Any doubts on whether or not the lack of the Infinity Ward label on Call of Duty: Black Ops would translate to less sales were put to rest after the game’s $350 million+ launch day. The next four days didn’t slow the sales too much either, the game going on to make $650 million in revenue across all regions, a full $100 million above the previous record holder, Activision’s own Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 from last year.
“The number of people playing online and the number of hours they are playing demonstrates how online gaming has become a mainstream form of entertainment and certainly validates Activision Blizzard’s leadership role in online entertainment.” said CEO Bobby Kotick.
The hunger for subscription based multiplayer just got higher for Bobby.
If that happens, I wonder just how many people will decide to not pay the subscription fee. I can see a fee for MMOs as it takes a lot of work to maintain the servers, create new items and quests, to keep people interested in the game. A subscription service for an FPS is just pure profit, and I hope that it is never implemented.