Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Key artwork, depicting a male military operative, whose identity is redacted. Text reads "Call of Duty: Black Ops 6".
Developers
PublisherActivision
ProducerNatalie Pohorski
Designers
  • Justin Negrete
  • Matt Scronce
ArtistWil Wells
Writers
  • Murray Kraft
  • Craig Houston
  • Dan Laufer
ComposerJack Wall
SeriesCall of Duty
Platforms
ReleaseOctober 25, 2024
GenreFirst-person shooter
ModesSingle-player, multiplayer

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is a 2024 first-person shooter video game co-developed by Treyarch and Raven Software and published by Activision. It is the twenty-first installment of the Call of Duty series and is the seventh main entry in the Black Ops sub-series, following Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020). Set during Operation Desert Storm, Black Ops 6's single-player story follows rogue CIA operatives Troy Marshall and Frank Woods as they assemble a team of agents to hunt down Pantheon, a paramilitary group with covert ties to the agency. As with previous Call of Duty titles, the game also includes a multiplayer component and the cooperative round-based Zombies mode.

Black Ops 6 had a four-year development cycle—the longest in Call of Duty history; a portion of the game's production was spent on rebuilding core aspects of Black Ops within the latest version of the Call of Duty game engine. An omnidirectional movement system was also introduced, allowing players to sprint, dive, and slide in any direction. Marketing for Black Ops 6 began in May 2024, through the release of live-action teaser trailers and the publishing of advertisements on the front pages of multiple newspaper outlets; a full reveal debuted during the 2024 Xbox Games Showcase event on June 9. The game was released on October 25, 2024, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Upon release, Black Ops 6 received generally favorable reviews from critics, achieved the largest launch weekend in the franchise's history, and was nominated for several accolades. All three modes were met with praise, with critics positively highlighting the new omnidirectional movement system. A sequel, titled Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, is scheduled for release on November 14, 2025.

Gameplay

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A visual demonstration of the omnidirectional movement system featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. The demonstration depicts the game's omnidirectional sprinting ability.
New to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is omnidirectional movement, allowing players to sprint, dive, and slide in any direction. The above clip demonstrates the omnidirectional sprinting ability.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is a first-person shooter.[3] Depending on the game mode selected, players use a selection of military equipment, such as weapons, "field upgrades", and "scorestreaks", to combat AI opponents, other human players, or undead creatures.[3][4][5] Players can perform a wide variety of movement actions when traversing a level/map, including walking, crouching, sprinting, jumping, sliding, and diving;[6] they can also perform a "Tactical Sprint", which further increases the player's movement speed for a limited duration.[7] In a change from previous Call of Duty titles, players have omnidirectional control over the sprint, dive, and slide mechanics, allowing them to perform these actions in any direction; players can also rotate themselves in a 360 degree view while they are laying in the prone position.[1] In addition, a series of "Intelligent Movement" settings are also available to players, which automate certain movement actions, including sprinting and mantling.[8]

Black Ops 6 features three main game modes: a single-player campaign, a multiplayer component and the cooperative round-based Zombies mode.[2] In the campaign, players assume control of a silent protagonist, "Case", as he and a team of rogue CIA operatives work to hunt down "Pantheon", a paramilitary group with covert ties to the agency.[9] The campaign features 11 missions,[10] and is estimated to take at least 8 hours to complete.[11] Players typically have multiple ways to approach a mission's objectives; some missions include stealth elements.[9] In-between missions, players are able to access a safe house, where they can select new missions via an evidence board, interact with non-player characters (NPCs),[1] and spend cash, which is found throughout missions, on various in-game perks; these are split across three categories, which are related to the player's physical abilities, weapons, and gear.[9] Certain campaign missions reward players with cosmetic items for use in the multiplayer and Zombies modes upon their completion, including weapon "blueprints", player skins, stickers, and weapon charms.[12]

