Activision Fights Complacency With Black Ops II Elite Offer

Undoubtedly the biggest news today so far is Activisions decision to offer Call of Duty: Elite for free to all who purchase Black Ops II. And even though some heads are in a virulent spin over what seems, at first glance, to be a charitable donation from a company famous for their miserly ways, to say such a thing is probably wearing the rose colored glasses a little close to the face.

The release reads:

“‘We’ve learned a lot in our first year of Call of Duty Elite, and we’re very proud that we over delivered on our commitment of playable content to our premium members,’ said Activision Publishing CEO, Eric Hirshberg. ‘What we have realized is that several of the Call of Duty Elite services which are currently only available to our premium members for Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3 are things that would further unite, engage and delight our player community. So we are going to make them free for Call of Duty: Black Ops II.’”

The colossal point of note however is this, the service will be made free to those who sign onto another round of COD service with Black Ops II, but not to anyone else. So the idea that you're getting more for your money is a bit dampened by the fact that not only is this not much more than a particularly smart marketing move, but also that services offered in Elite are easily offered for free by competitors like the Battlefield series.

And I would imagine that with the currently popularity of Battlefield, Activision is starting to feel the sting.

No company running a popular FPS releases their play numbers publicly, but you can be sure that they are watched closely by internals constantly looking to assess their own product. However, I don't think it's out of the range of speculation that the COD franchise has taken a hit in recent years. The series has mostly proved that it has little ability to evolve -and there is argument to be made that there really is no reason for it to- so it's main enemy at the moment is gamer complacency. An idea that there's no need to sign on to the next iteration when things are going just fine where they are. Or as Activision surely see's it; something particularly wicked. 

Natural migration will spur a good segment of the user-base to move to the new title -as their friends move on and they do as well, simply to be a part of the group- but there is an entirely different segment of gamers who require more motivation, and to offer them a free ticket into Elite is a fine way of accomplishing that.

Pre-orders for Black Ops II are currently through the roof, and there is speculation that this may be the biggest game release of all time. Does Activision need to sell more copies by giving away Elite? Not really. But when you get to a point where you're as big as Activision “needing the money” doesn't even factor in. They certainly don't need the money, and if that was what their business model was based upon they would simply close up shop and retire. The idea is to make a maximum profit margin for investors; a particularly skittish group of people who see any profit-fall as the demise of a great civilization.

Come hell or high water, Activision intends on making them very, very happy.