Call of Duty Elite Details Come Early

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Activision will reveal a new subscription-based online service for Xbox 360 and PS3 called Call of Duty Elite. The Call of Duty Elite subscription would supplement Call of Duty releases - such as the upcoming Modern Warfare 3 - with extra content such as multiplayer maps, new game modes, and community features. While a fee hasn't been revealed (it might be later today when the embargo on Elite lifts and media outlets get the courage to talk about it) some have suggested that it will cost about as much as a Netflix streaming account (around $8 a month).

Even at this early hour, Activision is correcting those in the community that are calling Elite "paid multiplayer." Inifnity Ward's Robert Bowling spent a great deal of time this morning on Twitter telling people that Modern Warfare 3 will still have a full and complete multiplayer component that won't require Elite.

In one of his tweets, Bowling describes Elite the best with the following tweet:

"It's a service outside the game built for the game."

We'll have more on Elite later today, but WSJ sums up the feelings of many consumers who are learning about Elite for the first time:

"The plan—which comes a week ahead of the videogame industry's big E3 trade show in Los Angeles—is a potentially risky bet by Activision that it can further milk profits from consumers, who could feel the $60 they spend on "Call of Duty" in stores is enough. Charging a monthly subscription fee is more common for multiplayer games that run on personal computers."

Source: Wall Street Journal