Activision: why Xbox 360 gets Call of Duty Elite maps first
"Nobody's going to get ripped off."
Some silly old sausages have "convinced themselves" that having a Call of Duty Elite subscription means they are entitled to maps on PC and PlayStation 3 at the same time as on Xbox 360.
Like gasp! Not true - as Activision's Dan Amrich was at pains to explain on his blog.
"Somewhere along the way, people convinced themselves that an Elite subscription would trump the 2010 DLC exclusivity deal that was created before Elite existed; that by paying for Elite, they were somehow invalidating a contract between Activision and Microsoft. It doesn't make any sense, but it is what people started to think," wrote Amrich, self-described as Activision's "blogger".
The Xbox 360 exclusivity deal remains valid until the end of 2012, and declares that all Call of Duty DLC appear first on Xbox 360.
This period of exclusivity was typically 30 days with Call of Duty: Black Ops DLC.
Map pack First Strike arrived 1st February on Xbox 360, and 3rd March on PlayStation 3 (25th March on PC). Map pack Escalation arrived 3rd May on Xbox 360, and 2nd June on PC (10th June on PS3).
Black Ops map pack Annihilation arrived 28th June on Xbox 360, and 28th July on PC and PS3. And map pack "Rezurrection" arrived 23rd August on Xbox 360, and 22nd September on PC and PS3.
Puzzled, Dan Amrich delved deep to find the source of confusion.
"Honestly? I think gamers just convinced themselves that it would happen because they wanted it to happen. That makes sense, but it doesn't make it true."
Dan Amrich, Activision's blogger
"What I found was that you can't prove the non-existence of something. I can find no evidence of 'buy Elite, get PS3 DLC same time as 360' ever being so much as suggested by any official source," he shared.
"It was never one of the things listed in the official benefits chart; it was never promised by any representative of Activision, Call of Duty, Elite, or its developers."
He pressed on: "Honestly? I think gamers just convinced themselves that it would happen because they wanted it to happen. That makes sense, but it doesn't make it true."
Even the Call of Duty Elite FAQ and Amrich's own previous blog post about Call of Duty Elite specified this not to be the case.
"So that's where we are," Amrich concluded. "The deal from 2010 is why DLC comes out on Xbox 360 first.
"I'm seeing people scream 'rip-off' and stuff like that, but nobody's going to get ripped off; every gamer will get everything they were promised and everything they paid for.
"It's unfortunate that people assumed things about Elite that turned out to not be based in fact, but I hope the truth is clear now.
"Unpopular, I'm guessing, but clear."