-Jimmy Kovalski

Today, Activision has announced that their popular Call of Duty Elite service will go free for Black Ops 2. The service will include many ways to track stats, team up with friends and more at no cost to all players, regardless of whether they’ve been Elite members in the past.

Instead of obtaining the content drops through Elite, you can purchase the Black Ops 2 season pass for $49.99. You will be able to purchase the four add-on pack individually for $14.99 if you so choose. The four content packs will include both multiplayer and zombie content and will start arriving in 2013.

Activioson Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg had this to say:

“We feel that Call of Duty is at its best when our community is united. That’s why we’re returning to four map pack drops next year, and also the reason why we’re making services like leveling clans and Elite TV available to a wider Call of Duty community for Black Ops II, not just to premium Elite subscribers only. Our mission from the start with Elite has been to make multiplayer a more connected, social experience. For our premium members, we have accomplished that. We’ve been listening to the community and we’ve come to the conclusion that Elite has more value as a community wide platform to drive engagement and connectivity than as a paid members-only service.”

The full list of Call of Duty Elite features are below:

-Player HQ: Track Black Ops II stats including recent match data, heat maps, challenge tracking and the ability to modify classes using the Pick 10 system

-Clan HQ: Join or create clans to participate in competitions

-Zombies Leaderboards: Track your Zombie stats and compare to other players

-Call of Duty Elite TV: Developer tips, strategy videos, custom class overviews and more

-Social Integration: Notification system to stay updated on Black Ops II news, communicate with your clan and more

Elite will be availbale day one for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Activision has stated that they are evaluating options to bring Elite for the PC and Wii U.