Activision has announced that more than one million Call of Duty fans have signed on as paying subscribers to its Call of Duty: Elite service.

Other online services such as Hulu Plus, Netflix and Xbox LIVE all took approximately a year to hit the same milestone.

The service, which tracks players’ gameplay statistics, provides strategy and tips, connects fans as a social network and includes all future downloadable content, costs NZ$79.99 per annum.

More than 80,000 Call of Duty clans have been created on the service, and more than 100,000 user-generated videos have been uploaded.

Call of Duty: Elite had a chequered launch, with the service being only intermittently available since the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

“The demand for Call of Duty Elite at launch was so overwhelming, that for the first several days, the service did not perform up to our or our fans standards,” explained Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg.

“I want to personally thank our fans for their patience. Our teams have been working around the clock to get the service scaled up to meet demand.”

“I'm very pleased to announce today that the service is now performing stably and anyone who wants to try Call of Duty Elite is now able to do so. Due to the scaling challenges we encountered at launch, we are giving all Call of Duty Elite premium Founder members an additional 30 days of the service free of charge.”

Activision expects full, uninterrupted service to commence on the 1st of December for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Call of Duty: Elite for PC still has no release date, but Activision remains committed to bringing the service to the platform.