Well ain't this a load o malarky

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29704/Analyst_Activision_Could_Announce_Subscription_Plans_For_CoD_StarCraft_II_By_Years_End.php

If activision is going to put this business model into action then I will probably stop playing on battlenet!

Uh yup...I can understand charging for an MMO cause they gotta pay for the persistent servers and develop new content and many other things. However a normal game doesn't require a full staff to keep it going and thus paying to play for multi-player content is just a greedy move if this should happen.

If they do this, then they better start dropping the price on games then; cause $50-$60 plus subscription fees for such little content isn't right. Heck they've already been screwing over the 1P storyline enthusiast for years now, with around as little as 4-6hrs of content. And the rest is online, which isn't really content; you just kill other players over and over...squee

I actually wouldn't mind paying 15-20$ a month for unlimited access to a decent online game catalog (think of an unlocked Steam where you could play what you liked). Charging a monthly fee over a non-MMO box value of > 50$ though is pure highway robbery.

This is about Battlenet. Which has had Blizzard titles of Diablo II, and Starcraft 1 and 2. These games have been free to play through battlenet against other players. What Activision is proprosing is making Battlenet a subscription service for a monthly fee.

Not only will I not pay for a monthly sub but I'll also pass on diablo III.

Xzen Corvus wrote:

Not only will I not pay for a monthly sub but I'll also pass on diablo III.

Shame on them for ruining such an anticipated title with all that nonsense about RealID, and now this... Companies have sucking the blood out of our veins down to an art these days.

RealID is only shared with those you consider close friends or family. If you are talking about the Real ID in the Blizzard forums they have rescinded that idea due to a huge protest from the gaming community.

They have recinded that idea. For now. When blizzzard latches their claws on something they really want, they will force it through regardless of public sentiment. It may not be what they originally wanted, but some for of the crap will see the light of day.

Activision is the devil these days. Always though EA was the worst corporate company in gaming till recently. I have not played a blizzard title in a long long while though since warcraft 2 I think it was.

It's funny how you say that Blizzard is the devil and in all the time I have been playing MMO's they have been the only company I have found that cares about its player's and not just the money. Compared to companies like NCSoft Blizzard rocks.

Gonna edit this because it was harsh. But I did say Activision and did not take a pot shot a Blizzard but reading skills can sometimes include reading in between lines that were not there or intended. As far as their MMO then you must only know those 2 companies. I can name 4 off top of my head who actually do care about their base and cater to it as much as possible. SE, CCP, AV and to a lesser extent the makers of Ryzom although the company escapes me at this exact second.

As an ex-Blizzard employee I can say that Blizzard did care about it's players once upon a time.... Activision is now just trying to exploit the Blizzard fans and name for the cash.

I never thought they'd think up something that would keep me from buying Diablo 3... well I thought wrong.

I hope they don't go through with this. Activision/Blizzard makes a ton of cash from it's WoW subs and sheer number of box sales on SC2... not to mention Diablo 3 doesn't even have a release date yet and already has thousands of copies on pre-sale...

I'll still end up getting a hot copy of Diablo II and play it single player for the story and just to beat it...doubt I'd ever get online with it!