Kotick Teases New Models, Markets For Call of Duty 'Platform'

"There's a soldier in all of us," Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said, referring to the Call of Duty brand as an "entertainment platform" -- and alluding to plans to use Blizzard's specific expertise to push the brand into new markets. Kotick's comments came as he aimed to stress Activision's strides in the crucial digital arena and in new business models, speaking to investors on the company's first quarter results call. Close to 17 million map packs for Call of Duty games have been sold to date -- and this excludes the recent launch of Modern Warfare 2's Stimulus Package on the PlayStation 3. "To date, our audiences have played a staggering 1.75 billion hours of online multiplayer Call of Duty games on Xbox Live alone," Kotick said. "To continue to provide gamers with the digital content they increasingly demand, we've dedicated multiple development teams to focus exclusively on this online opportunity." "We have the potential to drive the breadth of audience, increase the value-added services we can provide our players and grow our returns to shareholders," he said. "As a preview, expect additional exciting content for Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops that will surprise our millions or players." "The popular global fantasy of being a soldier is allowing us to enter new geographies, leveraging... [Blizzard's] expertise... creating content for audiences that have to date have only been satisfied by Blizzard games," Kotick teased. "Soon we'll announce our plans for both China and Korea."