Activision's new Beachhead studio is being groomed to aid in "the development of an innovative new digital platform and special services" for the Call of Duty community. The company wants Beachhead to "create the best-in-class online community, exclusive content, and a suite of services to supercharge the online gaming experience like never before."

When Activision first announced the new studio's formation, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter was quick to say that he was "certain to his core" that Beachhead would be used to introduced a lot of paid-for features to the Call of Duty franchise, including paid multiplayer.

"Activision said they are working on 'value added, premium content that is exclusive,'" the analyst explained to G4TV earlier this month. "How do you exclude people unless you do it on the basis of whether they pay or not? What are you going to have a bouncer in front of the club where you play the content? The only way it's exclusive is if it excludes non-paying members."

It seems Pachter and his Wedbush Morgan associates have rethinked a lot of things these past few weeks, however. In a research note today, the Wedbush Morgan analyst did a 180-degree turn, saying that instead of his previous assessment he now believes that Activision will position Beachhead as a "loss leader" that will provide Call of Duty fans a lot of free stuff. In turn, it will keep the franchise safe from competition.

"We have long believed that Activision would begin to offer a premium multiplayer experience for its Call of Duty brand, beginning early in 2011," Pachter said. "With the company's recent announcement of Project Beachhead, it acknowledged that such a premium service is in the works, but details about pricing were not provided.

"Given the surprising strength of each successive version of Call of Duty over the last few years, we now think it is possible that Activision will use its premium service as a loss leader, providing the service for free to create a more formidable barrier to entry by its competitors; we think it is possible that Project Beachhead will incorporate 'must have' features that will serve to drive ever-increasing sales of each annual Call of Duty instalment, encouraging all of the multiplayer consumers to purchase the next version on launch date."

"As such," the outspoken analyst continued, "we think it is possible that Activision will not charge for multiplayer, provided that the company believes it can sustain sales of Call of Duty at the 20 million unit level annually."

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