The first invites for the Call of Duty Elite beta have just been sent out. More invites are expected to be sent out to fans that have signed up here.

Call of Duty Elite is an online stats service and social network that will be heavily integrated into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 when the game comes out in November. The beta will test the free elements of the service using the already released Call of Duty: Black Ops.

The service has caused some controversy among fans that see it as the blueprint for a future Call of Duty subscription plan. Publishers Activision has vehemently deny that it will be taking any aspect of the Call of Duty experience away and making players pay for it. The publisher has gone to great lengths to highlight Call of Duty Elite’s free features, such as performance analysis, stat tracking and Facebook integration. The full details can be found on the official Call of Duty website here.

Apart from free access to the DLC, there has been no word on exactly what Call of Duty Elite’s premium content will be. Activision have state that further details will be released until closer to the release of CoD: MW3.

Dan Amrich, social media manager at Activision has stated that there is no end date for the beta and encourages fans to sign up, if they haven’t already. You can check out Dan’s blog, One of Swords, here.

More information on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty Elite will be revealed at Call of Duty XP 2011. The event is in Los Angeles and runs from 2nd to 3rd September. At well as the game reveal, fans will be able to take part in a $1 million Xbox360 multiplayer tournament, try a real-life mock up of the MW2 training sequence, and get up close and personal with the weapons featured in the games. Live coverage of the event will be available on the internet and Xbox Live.

Check out what The Legend of Karl had to day about Call of Duty Elite below.