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Another year, another Call of Duty. This franchise has been going strong for decades now and has had a new entry every year, without fail, since 2005.
Last year was the first time for some doubt about whether there would be a full entry, and yet Activision managed to squeeze out another full-priced title. Considering how Modern Warfare 3 ended up, I’d say that wasn’t a wise choice.
This year, the series is returning to the Black Ops subseries. The Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 release date is still under wraps, but a lot of other juicy details have begun spilling out about the latest in the biggest gaming franchise around.
Now that Xbox owns Activision, and by extension CoD Black Ops 6, there are more questions about the game than the usual release date and features.
Check your gear, soldier, for the mission briefing on Black Ops 6.
When Will Black Ops 6 Be Released?
Expected Release: October-November 2024
A full reveal for Black Ops 6 is scheduled for June 9, 2024, following the airing of the 2024 Xbox Games Showcase event.
If history is a good guide, most Call of Duty games have been released in October or early November, and we expect the trend to continue here — just in time for the Holiday season.
Will Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 be on Game Pass?
Yes, CoD Black Ops 6 will be available on Game Pass on day one. This includes console and PC Game Pass, so you don’t necessarily need to own an Xbox console to take advantage of this deal.
There were rumors and potential leaks that Black Ops 6 being on Game Pass was under debate behind the scenes. The legitimacy of these rumors is unclear, but we do know that the end result was that CoD Black Ops 6 will be treated just like any other Xbox first-party title.
What remains to be seen is the potential for Xbox to raise the price of Game Pass prior to or at the launch of Black Ops 6.
According to The Verge, Microsoft is considering a price hike but has not yet reached a decision.
Call of Duty is one of, if not the best-selling game every year, so putting it on Game Pass instead of selling individual copies for $70 might not make business sense.
But for now, you can expect to play Black Ops 6 on Game Pass the day it is released.
How Do I Get Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Game Pass?
There are a few ways to get CoD Black Ops 6 on Game Pass.
If you have an Xbox console, you will need to get a subscription to Game Pass Console for $11 per month. This will give you access to the entire Game Pass library on console, including first-party titles the day they are released.
If you are a PC player then you will need to grab a Xbox Game Pass PC subscription. This is slightly cheaper at $10 a month and has all the same perks as its console counterpart, but with the added bonus of an EA Play membership rolled in.
If you want to freely access Game Pass on PC and consoles, plus test out the cloud gaming features, Game Pass Ultimate gives you all of the above for $17 per month.
Regardless of which subscription you pick, getting Black Ops 6 is as easy as waiting for it to be released and downloading it off of the Game Pass app.
Why Black Ops 6 is a Big Deal on Xbox
Call of Duty has always been available on Xbox platforms, so why is Black Ops 6 such a big deal? Well, Xbox spent the past year and a half fighting to make the largest acquisition in the game industry’s history.
Xbox announced it was intending to purchase Activision Blizzard, owner and publisher of Call of Duty, at the beginning of 2022. I’ll spare you the drama, but after many legal hurdles and potential blockers, the deal finally went through in the fall of 2023.
Since that was technically after Modern Warfare 3 came out, Black Ops 6 will be the first Call of Duty game owned and published by Xbox.
Xbox has been falling further behind the competition in terms of hardware and software sales. This has pushed the company to make these massive acquisitions like Bethesda and Activision. Owning Call of Duty could be the golden ticket Xbox needs to be a real competitor in the console wars once again.
Will Black Ops 6 be Available on Other Platforms?
Under normal circumstances, first-party games are always exclusive to their platform holders and may also come to PC. In the case of Cod Black Ops 6, it will still be available on all platforms.
I imagine Xbox would rather keep Black Ops 6 exclusive to its consoles and PC, but the reality is that it just couldn’t afford to.
The vast majority of games sell on PlayStation (even Xbox’s own games appear to sell better after being ported there), and Xbox knows even Call of Duty isn’t enough to make PS5 owners buy an Xbox just to play it. Games of this size are not cheap to make, and will be looking to recoup their costs before moving into profit.
Even if that weren’t the case, Xbox is obligated to put Call of Duty on all platforms until at least 2033. As part of the legal negotiations, Xbox offered a 10-year deal to keep the franchise on PlayStation as a concession to help the purchase of Activision go through.
Black Ops 6 Leaks
As far as the actual game goes, we’ve only gotten small teases about Black Ops 6. It appears to be set in the early 90s which lines up with previous rumors of it being set in the Gulf War.
Black Ops 6 zombies are almost guaranteed to return since this was the series that popularized the mode. However, zombies have evolved a lot since the last Black Ops game, and not to everyone’s liking.
If leaks are to be believed, Black Ops 6 will bring the mode back to its more arcade-y, round-based structure after MW3 shifted it to an open-world design. This would be a return to form for fans who were not impressed with how MW3 treated zombies.
