14 DAY TRIAL // It seems like the BMO Capital Markets forum had a vital piece of information that was initially overlooked. Activision is seriously considering releasing more game features at additional costs. Activision's CFO, Tom Tippl, said that, unlike what we might think, this was what the players demanded and it was not entirely the company's idea. “It's definitely an aspiration that we see potential in, particularly as we look at different business models to monetize the online gameplay,” Tippl added. “There's good knowledge exchange happening between the Blizzard folks and our online guys.”
Tippl further explained that, “We have great experience also on Call of Duty with the success we had on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. A lot of that knowledge is getting actually built into the Battle.Net platform and the design of that. I think it's been mutually beneficial, and you should expect us to test and ultimately launch additional online monetization models of some of our biggest franchises like Call of Duty.” Some of you, if not the overwhelming majority, might think that this is entirely untrue, and does in no way reflect the general opinion of the gaming community.
But Tippls has some solid information, and it seems that, indeed, this is what gamers want. “Our gamers are telling us there's lots of services and innovation they would like to see that they're not getting yet. From what we see so far, additional content, as well as all the services Blizzard is offering, is that there is demand from the core gamers to pay up for that,” Tippl concluded. So, it's not that players are willing to pay up for additional content and features, it's that they are demanding to do so.
Their love for Activision is so great, that the thought of taking even the smallest advantage of the company and using some of its additional products without paying in full, or even more than that, is incomprehensible. We don't really know to whom exactly did Tippl talked, but, if he really found gamers out there that demanded to give money to Activision, someone should talk to their supervising psychiatrists and not allow the straightjacket-fashion maniacs to fill in any more surveys.