14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts, after criticizing Activision’s Call of Duty Elite online service last year, has now started complimenting its rival’s strategy, saying that it managed to please both gamers and actual retailers with the Elite strategy.
EA and Activision were engaged in a bitter fight towards the end of 2011, as both companies were set to deploy big first person shooters, in the form of Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, respectively.
Alongside the actual games, two distinct online features, Battlelog and Call of Duty Elite, were also deployed. While both wanted to deliver a social network-like experience, Elite went one step further by offering extra features like exclusive access to DLC, for a premium subscription.
While EA criticized this move by touting Battlelog’s completely free nature, the company’s new Chief Operating Officer, Peter Moore, has decided to compliment Activision on the Elite strategy.
"To Activision's credit, what they did with Elite - certainly when you speak to retailers who were selling the cards, and you speak to gamers who think it's a great deal - they've done a phenomenal job in marketing digital content going forward," the executive told Kotaku.
Moore went on, saying that EA was also in the process of fleshing out its digital content strategy and that the Elite business model was a viable solution.
"Certainly we've got a digital content flow yet to be announced on that," he added. "We will look at different business models that will make a good value for the consumer. We continue to look at how we keep the disc in the drive, as we say."
EA is currently running several digital programs to keep customers playing its games, from Battlefield 3’s Battlelog, to the Gun Club for other shooters, to the Ultimate Team for its FIFA soccer simulators, each proving to be quite successful.
According to these recent statements, more changes will soon be made.