I know what you’re thinking: “Omali, this sounds like yet another free to play lobby based substandard shooter with a cash shop attached where players can pay to win,” to which I must ask that you set aside your stereotypes for five minutes and realize that you are likely 100% correct on that prediction. In Activision/Blizzard’s latest quarterly report, the company reveals plans for yet another Call of Duty developer, Beachhead Studios, to work on a Call of Duty game for the Asian markets. While the traditional Call of Duty never sold too well in Asia, thanks to the abundance of piracy, having mandatory multiplayer and self-hosted servers (not to mention the game being free) will give Activision a tighter control on those who want to play their game.
The financial report doesn’t give any information as to when we can expect the Call of Duty MMO, or if there are any plans to expand the title to the Western hemisphere. In the same financial report, Blizzard highlighted their plans for 2011, including:
Grow World of Warcraft with new content; work towards StarCraft II and Cataclysm launch in China
It is worth noting that Wrath of the Lich King was delayed two years before release in China, due to the restrictions placed on games and Blizzard’s well publicized publisher fiasco, so a 2011 launch for Cataclysm may be on the less realistic side. Still, it would be nice for the Chinese players to remain somewhere close to their Western counterparts.
MMO Fallout 