Call of Duty Elite free with Black Ops 2, DLC season pass sold separately

Call of Duty Elite will be a free service upon the launch of Black Ops 2, as DLC is being separated from the plan and sold a la carte or via Season Pass.

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Activision is making some major changes to its "Elite" initiative with the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Namely, the company announced today that Elite services will be free when the game launches, while downloadable content packs will be for sale separately either a la carte or as part of a Season Pass.

Unlike Modern Warfare 3, the "season of content" for Black Ops 2 will stick to the more traditional map pack model. Activision has announced plans for four DLC packs, which will include both multiplayer and new Zombies content. Each is priced at $15. A discounted Season Pass will be available for $49.99. They'll start hitting in 2013.

The (newly-free) Elite features will include a Player HQ for personal statistics and class modification, Clan HQ for clan stats, zombie statistics, "Elite TV" with developer tips and interviews, and social features. This is apparently the promised Elite 2.0 version of the service Activision promised in February.

"We've learned a lot in our first year of Call of Duty Elite, and we're very proud that we over delivered on our commitment of playable content to our premium members," said Activision Publishing CEO, Eric Hirshberg in the announcement. "What we have realized is that several of the Call of Duty Elite services which are currently only available to our premium members for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 are things that would further unite, engage and delight our player community. So we are going to make them free for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2."

This is the second sign of Activision paring down some of its ambitious plans surrounding the Call of Duty franchise, after the company decided not to hold another Call of Duty XP event. This also puts the service more in line with EA's "Battlelog" service that was introduced with Battlefield 3.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    October 15, 2012 9:11 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Call of Duty Elite free with Black Ops 2, DLC season pass sold separately.

    Call of Duty Elite will be a free service upon the launch of Black Ops 2, as DLC is being separated from the plan and sold a la carte or via Season Pass.

    • reply
      October 15, 2012 6:24 PM

      TLDR: We realized that we should have given the things that were free for free all along and start charging money for the things that we should be charging money for.

    • reply
      October 15, 2012 6:29 PM

      Someone get me more info on the PC version plox.

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        October 15, 2012 8:04 PM

        I thought you hated this kind of game. :-|

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          October 15, 2012 8:14 PM

          I really didn't like any of the CoD games until playing the first Black Ops. I still have my reservations but really really enjoyed my time with Black Ops and enjoyed MW3 as well (though the way they handle servers is just atrocious).

          I still have trouble getting into BF3 though I recognize it as a really good game and had some really fun times ... it never hooked me like Black Ops did.

          I had a slow transition from Quake 3 (and arena style deathmatch games in general) into the more "tactical" kind of stuff that is popular now. It took lots and lots and lots of Counterstrike: Source (which I feel operates as a decent middle ground between the two styles) for me to even give the new style a chance and I hated it first go. Tried MW1 and hated it, tried MW2 and hated it. For whatever the fuck reason Black Ops managed to change that and I've been slowly eating up more and more newer FPS's that previously I wouldn't have been able to stomach at all (Borderlands 2 is another example, I despised the first one yet bought and loved the second).

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        October 16, 2012 3:47 AM

        This whole video and the "PC" is not mentioned once - pretty poor show Elite!

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          October 16, 2012 4:33 AM

          PC doesn't have ELITE and probably won't get it

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      October 15, 2012 6:51 PM

      So what about those of us who paid for Elite? I paid for it for MW3 so is this separate from the Black Ops 2 Elite?

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        October 15, 2012 7:18 PM

        You got the maps for $10 cheaper, did you play any if them?

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        October 15, 2012 8:55 PM

        Yes. It is separate. This is from the CoD support page:

        If I bought a Call of Duty ELITE Premium membership recently, will I get both Call of Duty: Black Ops II DLC and Call of Duty: MW3 DLC?

        A Call of Duty ELITE Premium membership gives players ownership of the entire Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Season of Content – all 29 pieces of Call of Duty: MW3 DLC including the multiplayer maps, Faceoff Mode and maps, Spec Ops Chaos Mode, and more. Call of Duty: Black Ops II DLC was not included in the Call of Duty: MW3 Season of Content Membership.

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      October 15, 2012 6:58 PM

      "We've learned a lot in our first year of Call of Duty Elite watching how EA handled Battlefield 3..."

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      October 15, 2012 8:53 PM

      Oh those deceptive little punks. I get time to game and decide to buy Elite in May thinking it will be a year's worth of DLC but it turns out Elite Premium is really just a season pass for Modern Warfare 3 and that for Black Ops 2 they are going back to map packs which you will still have to pay for even if you bought Elite a little while ago. These Activision guys...these guys...

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