With many console gamers already paying a subscription fee to play their games online, the idea of paying for a premium stat-tracking and social-networking service for Call of Duty may seem like a ridiculous notion. Putting aside any initial hesitancy, Call of Duty Elite drew in an impressive number of subscribers. With such a strong brand behind it, the success shouldn’t have been a surprise. With the series’ recent decline in sales though, Activision has decided to shut down Call of Duty Elite as of February 28th, 2014 at approximately 10:00 a.m. (PST).
For those that are worried they will lose out on the content that they uploaded through Elite, Activision promises that all content that is stored in-game or on YouTube will continue to remain available. Even though the service may be disappearing, it doesn’t mean your 360 no-scope montages have to. In addition to this, those who supported Elite as Founding Members will get to keep their in-game emblem and will receive a two hour XP boost for Ghosts.
Those wishing to retain access to the management of their clans in Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops II will not be so lucky. With the shutting down of Elite, these services will also be going offline. As with the other Elite-based content, Activision encourages its users to switch to the official mobile app to continue using these features in Ghosts and future series iterations.
While it might not be the juggernaut that it once was, the Call of Duty franchise is still going strong. After facing issues with its next-gen iteration, it looks as though Sledgehammer Games intends to put next-gen first with the series’ next game. With a new set of consoles, maybe it’s time for the Call of Duty franchise to revitalize itself and take some big risks, proving that they too are capable of innovation.
Do you think the shutting down of Call of Duty Elite is at all representative of the series’ declining sales? What do you think the Call of Duty series needs to do to revitalize itself?
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Source: Activision
