[url]http://www.gameplayer.com.au/gp_documents/080917CoD5CashCow.aspx[/url]
[QUOTE]Call of Duty: World at War has had quite a bit of buzz recently with news of its beta announcement, our preview of its co-op component, and questions raised over the risks it’s taking as an online shooter. Some of this news has been great for raising the expectation for the latest entry into the Call of Duty universe, but in a recent analyst’s day at Activision, they may have unveiled a buzz dampening revelation.

Activision announced that they are looking for "increased online monetization of Call of Duty franchise", which on the surface doesn’t sound like too bad a thing, but when probed a little deeper, it starts to look a nasty. The idea is to have three times more downloadable content than CoD4; naturally at a price. While post-release content is not a bad thing, if Activision is thinking along the lines of pushing out an unfinished product knowing that they can charge more for extra maps and weapons bundled with game fixes (the latter, which should always be free), suddenly the idea of extra content for CoD5 starts to taste a little bitter.

Combine this with the ‘Day One Advantage’ that allows players to purchase experience points that would otherwise have to be earned by playing the game online and it seems clear that Activision is looking to milk CoD5 for all it’s worth. Furthermore, the idea of offering players the option of paying for experience points, instead of having to earn them by actually playing the game, doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the multiplayer component of CoD5.

Let’s hope they rethink this particular course of action and release a game that can match up to its predecessor’s reputation.[/QUOTE]
We had this, albeit on a lesser scale with Battlefield Bad Company, when the COD fans awake after fainting upon reading this article they'll rise up and Blog Activision into submission like they did with EA. Its a stupid idea given the likelihood that World At War isn't going to supercede COD4, almost as insane as publishing a game which competes against your number one seller.