Amid debates about whether Black Ops 2 is going to be as successful as its predecessors, we can turn to recent information revealed during Activision’s quarterly earnings report call for some statistics about the franchise’s popularity. According to the company, its Call of Duty Elite subscription service now has more than 12 million subscribers, with over 2 million of those paying for their subscriptions.
What is Call of Duty Elite? This is the subscription service that players can sign up for which greatly enhances the value of their game purchases. With a free account you can create a career player profile, create-a-class online, join a clan, share HD video, access COD Elite apps, and more. If you pay for premium membership, you can receive the Elite DLC season of content, which keeps multiplayer and co-op modes fresh for a whole year with new maps, missions, and more. You can level up your clans, participate in annual competitions, receive pro analysis and strategy, view COD Elite TV, and more. This package carries you through a year of experiences and then transitions you into the release of the next Call of Duty game.
During the call, CEO Eric Hirshberg discussed the success of the franchise. “Call of Duty is one of the biggest entertainment franchises of all time, and player engagement with the brand continues to set new records. With Call of Duty Elite, we’ve had historic successes combined with some important learnings. At least 2.3 million premium members and over 12 million registered users are remarkable achievements. When taken in combination with the record engagement of the Call of Duty franchise overall, there is strong evidence of tremendous continued engagement with the franchise. That said, we still feel we have a long way to go.”
The current Call of Duty Elite subscription service supports Modern Warfare 3, with the last couple of DLC packages coming out between now and September. In November, when Call of Duty Black Ops 2 comes out, Elite will support the development of that game. Right now the service is only available to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 users. Right now there’s no word on whether the service will be available to PC users in the future, though in the past there were plans to do so. One can certainly imagine that would add to the subscriber base and Activision’s bottom line. We’re just three days from the multiplayer reveal for Black Ops 2—one of the biggest moments that COD fans have been waiting for all year. Check back in for more details in just a few days!