Paid Subscribers to ‘Call of Duty Elite’ Top One Million; Service Still ‘Intermittent’

Premium memberships to Activision Publishing’s new Call of Duty Elite gaming service have quickly topped one million, establishing a new subscription business for the publisher's multi-billion-dollar franchise. Yet Activision said that demand for the Elite service has so exceeded its expectations that the publisher continues to grapple with “scaling challenges.” The service remains “intermittent,” Kotaku reports. In acknowledgment of Elite’s launch hiccups, said Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg, “we are giving all Call of Duty Elite premium Founder members an additional 30 days of the service free of charge.” Purchasers of the new “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” video game (released November 8th) pay an additional $49.99 to receive a year’s worth of digital content and social gaming extras via the Elite online network. Activision said that some three million “Modern Warfare 3” players have registered for a free version of the digital service, which enables users to create online profiles and join multiplayer gaming groups. The "Elite" service has changed Activision's marketing dynamic with retailers as well. GameStop, for itself, is touting its role in “delivering” 600,000 paid Elite subscriptions, thanks to its pre-order partnerships with Activision and console makers Microsoft and Sony. (Best Buy markets Elite subscriptions as well.) “Modern Warfare 3” sold 6.5 million copies on the first day of its release in North America and the UK, according to Activision (via PC Magazine).