Post by red16 on May 10, 2011 5:43:12 GMT -5
The new Beachhead project was announced earlier in the year, but it was never very clear what it was - other than some sort of new online service for Call Of Duty. Activision are still being frustratingly vague, although whatever it is, it will be used by this year's new game.
'This platform will include a suite of services and content plan that will unite and ignite the community like never before. The platform will support in-game integration and bring online experiences and console play together for the first time,' said Activision during an investor call.
'It's been in development for almost two years and we're very excited about the increased value and excitement we can bring to our community through this platform.'
Activision has emphasised that all the current online options in games like Black Ops will still be free in the future, but that elements of the Beachhead service will cost money. That probably means either microtransactions or an Xbox Live style subscription.
Current rumours suggest that this year's Call Of Duty game will be Modern Warfare 3 and that it will be announced in June, for a rumoured 8th November release date.
Whether that means the game will be unveiled at E3 in early June or later in the month isn't clear, but Activision does have a proper booth at the expo this year - which they didn't last time when they announced Black Ops in April.
Activision did spare a few words for the new game though, insisting that: 'The creative excellence and sheer scale of the game we are making, and the unprecedented online universe that will accompany it, will reset the bar for this genre, giving players a new level of immersion, connectivity, community and, of course, epic action.'
The mega publisher also reminded investors that it was working on a free-to-play and microtransaction filled spin-off created specifically for the Chinese market. Again there were no real details but repurposing existing games for Asia in this way is already a common tactic amongst other Western publishers such as EA and THQ.
Activision was in such chatty mood because they've just announced their latest financial results, where profits were up from $381 million to $503 million for the last three months.
Much of this was down to downloadable map pack First Strike, which broke Xbox Live launch records with 1.4 million downloads in the first 24 hours. Sales are currently 20 per cent up on Modern Warfare 2's map packs - so much for the idea of people getting fed up of the series.
'This platform will include a suite of services and content plan that will unite and ignite the community like never before. The platform will support in-game integration and bring online experiences and console play together for the first time,' said Activision during an investor call.
'It's been in development for almost two years and we're very excited about the increased value and excitement we can bring to our community through this platform.'
Activision has emphasised that all the current online options in games like Black Ops will still be free in the future, but that elements of the Beachhead service will cost money. That probably means either microtransactions or an Xbox Live style subscription.
Current rumours suggest that this year's Call Of Duty game will be Modern Warfare 3 and that it will be announced in June, for a rumoured 8th November release date.
Whether that means the game will be unveiled at E3 in early June or later in the month isn't clear, but Activision does have a proper booth at the expo this year - which they didn't last time when they announced Black Ops in April.
Activision did spare a few words for the new game though, insisting that: 'The creative excellence and sheer scale of the game we are making, and the unprecedented online universe that will accompany it, will reset the bar for this genre, giving players a new level of immersion, connectivity, community and, of course, epic action.'
The mega publisher also reminded investors that it was working on a free-to-play and microtransaction filled spin-off created specifically for the Chinese market. Again there were no real details but repurposing existing games for Asia in this way is already a common tactic amongst other Western publishers such as EA and THQ.
Activision was in such chatty mood because they've just announced their latest financial results, where profits were up from $381 million to $503 million for the last three months.
Much of this was down to downloadable map pack First Strike, which broke Xbox Live launch records with 1.4 million downloads in the first 24 hours. Sales are currently 20 per cent up on Modern Warfare 2's map packs - so much for the idea of people getting fed up of the series.