In previous interviews, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has indicated he's big on the idea of a subscription model for Call of Duty, the premier multiplayer shooter on Xbox Live. But is it possible something along these lines is already in the works for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2? A new video suggests as much.
A user on 360Junkies has recorded a tale and a video that demonstrates something could possibly be afoot on Xbox Live Marketplace with the multiplayer portion of Infinity Ward's lauded and ever-popular shooter. According to this user, "PwnShop," while browsing to jump into a friend's room the other day, he was greeted with a menu asking for some sort of membership fee.
UPDATE: This video is a fake. More below.
Call of Duty is so widely played, it's subjected to a larger variety of unusual abuses than most games. This also means that an even wider audience of talented tricksters is in the game's user pool. So, to be fair, this could be nothing more than a clever fake created to stimulate massive response from the game's dedicated and large fan base.
The question as to why Activision would bother slapping a membership fee on a rather old game as opposed to, say, Treyarch's forthcoming offering is certainly a valid one. I've contacted an Activision representative about this video's integrity and will update when I get a response.
UPDATE: Activision still hasn't responded to my inquiry, but no worries--Infinity Ward's community manager Robert Bowling has squashed this rumor via Twitter. "Modern Warfare 2 subscription plan rumors going around," he said three hours ago. "For the record, nobody has to pay to play COD or MW2 multiplayer, nor will they." Josh Olin, Treyarch's community manager, has also chimed in. "No, you will not have to pay to play [Call of Duty: Black Ops] multiplayer either," he said.