Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Elite Service: Worth it or Not?

The Call of Duty franchise has been a very successful first-person-shooter video game since the original game was released on October 29th, 2003. It was not until Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, however, when the online multiplayer experience became very advanced and the franchise's popularity rose even higher. You could unlock new weapons as you leveled up, get killstreaks, and the game featured perks that offered players different abilities based on how they play. Call of Duty also has always had top-notch graphics and ran very smoothy for the most part.

The online service has always been free for Call of Duty, though. You will still be able to play Modern Warfare 3 for free online, however, you will not be able to use all the features. This include things such as leveling up your clan through competitions and tournaments, having access to new DLC map content, expert strategies & advise, chances to win prizes both real and virtual, and more. You will also have more video storage space with Call of Duty Elite paid service. This all sounds good, but will this really appeal to all gamers? Surely a hardcore gamer/Call of Duty fan will be more inclined to use this service. But what about casual gamers or perhaps gamers who are in between the two?

Call of Duty Elite Price

Call of Duty Elite will cost $49.99 for a 1-year subscription service. That is almost the entire cost of buying Modern Warfare 3 itself! And if your an Xbox player, that means you are also paying for Xbox live yearly/monthly subscriptions.

Will Call of Duty Elite mainly appeal to hardcore gamers and long time fans of Call of Duty?

This service seems like it is appealing mostly to hardcore fans of Call of Duty. But even then, will fans be disappointed if they do not have access to certain features, unless they pay $49.99 for Call of Duty Elite? Also, what if a player buys Call of Duty Elite and realizes they do not like the paid service overall? This could potentially damage the Call of Duty consumer market in the future.

Is Call of Duty making the right decision by creating a paid service? It has been successful for nearly a decade now, but this is quite a big change. While the multiplayer will still be free, certain features can not be accessed unless Call of Duty Elite is purchased. Infinity Ward is treading uncharted territory. Will they satisfy both long time fans and casual gamers?

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Elite may be very successful

The fact that players can still play Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 online for free is still great for casual gamers or players who are undecided (like myself). If we look back on the history of the Call of Duty franchise, many of the games, especially Black Ops, have sold millions of copies! It can not be disputed that Call of Duty has been very successful, at least in regards to selling the games. Perhaps Call of Duty Elite will be a great service because of the DLC and career analysis of how you played previous Call of Duty's. But again, will this appeal to everyone, or will it only appeal to a small number of consumers?

Infinity Ward and the other affiliated companies are not just selling video game copies to a small niche of hardcore Call of Duty players.They are also making a significant portion of money through casual gamers who buy Call of Duty to play socially with their friends as well. If casual players do not like the free service, and they find the Elite version to be too expensive, will they still feel obligated to buy future Call of Duty games?

Of course, some players only purchase Call of Duty to play the Single-Player Campaign primarily. All of Call of Duty's single player campaigns, however, were very short. While they had a lot of action cinematic moments, every single player campaign was extremely short. If Call of Duty Elite or the free service to play MW3 does not appeal to these type of gamers (casual or those who play socially online), infinity ward and other affiliated developers may lose these small niche of casual gamers, which could potentially damage the reputation of the Call of Duty franchise. What infinity ward does now could either help or harm them in the future.

Note from Author

I have been playing Call of Duty since the first one, but never considered myself a hardcore fan, but a simple fan. I have never made it to 10th prestige in any of the previous Call of Duty games, however, I do feel that Call of Duty is one of the best first-person-shooters on the market. Sure, Battlefield is often said to be more "realistic", but Call of Duty has always ran smoothy, had great graphics, and delivered many blockbuster action oriented battles in each Single Player Campaign. That is enough for me. As long as the controls feel comfortable in Modern Warfare 3 and the overall atmosphere of the game (mainly the action and visual/audio experience) in both single player and multiplayer remains to be great, I will continue to buy future Call of Duty games.

Call of Duty Elite makes me cringe, however. If the developers ever do choose to make the online multiplayer "not free", my future decisions to buy Call of Duty games may be impacted. Mainly because I play "other video games" too, not just Call of Duty! I am sure there are others who feel the same as I do. My current disposition of Call of Duty Elite is neutral, but it remains to be seen whether mine will change to either a positive or negative. If I find that this paid service is worth the price and time, then I am all for it. Otherwise, I am sticking with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3's free service.