Blacklight dev slags off Call of Duty: Elite

Zombie Studios' Jared Gerritzen has criticised Activisions plans for the Call of Duty: Elite payment system, suggesting it's the work of a "jerk".

"I don't agree with it," he told Gamasutra.

"Right now, if they could, they'd charge 60 bucks [for the game], then 20 bucks a month for a map pack - or even just one map - and then $9 to upload game movies to YouTube. They see this massive fan base, and why aren't they spending that money and evolving the game even more?"

Gerritzen is lead designer on Blacklight: Retribution, an online shooter that will be free-to-play. Zombie plans to make money on the game via microtransactions instead of subscription fees.

He reckons the Call of Duty titles are "amazing" but added, "Looking across the last four games, was there anything really new? That's the sad part. Think about if they tried to spend that money that they're trying to milk from the fans.

"It's sad. It's really weird," Gerritzen continued. "But there's always going to be that guy; there's always going to be the jerk."

Activision is arguing that while COD: Elite will offer premium features for paying customers, it will also be "the best free service on the market". Full details of the deal were outlined earlier this week and a public beta is due to begin on 14th July.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-of-duty-elite