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Analyst Michael Pachter says the days of free multiplayer over xbox live are numbered.
If your like most gamers, your probably reading this in between throat-ripping sessions of call of duty: modern warfare 2 multiplayer. The game's developer, infinity ward, says xbox live users have already invested 1.75 billion hours playing MW2 within six months of its release.
Xbox live subscription fees and social life aside, those billions of hours in multiplayer matches have come at no additional expense to players. Videogame-industry research analyst Michael Pachter says that's going to change, since game publishers are busy figuring out business models that will charge you for online multiplayer across both live and playstation network.
''Fall 2011, i think call of duty: modern warfare 3 is a subscription game,'' Pachter, told us from his Los Angeles office. ''it'll probably still have a single-player campaign and some free online multiplayer and co-op , Enough to hook you.''
Pachter, one of the games industry's most high-profile analysts, says he's heard directly from Activision that the company wants to start charging you directly to put some bullets in the head of xXHaloLUveRxx. And once Activision is successful, all the other game publishers will follow suit, he explains.