In an interview with the Financial Times, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick stated that the company has information that indicates that up to 60% of the Xbox Live subscribers are a member of this service to play Call of Duty games. However, he also indicated that while this provides Microsoft with a steady stream of revenue, Activision does not benefit financially from this popularity.
Furthermore, he indicated that he believes the organization would be able to offer users much more value, but that it is prohibited from doing so as Activision does not have control over the network and is therefore bound by regulations from Microsoft. Kotick did not indicate whether Activision would be taking steps to further monetize games to gain a better grip on the console-based revenue streams, but did state that the company will continue to aggressively support new platforms that allow publishers to introduce new monetization schemes.
It is no secret that Activision has been seeking ways to turn the popular Call of Duty franchise into a MMO-style game. However, the current restrictions that are placed on Xbox Live and Playstation Network by their respective operators appear to prevent Activision from bringing this business model into reality. Recently, Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada indicated that a Xbox 360 version of the upcoming MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV was being shelved as the company was be unable to agree with Microsoft on the business model that would be used to bring this game to the Xbox 360.
I knew it, Kotick is being greedy again. Give it a rest man, don’t milk your cash cow that badly. Jeeze, and I thought EA was bad a few years ago.