14 DAY TRIAL // Without a doubt this week has been dominated by the Call of Duty franchise, not just through the actual Modern Warfare 3 game, for which we already published our review, but also by the Call of Duty Elite online service, which was supposed to offer a comprehensive experience that complemented the regular multiplayer mode from Modern Warfare 3.
Sadly, things didn't go so well for Elite, as Activision underestimated the millions of players that would access the online service and the whole thing quickly crashed, preventing players from registering for the Elite, even those who already bought premium memberships, although they'll get a free month as compensation.
This failed release of Call of Duty Elite should became a textbook lesson of what to avoid when trying to deploy an online experience that's certain to be accessed by millions, something like the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic online role playing game, which will be launched by Electronic Arts and BioWare on December 20, this year.
Join me as I explain two major mistakes made by Activision and how EA could avoid them to ensure that the millions of people interested in The Old Republic will have a great experience next month.
First up, and probably the most obvious, is the fact that Activision knew it would sell many millions of Modern Warfare 3 right on its first day, and it was pretty clear that most of those new customers would want to access Call of Duty Elite as soon as possible.
The company explained that it underestimated the amount of interest in Elite, so its low number of servers couldn't handle the load. This should definitely prompt EA to buy even more servers for The Old Republic, in order to ensure that this issue won't happen with its online games, especially since it's much more reliant on servers, being a game, than Elite, which is a less intensive stat tracking service.
EA already mentioned that it will gradually roll out the Star Wars title through early access events, in order to make sure that its systems won't crash under the strain. However, Activision already had a beta stage for Elite and it certainly didn't help it once Modern Warfare 3 was released.
The second problem was that Activision didn't really have a backup plan in place in case its Elite service would crumble. Quite a few days have passed since the release of Modern Warfare 3, and only just yesterday did the company confirm that premium Elite subscribers would get a free month of access added to the accounts.
EA should have a plan B and immediately reveal that compensations will be given to players who are unable to get into the Star Wars: The Old Republic experience, even if they paid good money for the game and its subscription.
Hopefully, Activision will get Call of Duty Elite back on its feet and other gaming companies, EA in particular, will learn from its mistakes.