The multiplayer component puts two teams of six—split across the "Rogue Black Ops" and "Crimson One" factions—against each other across a wide selection of game modes,[13] such as "Team Deathmatch", "Domination", "Hardpoint", and "Kill Order"; an exception to this is the round-based "Gunfight" mode, which puts two teams of two on small-sized maps with randomized loadouts.[14] Like previous Call of Duty games, player performance is tracked with experience points (XP), which is earned by killing enemy players, completing objectives, or finishing challenges;[15] XP can also be earned in the Zombies mode.[16] As players rank up, they gain access to various loadout items, including new weapons, pieces of equipment, and perks, the latter of which are split into three "combat specialties": "Enforcer", "Recon", and "Strategist". Selecting three perks of the same specialty grants access to in-game buffs; for example, if a player has three "Strategist" perks equipped, they will be able to see enemy equipment through walls and deploy equipment faster.[17] Once players reach level 55, they can choose to enter the "Prestige" ranking system, which resets their progress back to level 1 but grants a set of cosmetic rewards and a token that can be used to permanently unlock any loadout item. This process can be done up to ten times; once players complete the tenth Prestige, they become a "Prestige Master" and are granted the ability to rank up to level 1000, and if they do so, they become a "Prestige Legend" and receive additional cosmetic items.[18]

In Zombies, one to four players fight endless hordes of the undead, which increase in both number and difficulty with every completed round,[19] across six maps: "Liberty Falls", "Terminus", "Citadelle des Morts", "The Tomb", "Shattered Veil", and "Reckoning".[20] Each map includes a main quest that players must solve on their own, along with a number of side quests and easter eggs.[21] Two additional modes—"Directed" and "Grief"—were added to all maps post-launch;[22][23] the former allows players to complete main quests with in-game assistance,[22] while the latter pits two teams of four players against one another as they attempt to survive the undead, while hindering the enemy team indirectly via debuffs.[23] Zombies features two primary currencies for players to manage: "Essence" and "Salvage"; Essence is used to unlock access to new parts of the maps, acquire weapon upgrades from the "Pack-a-Punch" machine, and to purchase additional player upgrades, including "Perk-a-Cola" cans and armor vests, while Salvage is used to acquire ammo modifications for the player's weapons, increase a weapon's damage tier, and to craft various pieces of lethal and tactical equipment.[21] Players are also able to obtain "GobbleGums"—single-use consumables that grant various in-game effects—and unlock "Augments", a set of minor and major upgrades to perks, field upgrades and ammo mods. Each perk, field upgrade, and ammo mod features up to three minor and major Augments, with one of each type being equipable at the same time, allowing players to customize and experiment with different play styles.[19]

Plot

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Campaign

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In January 1991, amidst the start of Operation Desert Storm, CIA operatives Troy Marshall (Y'lan Noel) and William "Case" Calderon, along with their handler, Operations Specialist Jane Harrow (Dawn Olivieri), are deployed to the Iraq–Kuwait border to extract Iraqi minister of defence Saeed Alawi (Jordan Bielsky), but are forced to go off mission when Alawi claims to be targeted by a rogue paramilitary force called "Pantheon". After surviving an encounter with Pantheon forces, the team prepares to extract Alawi, but he is executed by Russell Adler (Bruce Thomas), a rogue agent who fled from the CIA after he was framed as a mole for the Nicaraguan drug lord Raul Menendez. Adler allows himself to be captured, telling Marshall to relay a message to fellow operative Frank Woods (Damon Victor Allen): "Bishop takes Rook". Afterwards, CIA Deputy Director Daniel Livingstone (Lou Diamond Phillips) reprimands the team for Alawi's death, ignores their warnings about Pantheon, and suspends Woods, Marshall, and Case from duty.

Woods reveals to Marshall that Adler's message refers to an abandoned KGB safe house in Bulgaria—code-named "the Rook"—that the two discovered in 1976, and decides to go there with Marshall and Case to investigate Pantheon; Harrow stays behind to cover for their absence. After using Adler's files to recruit ex-Stasi technical genius Felix Neumann (Seamus Dever) and assassin Sevati "Sev" Dumas (Karen David), the team moves to break Adler out of a CIA black site hidden under Washington, D.C., while a political event hosted by Governor Bill Clinton (Jim Meskimen) takes place above ground. The team extracts Adler just as Pantheon assaults the black site, but they are blamed for the attack instead and are declared fugitives. Adler reveals that Pantheon has been engaging in weapons deals with Saddam Hussein; with the help of MI6 agent Helen Park (Lily Cowles) and allied SAS forces, the team assaults one of Hussein's palaces in western Iraq, where they find "the Cradle", a psychochemical weapon that originated from an abandoned CIA biolab in Kentucky.

