14 DAY TRIAL // Activision's new Beachhead studio, which will oversee online content creation for the Call of Duty series, may offer many of its new products for free, in order to further cement the popularity of the franchise, according to Michael Pachter.
Activision revealed last month that a new studio has been formed, Beachhead, which is going to oversee the creation of an "all-new digital platform for the Call of Duty franchise" and that it's going to produce a "best-in-class online community, exclusive content and a suite of services for our Call of Duty fans to supercharge the online gaming experience like never before."
According to Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, this probably means that Activision will offer some of the content made by Beachhead for free, in order to really gain an advantage over Call of Duty competitors, like Electronic Arts' Battlefield series.
"We have long believed that Activision would begin to offer a premium multiplayer experience for its Call of Duty brand, beginning early in 2011," Pachter said. "With the company's recent announcement of Project Beachhead, it acknowledged that such a premium service is in the works, but details about pricing were not provided.”
The analyst goes on, saying that if Activision can continue to make new Call of Duty games that sell over 20 million units each year, Beachhead's role will be to support the yearly iterations with solid free content in order to keep players hooked.
"Given the surprising strength of each successive version of Call of Duty over the last few years, we now think it is possible that Activision will use its premium service as a loss leader, providing the service for free to create a more formidable barrier to entry by its competitors; we think it is possible that Project Beachhead will incorporate 'must have' features that will serve to drive ever-increasing sales of each annual Call of Duty instalment, encouraging all of the multiplayer consumers to purchase the next version on launch date."
If Activision will follow this strategy, the company will further cement the popularity and sales of the franchise as a whole, making it practically impervious to any attempts made by its rivals.