Playable first on Xbox 360, per the 2010 business deal.
The release of the official MW3 season content calendar has fired off a new volley of comments, questions, and confusion from PlayStation 3 gamers. The main question: “You said I would get content early. I paid for Elite just like the Xbox 360 gamers; why do they get content first?” A good question, and one that has a clear answer, I’m happy to say.
Back in 2010, Activision and Microsoft entered a business deal to release DLC on Xbox 360 earlier than other platforms; this contract is valid through the year 2012. This business deal was very widely reported by the games media when the announcement was made at E3 in 2010, and the DLC releases for both Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops was released in accordance with that contract. All DLC for MW3 will follow the terms of that deal as well, because it’s still 2012.
This is the short answer. Read on if you would like the long answer.
Vader in SCIV PS3 was such a big deal, he's on the Japanese box.
Exclusivity in the game biz is not uncommon, whether it’s a game franchise only appearing on one platform (Gears of War for Xbox 360, Infamous for PlayStation 3) or content that is only available to one audience or the other (Darth Vader and Yoda in Soul Calibur IV on PS3 and Xbox 360, respectively). Sometimes, as with Soul Calibur IV, this exclusive content eventually shows up on other platforms. Sometimes, as with Kratos in Mortal Kombat or the playable Joker in Batman: Arkham Asylum, it does not.
Thankfully, for Call of Duty DLC, all consoles get all the same content, but there is a delay as to who gets what when. This type of exclusive is not that uncommon either; other games, such as Battlefield 3 and Skyrim, have also arranged timed exclusives, anywhere from a week to a month. Eventually, though, everybody gets everything.
Eric Hirshberg explained Elite's offerings and pricing at XP 2011.
Enter Call of Duty Elite. Premium members pay $49.99 up front and get all the MW3 DLC that will come out over a nine-month period — DLC that Eric Hirshberg said at XP 2011 would cost $60 if it was bought via traditional map pack bundles. Even if you didn’t care about anything else that Elite premium offers, that’s a no-brainer for dedicated CoD players. But somewhere along the way, people convinced themselves that an Elite subscription would trump the 2010 DLC exclusivity deal that was created before Elite existed — that by paying for Elite, they were somehow invalidating a contract between Activision and Microsoft. It doesn’t make any sense, but it is what people started to think.
The Elite team tackles Elite audience Q&A at XP 2011.
I wondered where people would have gotten that idea — had someone actually promised that, or said something at XP 2011 that I missed? — so I researched it. What I found was that you can’t prove the non-existence of something. I can find no evidence of “buy Elite, get PS3 DLC same time as 360″ ever being so much as suggested by any official source. It was never one of the things listed in the official benefits chart; it was never promised by any representative of Activision, Call of Duty, Elite, or its developers. Honestly? I think gamers just convinced themselves that it would happen because they wanted it to happen. That makes sense, but it doesn’t make it true.
Still, the Call of Duty team must have known this assumption could be a source of confusion. So the Elite FAQ is very clear:
Similar to Map Packs, X360 Premium members will receive their Content before PS3 Premium members. All Call of Duty ELITE Premium members will receive a steady stream of content released monthly for 9 months through the Content season, and they will also receive their Content before non-premium members on their console.
I know I am not everybody’s primary source of Activision information, but I also noted this back in June 2011 in my massive “What I Know About Call of Duty Elite” article:
Elite subscribers will be able to access the DLC before it goes on sale to a la carte purchasers. The window of time has not been disclosed. For PS3 owners, this does not override this business deal that currently brings Call of Duty DLC to Xbox 360 first; that deal is valid through 2012. However, Elite members will get the DLC before the non-Elite members on their respective platforms.
So…that’s where we are. The deal from 2010 is why DLC comes out on Xbox 360 first. I’m seeing people scream “rip-off” and stuff like that, but nobody’s going to get ripped off; every gamer will get everything they were promised and everything they paid for. It’s unfortunate that people assumed things about Elite that turned out to not be based in fact, but I hope the truth is clear now. Unpopular, I’m guessing, but clear.
Also, you don’t have to pay to play Call of Duty multiplayer. But everybody knows that now, right?
UPDATE 1/28: I’m sorry to see people taking this article the wrong way. My intent was not to be mean or arrogant; my intent was to clear up the confusion and dig into how we got to this point, because ultimately this is a case of what was said vs. what was assumed. That’s always difficult.
But sorting out the facts does not mean that I don’t understand how frustrated people are. I totally get where the confusion came from; it makes sense and I totally understand why people are upset — and I am sorry about the situation. But I think the flames are starting up now because people wanted to hear something else, and I can’t say what they want to hear. I’m sorry about that, too. All I intended to do was offer the facts and show my work, and I had hoped being clear would be helpful to people who were still confused and asking me about it on Twitter. Perhaps not, in hindsight. So if you need to rage at me about it, okay.
