COD Elite: What you'll get for free

Activision's long-rumoured Call of Duty subscription service was finally outed last week to great fanfare. But while there will be premium features for paying customers, the publisher claims the service will also be "the best free service on the market".

In a note on the official Elite FAQ, the US firm boasts that it will be "giving you more than ever before (and taking nothing away)", cheekily adding: "Even haters can play for free".

So what will haters and lovers alike be able to do at no extra cost? Here's Activision's summary:

• Access Elite through the web as well as Elite's free custom iOS and Android applications for smartphones and tablets
• Communicate any way you want across mobile, console and the web with your friends
• Track and share thousands of stats with friends - k/d ratios, score-per-minute, win % and loads more, all represented in easy to understand charts and infographics
• Create your own custom leaderboards to track friendly rivalries - who is moving up and down in your group of friends?
• Analyse advanced heat maps detailing your match-by-match performance - where you killed or got killed, when it happened, and more
• Analyse your weapons performance - which weapons you are best with in which situations
• Upload and share videos of your greatest moments through our exclusive theater mode with the touch of a button
• Customise your loadout - search through all the weapons, attachments and perks, and push them directly into the game menu from the web or your mobile device with the touch of a button
• Join dozens of groups and find other players with common interests to play with and compete against
• Create a Clan with players who share your interests and taste for competition
• Bring your Facebook friends right into the game, easily taking your existing network into the Call of Duty experience.
• Seamlessly be placed into Groups with those who share your affinities and interests based on your Facebook profile.
• Start tracking your Call of Duty career - everything you wanted to know about your performance across the franchise starting with Black Ops

It's almost enough to make you wonder why you should bother coughing up at all. Elite is due to launch alongside Modern Warfare 3 this November on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.