now we are going to be stuck with mediocre games that are to appeal to everyone across the horizon...am i glad i kept all my old favourite games in the cupboard.  there won't be much money made out of me in the future. produce well made games and i am willing to pay that little bit more.  Quality is the future!

Get your dirty hands off my Grand Theft Auto Craptivision. You are satans spawn.

I think we need a diskike button or something to express our opinions on Pachter's ideas... this is supposed to be an artistic industry first.

Games dont sell if they concentrate on MAKING MONEY, they sell if they concentrate on being GOOD GAMES... Bethesda is not a bigger company than Acti/Ubi/EA; but I would never miss a Beth game, and i very rarely buy from Acti/Ubi/EA.

Comparing Call of Duty to World of Warcraft is completely and utterly moronic.  They are not comparable by any means.  Who the hell is this guy?  I sincerely hope nobody pays him any mind. 

He sounds like an idiot.  Who the hell would pay to play a first person shooter?  Keep that nonsense to yourself dude. 

no one would pay to play a shooter online the sales would fall like crazy

I don't play CoD, so it doesn't matter either way to me what they do with it. It just sounds like a lot of greed to me though to charge for MP when they already make enough money off the franchise as it is. My question is, how far will gamers let these publishers push them before they finally say they're tired of being ripped-off?

jesus shitty 15 bucks per 4 maps DLC aren't enough? 

if anyone buys the next COD deserves to pay more for supporting the most (and almost) Obnoxious company in the world of gaming 

honestly i used to play CoD back with MW1 sniping with my 50 cal out of barns windows and anything else i could find but when mw2 came out i saw exactly where it was going and haven't bought a single call of duty since course im not one of those that preach to stop buying their games based on my opinion but tbh every year every summer all i ever hear about is all the new hype for the next call of duty game and as a gamer and a media follower id love to hear about something else in the mainline media for awhile rather then "hey look the next clone with a diff look is coming out YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY" honestly it's come to a point where CoD should just come out with a onine as it's own game and charge like 5-10$ a month and get rid of the yearly crap and just update it normally it would be a much better idea then what this idiot is talking about 

Apparently nobody has ever told this guy about DLC 

umm isnt that what Elite and the Season Pass is for?!  I'm already nearing my tolerance limit with CoD games as it is. After they took out Hardcore FFA and replaced it with Kill Confirmed...AND for what ever reason they took out the spawn timer in Teamdeath match...I'm about ready to jump over and play Halo.  Atleast that game admits its BS.

Why stop there? Why not charge players for a combat advantage like juggernaut for an hour or superior weapons. They could be called premium perks. You could get free codes in doritoes and mountain dew. Heck how about a CoD energy drink with codes. Games could stop and start an auction for the win with players purchasing points and objectives. Get a prepaid CoD card and pay per game, link it to people's bank accounts make it autorenew and be very difficult to cancel. The possiblities are endless.

Considering more than 60% of the Call of Duty audience is 15 and under I would personally love for this to happenIt would push people away from Call Of Duty and perhaps the over-stagnation of "I wana be like CoD" Shooters would finally settle down. 

This guy is just talking out of his ass. Activision already has map packs, the Elite subscription service, and in the future online use will require an exclusive code preventing used game players from getting online for free. 

I.Will.Never.Pay.Monthly.Fees.When.I.Already.Pay.For.XboxLive.

Did he really just compare WoW's month-to-month content and the amount of TLC is receives from its developer on a daily basis to CoD? Wow. Pachter's general knowledge of the video game industries' finances do not properly reflect on this particular situation.

"I know the game sells billions of dollars. Activision did a bad thing with Call of Duty from a profit perspective," Pachter said. "They trained gamers that you can buy a game and play it all year, ten hours a week, forever, and you never have to pay again. You just wait for the next Call of Duty. I promise you there are plenty of people, numbering in the millions, who play one game, which is Call of Duty, and they never stop." All of you people who call the guy a lunatic and says he's wrong pay attention. Capcom put on disc DLC on a lot of there games and people still brought them. Other companies charge for trinkets and people still buy them.Games with Online Passes people still buy them.Madden is the same game every year and people still buy it.Black Ops is the same game and people still buy it. Patcher is right.The CoD drones will buy anything no matter what hoops they have to jump through to get their fix.Even with the charge they'll still go for it.In a buisness p.o.v go with the charge the CoD drones will go for it just like DLC drones who buy trinkets.Its wrong though because of course if that works all multiplayer for a majority of games may get a charge which in turn will be to the detriment of all gamers.Drones don't care.They like a product and want to be associated with that product they'll do whatever to get their fix even if it hurts gamers in the long run.This WHOLE ENTIRE GAMING GENERATION IS PROOF OF THAT. I agree with Patcher.Make the money drones will buy it.I like that he said they were trained.Seeing fanboys defend the game like they do is proof of that.I hate the idea but as I said business wise Patcher's correct.