While Adler stays behind to track down Pantheon's head scientist, Matvey Gusev (Yuri Lowenthal), Case, Marshall, and Sev investigate the biolab. Case accidentally inhales Cradle gas and hallucinates fighting off undead creatures while hearing a woman's voice, which explains that Pantheon was originally a secret CIA division overseeing Cradle's development as a performance-enhancing drug, with Case being the only test subject, before Livingstone shut down the project and disbanded Pantheon. When Case regains his senses, the team discovers that Pantheon has already stolen the biolab's stores of Cradle, and also find a recording revealing that Harrow is working with Pantheon. Using clues in the recording, the team steals financial records from a casino in the European principality of Avalon, which reveal that the casino had been wiring money to Gusev in Iraq. Afterwards, Case and Marshall reunite with Adler in Kuwait and work with his old ally, U.S. Army Captain Lawrence Sims (Reggie Watkins), to capture Gusev, who reveals that the Cradle is being stored in Vorkuta.

The team raids Vorkuta, and while they are unable to stop the Cradle from being moved, they capture Harrow and bring her to the Rook for interrogation. Adler injects Harrow with a truth serum, prompting her to reveal that she joined Pantheon after they leaked information claiming that Adler killed her parents, and that Pantheon is planning to use the Cradle to carry out a false flag attack on the Capitol Building to discredit Livingstone and replace him with Harrow, putting them in control of the CIA. Pantheon forces assault the Rook and rescue Harrow; Case gives chase and boards Harrow's escape helicopter, causing it to crash in a near-by river. Under the influence of released Cradle gas, Case strangles Harrow to death before presumably drowning. Marshall tries to radio Case, explaining that Livingstone managed to evacuate the Capitol. Two weeks later, the team meets with Livingstone, who asks them to continue working as an independent clandestine unit in order to eradicate Pantheon and its true leaders, who are conducting operations in Avalon. Meanwhile, Pantheon operative Jackson Caine (Rick Pasqualone) infiltrates Livingstone's office and accesses his computer.

Multiplayer

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In December 1991, the Rogue Black Ops team—led by Sev and Marshall—establishes an alliance with a local Avalonian crime family, the French Syndicate, to attack their rival and Pantheon ally, the Luttazzi Family.[24] Following several successful operations, Sev is attacked by "Nocturne", an assassin who is looking to collect a bounty placed on her by the Luttazzi, though she manages to escape.[25]

Several days later, Woods provides Adler with a case file and VHS tape that was sent to the former by late CIA agent Jason Hudson, some time following his death in December 1989;[b][26] the tape reveals that Pantheon was involved in various CIA activities during the Vietnam War and the Soviet–Afghan War.[27] Using Hudson's case file, the Rogue team discovers a list of every Pantheon agent's code name, but find that it's encrypted using a Soviet-era cipher;[28] this prompts the team to assault a CIA black site in Iceland to free Vikhor "Stitch" Kuzmin (Chris Parson), the former leader of the Perseus spy ring who was captured by Adler in August 1984.[c][29] With Stitch's help, the Rogue team decrypts the code names and forces Pantheon's agents out of hiding.[30] While Adler, Woods, and Marshall return to the U.S. to receive a pardon and a full arsenal of weaponry and support to hunt down the remaining loose Pantheon agents,[31] Sev chooses to stay in Avalon to unite its criminal factions.[30] By 2035, she helped turn one such faction, "The Guild", into a global technology corporation;[d] a monument to her is placed at a Guild factory in Tokyo Bay.[32]

