Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg has went on record to say that the company will “never, ever” charge a subscription fee for the Call of Duty multiplayer experience in its current form, debunking analyst theories to the contrary.

In an interview with trade site IndustryGamers, he concurs that multiplayer is an “absolutely integral” component to the CoD experience, further stressing that Activision will never move away from a free-to-play model.

Are we going to be charging for multiplayer? The answer is no. The experience you have out of the box, connecting with the online community to play Call of Duty is absolutely integral to the experience and we’ll never charge for that. It’s not going to be something we’ll attempt to monetize; it’s part of the package.

Makes perfect sense to us. Why would Activision risk upset over meddling with the current system? Heck, they’re already making money hand over fist with DLC. Granted, that’s not to say we’ll never see a Call of Duty title stray away from its traditional roots, along the lines of an MMO. Activision is considering it after all.

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