There’s a video that made the rounds today of a 360 player getting a glitchy, incomplete message that uses the phrase “Modern Warfare 2″ and half of the word “membership.” Uh oh — does this mean Activision will start charging for COD multiplayer? No, it does not.
This video shows just a glitch — since you can access a Live subscription renewal from within the MW2 game interface, it appears some data got jammed between two parts of Live. It’s not a secret portal to some nefarious plot to charge people for COD multiplayer — and there are no plans to do that. As I was poking around for some answers, Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling addressed it on Twitter:
Modern Warfare 2 subscription plan rumors going around. For the record, nobody has to pay to play COD or MW2 multiplayer, nor will they.
UPDATE: Robert has also added a blog post on the topic where he confirms that no subscription plan for MW2 exists nor is one being planned.
UPDATE: To me, that was pretty clear that we’re talking about COD as a whole. But just in case you are worried that this only covers MW2, Treyarch’s Josh Olin has added a bit more clarity for the upcoming COD: Black Ops:
No, you will not have to ‘Pay to Play’ #CODBlackOps Multiplayer either. Rumor -> Squashed.
UPDATE: Activision has given IGN an official statement as well:
Reports of a subscription membership in Modern Warfare 2 are not true. Activision has no plans to charge gamers to play Call of Duty multiplayer.
Obviously, if you are playing on Xbox 360, you will need to pay for your Xbox Live Gold subscription as you currently do. But there will be no additional fees to play MW2 or Black Ops.
People often assume the worst, so thanks to all the people who asked if this was real or not before they reacted. There are often logical answers to those kind of questions.
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Awesome blog post Dan! Will be spreading this post around the various CoD Communities. We got quite a few people worried on the boards. This'll help out.
And I can understand why they would be worried. But as often happens, all the rumors and speculation and fears were fueled by statements made by people who do not work at Infinity Ward, Treyarch, or Activision.
The sad part is that everyone believes this now. Look at IGN's comments section. Call of Duty is now all of a sudden hated by everyone.
Nice. It seems people are eager to jump the gun if it means hating on Activision. It's like the gaming community vs EA Games all over again.
Oh, and JD_2020 just confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops won't have it either.
Well, there was that one quote from Kotick being disappointed that he's not getting a share of the Xbox Live Gold subscriptions….
Thanks for clearing this up Dan. I saw some threads going crazy with wild speculation with little fact.
Yes, I saw that quote. The guy is entitled to his opinion — but he was not announcing a fee for playing multiplayer.
If those leaps of logic were true, I would have noted the fact that I have not received a new guitar in some time — and then one would magically appear, because someone would have bought me one.
Well, if you see anyone who is confused or upset and has the wrong facts…just link to this post. That's why it's here!
It is the internet, after all.
People blew this out of proportion. I titled the video as a past tense phrase. I speculated that it was something they had “planned” on, but obviously it was scrapped since we were playing for free. I had no idea it would cause this much uproar. I think it's funny that almost every reference I saw to my post on 360junkies.com omitted the last part of my post where I stated that I may be wrong with my take on what the menu was. – PwnShop
Bad news travels far faster than objectivity, Pwn. Thanks for chiming in; I saw your original post and wanted to make sure that what I wrote above did not call you a liar in any way — you saw what you saw and I don't doubt that. It just wasn't what people assumed it meant, and that's what I had to clarify.
I agree with you that people blew it out of proportion!
Thanks for this! Was incredibly sceptical of that video, glad to have some concrete confirmation that it is bullcrap. Definitely going to spread this link around and let people know.
Between him and Pachter people have been going crazy. Glad to hear it isnt true Dan. Thanks for the update.
Give it time, they'll find a time/way to charge monthly. This is a business. You really think Actvi is in it for the gamer?!? Anyone kissing Dan's arss is misinformed.
Unfounded cynicism is out, Giles. The hot new trend is reacting to things as they happen, not before they never happen.
Nobody's kissing my ass, but nobody else is coming in with a sour reaction to good news, either. If this isn't your vibe, don't come here.
what about other future titles?
Have you read the recent article with Pachter in your alma-mater magazine (i.e. OXM)? His prediction is that in the very near future we'll be paying to play multiplayer games. So I can see how anyone who might have read that article and then seen this information could jump to that conclusion. My personal opinion is that Pachter talks to hear himself talk.
My concern is that there is no info on the “action adventure” game being made by sledgehammer games.
And i have a feeling that it will be a pay to play game.
Thanks for setting the record straight, Dan. As usual, your clear voice is appreciated amid all the hype. :)
My job is to clarify facts. His is not.
“Activision has no plans to charge gamers to play Call of Duty multiplayer.” “Nobody has to pay to play COD, nor will they.”
Don't know how much more clear they can be, Jem!
Like I said…I understand reactions to things that actually happen, but I can't get behind negative reactions to things that haven't happened, or anger over assumptions. Whenever Sledgehammer is ready to show what they're working on, that's the time to react.
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