Zombies

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No.TitleOriginal release date
1"Liberty Falls"October 25, 2024 (2024-10-25)
On February 18, 1991, a breach between Earth and the "Dark Aether" dimension occurs, unleashing zombies on the populace of Liberty Falls, a small West Virginian town that acts as the staging ground for "Project Janus": a classified CIA operation headed by Edward Richtofen (Nolan North), the former Director of the CIA task force "Requiem", which contained several Dark Aether outbreaks during the early to mid-1980s before Richtofen shut it down and detained its senior staff.[c] During the outbreak, Richtofen is phased to an unknown location, while his subordinate, Security Chief John Blanchard (Adam Gifford), attempts to reach out to a response team. A group of operatives, dubbed "Alpha Team", answers Blanchard's distress call and follows his instructions to help contain the breach. The group is told to rescue several Project Janus scientists, but they only manage to find Dr. Pericles Panos, who has lost his corporeal form and is trapped within a Dark Aether-corrupted church. Panos instructs Alpha Team to build a device to help clear the Dark Aether phase, but they later realize that it was a ruse, as Panos instead absorbs their energy to regain a physical form and exit the Dark Aether, while Alpha Team remains trapped in his place.
2"Terminus"October 25, 2024 (2024-10-25)
Former KGB scientist Dr. William Peck and Filipina smuggler Maya Aguinaldo (Chantelle Barry) free Requiem's senior staff—Special Officer Grigori Weaver (Gene Farber), Doctors Elizabeth Grey and Oskar Strauss (Jeremy Crutchley), Major Mackenzie Carver (Keston John), and Captain Stoney "Raptor One" Maddox (Derek Phillips)—from their imprisonment at Terminus Island, a remote Project Janus research facility in the Philippine Sea. Peck proposes that they work together to kill Richtofen, while Maya seeks to rescue her brother Nathan, who is also imprisoned at Terminus. A second breach occurs simultaneously with the one at Liberty Falls, forcing the team to fend off waves of zombies. They eventually find Nathan, who has been mutated following various experiments conducted on him by Terminus's head scientist Revati Modi (Sohm Kapila), who fled from the island in a submarine, and are forced to kill him. With help from the Synaptic Algorithm Module (S.A.M.), an artificial intelligence system designed by Richtofen based on the personality of Requiem ally Samantha Maxis, the team forces Modi's submarine to return to Terminus. As they confront her, a gigantic aquatic monster appears and consumes Modi before attempting, and failing, to kill Requiem. Afterwards, S.A.M. reveals that Richtofen hired the French Syndicate to locate the "Sentinel Artifact", an object of power that controls a primordial substance known as "Prima Materia"; she also says that the Syndicate has employed former Requiem informant Sergei Ravenov (Andrew Morgado) as an enforcer. Believing that the Artifact may be key to freeing Maxis from the Dark Aether, the team sets Avalon as their next destination.
3"Citadelle des Morts"December 5, 2024 (2024-12-05)
A week after the outbreaks at Liberty Falls and Terminus, Requiem travels to a village in Avalon and finds a drunken Ravenov, who still mourns the loss of Maxis. Ravenov reveals to the team that the Syndicate was paid to kidnap and torture demonologist Gabriel Krafft (Darin De Paul) for information, though he refused to speak. An outbreak occurs, forcing the team to move to find Krafft, while Peck and Ravenov provide them with tactical support. They enter a castle near the village and find Krafft imprisoned within its dungeon. Krafft asks Requiem to find the "Obscurus Altilium", an amulet that can help them locate the Sentinel Artifact. While the team follows Krafft's instructions, Maya wanders off alone to find—and kill—the Syndicate's leader François "Franco" Moreau, who smuggled Nathan to Terminus. After solving several puzzles and completing rituals, the team recovers a key that summons a giant stone golem that protects the Obscurus Altilium. They manage to defeat the golem and recover the amulet, but are unable to save Krafft from sucumming to the zombies. In his dying breath, Krafft tells Requiem to go to an excavation site nearby, and warns them not to let the Artifact consume them; he also begs them to not kill Richtofen, who he reveals to be his adopted son.
4"The Tomb"January 28, 2025 (2025-01-28)
At the excavation site, the Obscurus Altilium shows Requiem echoes of the past, where British archeologist Sir Archibald Fotherington-Smythe attempted to uncover the Sentinel Artifact in 1908. With Sir Archibald's indirect assistance, the team finds a portal to a Dark Aether Nexus, and discovers the Artifact within it. Following a series of trials, they acquire the Artifact, combine it with the amulet, and exfil from the site. S.A.M. tasks Requiem with traveling to Liberty Falls, where unique elements can be found to properly activate and control the Artifact.
5"Shattered Veil"April 2, 2025 (2025-04-02)
Three days later, Requiem arrives at Richtofen's mansion in Liberty Falls, where he set up Project Janus' operations. At S.A.M.'s behest, the team performs three rituals to power up the Sentinel Artifact with Prima Materia and gives her the charged Artifact. S.A.M. then teleports the team to a room where Richtofen is imprisoned. Richtofen confronts Weaver and reveals that he and Maxis were responsible for a failed assassination hit on the former ten years prior, which resulted in the deaths of Richtofen's wife and son, Mary and Samuel. Since then, Richtofen has researched various methods to resurrect them, while Weaver was hand-picked for Requiem to keep him in check. Requiem forms a truce with Richtofen and escapes the mansion via a device in the latter's possession; the device's residual energy reanimates a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton in the mansion. After Requiem defeats the zombified T-Rex, Richtofen reveals that S.A.M. intends to use the Artifact to recreate and inhabit Maxis' body, giving her full control over the Dark Aether. The group then heads toward Janus Towers, a former nuclear facility located nearby, where the Aether reactors are approaching meltdown.
6"Reckoning"August 7, 2025 (2025-08-07)
At Janus Towers, Requiem helps stabilize the reactors in the sublevel area, while Richtofen attempts to confront S.A.M. The team later encounters the Forsaken, the Dark Aether entity responsible for the 1980s outbreaks who was previously captured and contained in 1985.[c] The Forsaken attempts to escape following a power surge, but is defeated and turned into a weapon, the Gorgofex. Requiem also encounters Blanchard and Panos, and can optionally sacrifice either of them, resulting in their soul being consumed to upgrade the Gorgofex. Ultimately, Requiem is faced with a decision: to help S.A.M. create a human body, or to help Richtofen resurrect his family; either choice results in the other becoming hostile and attacking the team. Regardless of the choice, Requiem emerges triumphant, but Weaver, Grey, Carver, and Maya are teleported by the Sentinel Artifact into the Dark Aether, where they are greeted by an alternate version of Richtofen and his three companions: "Tank" Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, and Takeo Masaki.

