Subscription-based Call of Duty Elite social network coming, WSJ says

Activision Blizzard is about to launch its Call of Duty Elite social network for fans of the modern combat video game series that has become the most popular in the world, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ said the service will be a subscription-based online network that will enable users to meet friends with similar interests and analyze performance metrics to find out what they’re doing right or wrong in mutliplayer online combat. We’ll have more on this tomorrow morning.

Activision Blizzard says that multiplayer combat will continue to be free with the purchase of a $60 game, but those who pay subscriptions will get extras through the Call of Duty Elite service.

The Call of Duty game series is the most popular video game franchise of all time. Each day, more than 7 million people play the online version of Call of Duty Black Ops, which came out in November. The WSJ said that Call of Duty Elite will debut in the fall with the release of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3.

Update: The leaks just keep on coming. Now someone has leaked a trailer related to Call of Duty Elite.

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Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.