There’s been rumors of Call of Duty adding its own fee for online multiplayer for a good amount of time. So while those fears weren’t completely confirmed in a recent report, there is certainly something to be anxious about. Even if base online Call of Duty will remain free forever, it is looking more and more like there will be a tiered service implemented soon. Kotaku mentions in a new article that analysts at Wedbush Securities feel a new premium level of online gaming will hit in the next three months, and quotes them as saying:

Activision remains a top pick, primarily due to the company’s potential to create and monetize a second tier of multiplayer online gaming for its Call of Duty franchise.

[cont]

We expect this to occur during the first quarter of 2011.

Well, balls. There’s two important pieces of information missing from this speculation. What would it cost, and what would it give you? It is reinforced in the Kotaku article that Bobby Kotick and Activision state you’ll never have to pay for out of the box CoD multiplayer. But if they nerf that to sweet shit and all the decent action lays in the premium service? Well fuck. I already pay for WoW and Xbox Live (yearly). Having to add in a third payment isn’t feasible for me at this point, and I don’t play enough to justify it anyways.

Here’s hoping the rumor isn’t true (but I bet it is), and if it is, that the cost would be negligible (why would it be?).

Thoughts? Hit the comments box.