Activision has remained silent about the details surrounding its premium Call of Duty service. Before today, the only details we knew about what is now called Call of Duty Elite was that it would be included in Modern Warfare 3, and would be an optional service. The in-game content is created by a studio named Beachhead, a studio that seemed to be created specifically for this purpose.
Call of Duty Elite will be comprised of free and paid content. The paid content will come in the form of new maps and other unspecified content. The free features will add an additional social element to MW3.
CoD Elite will have a built-in social network of sorts that will let players meet each other before jumping into matches. This feature is meant to link like-minded players together. Another free feature is an advanced stat tracker that examines your proficiency with certain weapons.
Robert Bowling (Infinity Ward's Creative Strategist) Tweets: COD ELITE is free, for all players, some paid aspects TBD. Absolutely NO fee to play MW3 multiplayer. Detailed reveal coming tomorrow AM.
*Update* 6/6/2011 Call of Duty Elite, Activision's attempt to make even more money out of the venerable shooter franchise, will go into beta on July 14. It'll be invite-only, and only Black Ops' multiplayer users will be considered. Source