Call of Duty is one of the world’s most popular games. The announcement of a new Call of Duty game makes national headlines, and publisher Activision has grown into a huge conglomerate because of it. Indeed, having recently been acquired by Microsoft, it has been credited with helping boost their gaming revenue. Popularity aside, however, egregious cash grabs can cause significant outrage in CoD’s community, as this week proves.
Revenue in video gaming is a delicate subject, with developers treading a fine line between making money and ripping off gamers. This week, Activision came under fire for doing just that. They released a new skin pack, the Gassed Up Weapon Vault Bundle, with a potential price of $39.99. The official price was 3400 CoD points, which have a cash value of $34.00, but the smallest number of coins you can buy is 5,000, for $39.99. Hence, anyone wishing to buy the bundle must fork almost $40.
The outrage was immediate, and Activision quickly pulled the pricing, claiming an error had occurred. That didn’t wash with the savvy CoD gaming community, and as eSports Illustrated reported, lowering the price didn’t get the company out of trouble. “Data miners and leakers have known this price was 3,400 for the longest, and knowing how often they go for data miners to CND them, they should have known it was an issue, to begin with,” said one gamer. “The price had to have been intentional and only changed the cause of backlash, in my opinion.”
The new price is $29.99, still a hefty sum for skins that used to cost a couple of dollars. However, it reflects a changing industry, where in-game purchases make companies far more money than the hard copy or download of the game. Product sales for their titles made them $1.2 billion in the first six months of 2023, but in-game content brought almost three times that figure. The numbers are huge, but mistakes like the one made with the Gassed Up Weapon Vault Bundle can quickly have an impact.
Call of Duty is a huge title, with millions of players across the globe. It is more than just a game – it is an eSport, and at times, it has the same traits as a fully blown sport. Players might practice in their bedroom at home, as they would throw a ball about in their yard, but at the top end of the spectrum, they’ll watch the world’s best players competing in big-money tournaments. The Call of Duty League (CDL) 2023 had a prize pool of over $2.3 million, divided amongst the eight participating teams. Not only could fans watch the elite gamers in action, but the CoD betting guide demonstrates they could get involved by placing wagers on everything from first blood to tournament winner. That underlines it isn’t just a game; it is a culture and a community, something people invest time and energy in, not just as gamers but as ardent fans. They’re an engaged group, and they let people know when something upsets that community.
The increased price of the skin pack isn’t the first time this engaged community has been enraged. A little under two years ago, the gaming world seemed convinced that NFTs would be the next big thing, and Activision announced they were investigating the possibility of including them in CoD. Those plans seem to have been quietly shelved, but nothing was quiet about the discontent from gamers who felt they were about to be fleeced. From NFTs to $40 skin packs, keen FPS fans won’t be easily fooled, just like elite players won’t be easily blown up by a claymore placed on the map.
