call-of-duty-online posts

While Activision Blizzard has not officially said it has plans to have gamers start to play its games online, Wedbush Morgan Securitites analyst Michael Pachter is convinced that the publisher is going to do just that. IndustryGamers reports that in a new analyst note, Pachter states, " ... we expect to see Activision lead the way by creating a new system some time before the end of the year."

Activision Blizzard already has World of Warcraft with a mandatory monthly subscription service and the just released StarCraft II also has a subscription model in some countries. Pachter believes, " . . . we do not think that charges for premium content will be mandatory, and we expect the publishers to continue to provide some form of online multiplayer for free." However he adds that charging for online multiplayer will be important for two reasons. One is that he thinks that if it happens less people will play online. Those folks "will likely begin purchasing packaged products again." The other reason, according to Pachter, is such a service "should drive higher revenues and profits for the publishers who charge."

Activision Blizzard execs like its CEO Bobby Kotick have stated on more than one occasion that the publisher would like to take its successful first person shooter franchise Call of Duty and move it into a more persistent online game genre similar to an MMO. Now an analyst is predicting that such a move in China could net the company some big bucks.

According to IndustryGamers, Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey is predicting that a Call of Duty Online game could generate "an additional +$50 to +$100 million in sales" in its first year in China alone. Activision Blizzard already has an agreement with China-based NetEase to run Blizzard's MMO World of Warcraft. So far Activision Blizzard has not officially announced any such plan to release such an Call of Duty Online game in China or any other region of the world.