Call of Duty Elite shuts down this Friday

Call of Duty Elite will be shut down this Friday, February 28 at approximately 10:00am PST. The online service was first introduced in 2011 with Modern Warfare 3 as a way for players to track stats, edit loadouts, compete in challenges and enjoy original programming. Black Ops 2 supported the service, but Activision began phasing out Elite in favor of the Call of Duty app for Call of Duty: Ghosts.

"There are no plans to bring Call of Duty Elite back," Activision says. "We encourage fans to download the Call of Duty app for Call of Duty: Ghosts, which allows players to customize their multiplayer character and weapons loadouts on the go, keep track of their Call of Duty: Ghosts stats, and features Call of Duty Clan Wars, where players can compete for cool, exclusive in-game gear."

Activision assures that any content stored in-game or uploaded to YouTube will still be available, with any Black Ops 2 videos now linked to your personal YouTube channel. Clan support  will no longer be accessible or function through Call of Duty Elite however.

"Clans is a special feature we’ve evolved specifically for Call of Duty: Ghosts, and the Call of Duty app introduces deeper Clan management functionality and new competitive elements, such as Call of Duty Clan Wars. We encourage fans to download the Call of Duty app and experience all the great action in Call of Duty Clan Wars," the publisher adds.

Founding members of Call of Duty Elite will get to keep the special emblem and any users who have logged into the Elite service since January 1, 2014 will receive two hours of Double XP in Call of Duty: Ghosts.