Part of the anticipation surrounding this weekend’s Call of Duty XP was focused on the multiplayer for Modern Warfare 3, but an equal part of that anticipation was also curious to hear full details for Call of Duty Elite. Touted as the franchise’s premium content service, Call of Duty Elite has now been revealed to be Activision’s version of the “season pass,” only with some extensive stat tracking and clan support thrown in.

For $50 a year, Call of Duty Elite premium members can gain first access to monthly DLC releases — something they had previously been forking over upwards of $60 for. It’s not necessarily a big change, but for the promise of monthly content, and a better price point, this is going to be very enticing to Call of Duty fans.

But a lot of what makes Call of Duty Elite an interesting service comes at no extra charge. Simply join the service, purchase Modern Warfare 3, and you are up and running. With Elite, players can gain access to monthly, weekly, and daily competitions (complete with real-life and virtual prizes), support for clans and groups based on similar interests, and any and all info you might need to help improve your Call of Duty experience.

There are venues outside of Elite that allow gamers to band together for that “clan experience,” but Elite promises to deliver that same idea all on your console or PC. Players who love the thrill of competing as a team can go on Call of Duty Elite, find like-minded people, and work towards those prizes.

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Obviously, having only just got our hands on the multiplayer, how well those services integrate with Modern Warfare 3 we can’t say, but from the looks of the first trailer for Elite, it seems pretty extensive.

There is so much more to Call of Duty Elite than just keeping track of your combat record, and Activision wants to make sure gamers know all about it before Modern Warfare 3 releases. And, if you want to get in on the premium version of Call of Duty Elite at somewhat of a discount, you can just pick up the Hardened Edition of Modern Warfare 3 — which is available for pre-order now.

What do you think of Call of Duty Elite now that more of the service has been revealed? Are you going to be participating in the premium version of Elite?

Modern Warfare 3 releases November 8, 2011 for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.