Call of Duty: Black Ops II 'Elite' services to be free, DLC not

Activision has today announced that all of its Call of Duty Elite service features for Call of Duty: Black Ops II will be free when the game launches worldwide on 13th November. Additionally, Activision has also revealed that the DLC for Black Ops II will now be released as a separate offering from the service.

“We’ve learned a lot in our first year of Call of Duty Elite, and we’re very proud that we over delivered on our commitment of playable content to our premium members,” said Activision Publishing CEO, Eric Hirshberg. “What we have realised is that several of the Call of Duty Elite services which are currently only available to our premium members for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 are things that would further unite, engage and delight our player community. So we are going to make them free for Call of Duty: Black Ops II.”

Supporting Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Activision will be selling four new Map Packs both á la carte and through the introduction of the Call of Duty: Black Ops II Season Pass. Coming to Xbox LIVE first, the four Map Packs will deliver a variety of new Multiplayer and Zombies playable content and are expected to be available in 2013.

The Season Pass will include all the DLC Map Packs at a discounted price of 4000 MSP/$49.99 or each Map Pack can be purchased individually for 1200 MSP/$15.

Hirshberg continued, “For Call of Duty: Black Ops II, DLC Map Packs will be a separate offering from Call of Duty Elite. The Season Pass will be a great way to acquire all four Map Packs at a discount, but if our fans would rather take it one Map Pack at a time, then we’ll offer each pack á la carte for anyone who wants it. What we aren’t doing is requiring a paid membership to access the great player services for Call of Duty: Black Ops II and we’re thrilled to offer all of Elite’s Call of Duty: Black Ops II features to players for free.”

As a free service for Call of Duty: Black Ops II, the Call of Duty Elite platform will continue to evolve with the inclusion of new and enhanced features such as:

Player HQ – Track Call of Duty: Black Ops II performance with rich game statistics, including enhanced match information such as heat maps and recent match data; track challenges and extensively modify your classes like never before using Treyarch’s new Pick 10 Create-a-Class system.

Clan HQ – Join an existing clan or start your own, invite friends and then take part in Call of Duty: Black Ops II clan competitions with cool digital prizing. · Zombies Support – For the millions of Zombies fans out there, now you can track your Zombies personal statistics and compare it to other players’ around the world.

Call of Duty Elite TV – Launching with tablet support with Call of Duty: Black Ops II, the new Call of Duty Elite TV will deliver a renewed community focus featuring developer tips and strategy programming, custom class overviews and more.

Social Sharing and Notifications – With Call of Duty Elite’s new notification system, you can stay updated with what is going on in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, as well as communicate directly with your clan.