The man gamers, including Train2Game students, love to hate has spoken again. No, it isn’t Bobby Kotick but the guy is talking about Call of Duty.  Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter has blasted Activisions’ decision not to charge an online fee for their successful online shooter.

As reported on the Train2Game blog last month, Pachter recently predicted that Call of Duty: Black Ops players would have to eventually pay an online. Activision quickly moved to say they’d never, ever charge a fee for playing Call of Duty online.

Pachter is seemingly not happened with this decision, and in a move that may surprise many Train2Game blog readers, the analyst has openly criticised the gaming publishing giants for their position:

“We were disappointed to hear Activision’s new head of publishing flatly deny the company’s plans to charge for multiplayer,” said Pachter.

“We firmly believe that until the publishers address monetization of multiplayer, game sales will continue to be challenged by the publishers’ altruistic decision to provide significantly more entertainment value per hour than ever in history.”

“Considering that each of the publicly traded publishers exists to maximize shareholder value, we view their reticence to monetize multiplayer as a betrayal of shareholder trust, and can only hope that each implements plans to address the impact of increasing free multiplayer going forward.”

“Even if we are mistaken and charging for multiplayer doesn’t result in packaged goods growth, we think that investors will be satisfied if publisher revenues once again begin to grow due to contribution from multiplayer monetization.”

“In our view, monetization of multiplayer is one of the greatest opportunities for the publishers, and we think that it would be a serious strategic error to pass on this opportunity,

Michael Pachter may be unhappy with the decision of Activision not to charge for playing Call of Duty: Black ops online, but Train2Game students will certainly approve. Many posters on the thread on the Train2Game forum weren’t exactly keen on the idea.

Regular readers of the Train2Game blog will also know about the massive success of Call of Duty: Black Ops and may question why Activision would risk alienating players by charging! Call of Duty: Black Ops is still selling well and regained the top spot in the UK charts this week.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Pachters’ comments? Why do you think he is so keen to lay into Activision?

As usual, you can leave your thoughts here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

(Source: Industry Gamers)