Xbox Addict

Black Ops Won’t Use Online Pass for MP

While various publishers (including EA, Ubisoft, THQ, and maybe even Sony) have embraced the "online pass" model to combat used games -- that is, charging used game buyers $10 to access multiplayer content -- Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia says they’re going to try a different tactic: keep Call of Duty: Black Ops’ multiplayer perpetually free, but make it addicting enough that no one will want to trade in the game in the first place.
"You won’t see that for Black Ops," said Lamia to MCV, regarding the online pass model. "The multiplayer comes with the game you buy -- you don’t have to do anything else for that.

"I want to take that in the other direction and bring consumers really great reasons to keep their games, rather than trade them in," Lamia said. "Multiplayer is critical to the success of this series. It has such tremendous staying power -- there are millions of people playing Call of Duty every day. It’s entertaining people on a magnitude that’s mind-blowing and we work really hard to make sure it’s supported for a long time."

To that end, Lamia said improving and supporting Black Ops’ multiplayer will be Treyarch’s major focus once the game ships. "We’re going to support the hell out of Black Ops. That will be our focus post-release: making sure we keep our fans engaged, and hopefully as a result, they’ll want to keep playing our game and won’t want to trade it in."

Call of Duty: Black Ops hits shelves on November 9.