Call of Duty Web Series Coming With Elite

The Call of Duty Elite announcement made this week was met with a great deal of anger and confusion from players. It is, in actuality, a free service that charges a monthly subscription for certain content. The confusion stems from a number of things, including the way the news was made public, but it hasn't helped that Activision is unwilling to specify the exact cost of the service or which of its components will be free and which will be premium extras.

Falling into the latter category is a new Call of Duty web series that is set to be produced. In an interview with The Guardian, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg said, "We have engaged some top Hollywood talent to create linear video content that will be exclusive to Elite members. That content is inspired by Call of Duty." He didn't go on to specify if it would be directly connected to the Modern Warfare games in particular.

Saying it's working with Hollywood makes it sound as if the series will be live action, not animated. Specifics aren't being shared as of yet so that detail remains up in the air. "We're not going to give much more detail until we have something to show. That'll be later in the year," Hirshberg said.

Much of what Call of Duty Elite will feature was announced earlier this week, including tactical aid, stat tracking, and more. Those are all directly tied to playing the game itself; this falls into a much different category. Its goal, however, isn't entirely dissimilar -- it wants to keep you enveloped in Call of Duty as much as possible. "If you're a sports fan, there are lots of ways for you to connect with that hobby, that passion," Hirshberg said, "not just on the day that the games are played, but throughout the week, and we wanted to give [Call of Duty players] real entertainment value."

There was some speculation that Call of Duty could be turned into a film a few years back. The Hollywood Reporter claimed in 2009 that a Call of Duty movie was going to happen, and later in the year Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling mentioned on Twitter that he was talking videogame-based films with Hitman director Xavier Gens. This led to the discovery that Activision had a Call of Duty trademark on "pre-recorded movies featuring comedy, drama, action, adventure, music, theatrical performances and/or animation."

There hasn't been much talk of a Call of Duty movie since then, although The Rock wouldn't mind starring in a Black Ops movie. A web series involves less risk than a movie and gives Activision another bullet point to add to the list of reasons to subscribe to Call of Duty Elite. We may learn more about the project at E3 next week.

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