Despite running pretty much uninterrupted since December, Call of Duty Elite is still not the highly successful stat-tracking service that Activision envisioned it to be. While early access to DLC like new modes and maps helped secure plenty of premium Elite memberships, it was the early day outages that marred the service's reputation.
Now it would be satisfactory if Activision had improved the service since the launch snafu with new features like clan support and prizes, but that's apparently not good enough for the juggernaut publisher. Activision knows they "pissed off" a bunch of gamers, and it's there goal to improve.
Originally it was announced that a premium Elite membership would secure 20 pieces of DLC, but that number has since been upgraded to 24 — as detailed in the Modern Warfare 3 release schedule. Call of Duty Elite developer Beachhead Studios is even working around the clock to roll out new features to the service, which saw a mobile version released in January.
But Activision Product Director Noah Heller knows that winning fans over isn't going to come cheap — especially when the service was non-existent for the first month of release for 2011's best selling game.
“There’s a lot of people we pissed off all the way back to November, and we have to show them we are not going to let that happen again. But we have started fulfilling our promises and people are starting to get it is real value for money.”
Ultimately, Call of Duty Elite, in its current iteration, isn't going to change all that much from update to update, but at least Activision is acknowledging their missteps with the service. With rumors of Call of Duty Elite 2.0 coming right in time for Black Ops 2 (or what we believe to be Black Ops 2) that feels like the more appropriate time to give the service a serious overhaul. With a few more months left of DLC for Elite premium users, there's still plenty of time to get a few choice updates in, so we look forward to what Beachhead has cooking up.
Have you continued to use Call of Duty Elite after Activision has introduced some new features and a mobile version? What new features would you like to see come to Call of Duty Elite 2.0?
Source: MCV