NEWS
RETAIL INTELLIGENCE Head to
www.mcvuk.com for daily market data and news. This week our Retail Biz section stars on p31
Fan focus as Activision ups the ante in franchise battleground
New COD XP live event and online interaction will keep fans engaged, despite pressure from Battlefield, says CEO by Michael French
AN INTENSIVE live event designed to engage and excite Call of Dutyfans will make them forget all about EA’s rival Battlefield. That’s presumably the intention of publisher Activision, which announced the COD XP event last week. XP is billed as “the ultimate, fully-immerse live experience” by Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg. Taking place in September, it will feature several world reveals relating to new game Modern Warfare 3, host an Xbox 360-backed $1m tournament for clans and showcase performances by triple-A music talent, plus real-life recreations of key locations from Modern Warfare 2. 6,000 live attendees are expected to attend, but all proceedings will also be broadcast online, and all money raised from each $150 ticket goes to an endowment for war veterans. “We want to give a great experience back to our community,” Hirsherg told MCV. “We are lucky to have millions of passionate fans worldwide and there is real critical mass in the interest
in the next game and the franchise in general.” That should mean plenty of coverage at a time when Activision is feeling the pressure from EA, with its rival game Battlefield 3, which launches in the UK on October 28th, a little over a week ahead of MW3. “There is obviously a lot of scepticism we are dealing with, and as I’ve said before we have something to prove – but our developers Sledgehammer and Infinity Ward are creating the best game yet,” said Hirshberg. He added that much- demanded info from fans including multiplayer and a first look at the feature set
Recreations of The Pit (inset top) and Scrapyard (inset below) are just two of the attractions that Hirshberg is proud of
“
ACTIVISION Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg is supremely confident in the Call of Duty online service the publisher is launching with Modern Warfare 3.
In fact he thinks Call of
Duty Elite’s mix of community features, content updates and competitions will make it the
4 July 8th 2011
best free gaming service available. “At E3 we dispelled the myths around Elite and what we are and aren’t charging for – it will be clear we are building the best free gaming service with the best premium elements alongside it,” he told MCV.
The COD XP live event will be befitting to the world’s biggest franchise.
Eric Hirshberg, Activision
of online service Call of Duty Elite will be detailed at XP. An attention-grabbing event should help strengthen the core of the CODfanbase at the very moment it is under most heavy fire. Said Hirshberg: “There is tremendous pressure to make games stickier and more connective than ever. That’s happening in a lot of areas of our culture, and gamers are spending more time with fewer games. We respond to that by pouring more innovation, connectivity and resource into those titles. He added: “But first and foremost, we’re doing Call of Duty XP to give back to our fans. It will also increase
ELITE ‘THE BEST FREE GAMES SERVICE EVER MADE’
Elite will go live as other publishers establish their own services for franchise fans, most notably Electronic Arts with the FIFA Football Club and Battlefield’s Battlelog. “You can see this throughout culture – we are always on and always connected. Figuring out how to harness that
trend and technology to make games better is a natural innovation,” said Hirshberg. “It comes down to execution, and one of the things we are proud of and obsessed with is how the service communicates with the player, and the overall in-console experience.”
www.mcvuk.com
passion and allow us to speak directly to them – that’s of course part of our intention. That’s also part of their desire as players, to engage more and more. “We are incredibly lucky to have a passionate fanbase who follow CODclosely, and want to know every little thing about it.”
And a huge chunk of that audience is in the UK. XP takes place in LA. So what about a UK or Europe event? Hirschberg added: “We’ve no plans for that right now – we’re focused on this first one. The event will be befitting to the biggest franchise in the world.” Activision: 020 3060 1000
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52