All Call of Duty Elite services for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will be free, Activision has announced. Previously, a premium Elite subscription offered an extra tier of services and guaranteed early access to downloadable map packs. This time around, it appears that early access to DLC is no longer available, though Xbox 360 players will be able to purchase a season pass for $50. The season pass will include access to four map packs throughout 2013. With each map pack normally priced at $15, season pass holders will save a total of $10.

No season pass has been announced for PS3, Wii U or PC and, in fact, the press release notes that "season pass and DLC map packs may not be available on all gaming platforms." It seems unlikely that Activision would neglect to offer such lucrative DLC on every possible platform, though the language is worth noting.

The decision to make Elite free is an interesting one, especially given how (very) successful the program has been. After debuting to 6.5 million units sold, Modern Warfare 3 moved over 600,000 Elite subscriptions in a single week. Then again, given that the season pass will sell for the same $50 price, the difference may be negligible. Also, apart from a few extra perks, the premium version of Elite was essentially a season pass to begin with, so not much has changed.