Charging for Call of Duty online multiplayer has been shot down by none other than Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg. "Are we going to be charging for multiplayer? The answer is no," he told Industry Gamers last week. "The experience you have out of the box, connecting with the online community to play Call of Duty is absolutely integral to the experience, and we'll never charge for that. It's not going to be something we'll attempt to monetize; it's part of the package."
Hirshberg continued, "Nothing we or anyone else tries is going to work if it doesn't have tremendous value for people and add a tremendous value to the gaming experience. ...There are certainly a lot of behavioral shifts toward long-standing online relationships… But at the end of the day, all I'm trying to get across is I can unequivocally say we will never, ever charge for the multiplayer."