Development

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Treyarch and Raven Software co-developed Black Ops 6, with Raven leading production on the game's single-player campaign and Treyarch developing the multiplayer and Zombies modes.[33] Activision Central Design, Activision Central Technology, Activision Shanghai, Beenox, Demonware, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, and Sledgehammer Games provided additional development work on the title, with Beenox also leading work on the Windows version.[1] The game boasts a four-year development cycle,[34] the longest in Call of Duty history,[35] and entered play-testing in 2022.[36] According to associate design director Matt Scronce, the extended production allowed the developers to be "very intentional about what it means to be a Black Ops game" and to re-examine key features, including visual fidelity, movement, and campaign design;[34] they also re-added several fan-favorite features from previous Call of Duty titles that had been absent from recent entries, including the "Prestige" ranking system and the "Theater" mode,[37] which allows players to rewatch their previous multiplayer matches.[38]

Black Ops 6 is built on Call of Duty's "shared" game engine, first introduced in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022); previous Treyarch titles used a separate engine developed at the studio. A portion of the game's four-year development was spent on rebuilding "the core Black Ops experience" from the ground-up within the new engine and ensuring that the multiplayer mode "[felt] like Black Ops."[39] Treyarch also overhauled the user interface for the Call of Duty HQ launcher—a hub for accessing the latest Call of Duty titles and Call of Duty: Warzone—to address design issues found in Modern Warfare II and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023) and to provide players with direct access to titles within Call of Duty HQ.[40]

Music

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An image of Jack Wall, the lead composer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Jack Wall (pictured) composed the score for Black Ops 6.[41]

Jack Wall composed the music for Black Ops 6, as he had done for every entry in the sub-series since Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012).[41] Jim Lordeman, Jimmy Hinson, and Canadian rock duo Romes provided additional music; Wall collaborated with Hinson and Romes on the main theme song for the game's multiplayer,[42] titled "Raining the Fire".[41] Additionally, Kevin Sherwood composed original songs for every Black Ops 6 Zombies map, which are hidden as easter eggs within the maps. Each map's song features a unique voicalist; notable singers include Cristina Scabbia, Matt Heafy, Malukah, and Elena Siegman.[43]

Wall started working on Black Ops 6's score near the end of March 2024;[44] he initially worked on one of the game's levels, "The Cradle", in order to allow the development team to implement his music as a proof-of-concept, before moving to write the game's main theme, feeling that if he went "too far without a theme, it's going to feel like nothing's really connected";[42] once he completed the theme, the score began to "[fall] into place". Wall sought to incorporate the grunge sound of the early 1990s—the era in which the game is set in—and combine it with his orchestral and synth work;[41] after listening to some of their work on Instagram,[42] he reached out to Romes and asked them to help "fuck up" some score tracks for the game with "snarling guitar[s] and thundering drums".[41]

Marketing

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An image of a USA Today newspaper, which shows a fictional news report themed around Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
As part of Black Ops 6's marketing campaign, several newspaper outlets, including USA Today, featured advertisements for the game.[45]

Activision and Microsoft released the first reveal trailer for Black Ops 6 during the 2024 Xbox Games Showcase event on June 9. Immediately following the event, a 25-minute long "Direct" presentation aired, which revealed details on the game's storyline, gameplay mechanics, and the Zombies mode;[46] further details about the multiplayer and Zombies modes were revealed at the 2024 Call of Duty: Next showcase event on August 28.[47] The prior month, Activision promoted the title via the release of two live-action teaser trailers,[48][49] a series of video clips on a website titled "TheTruthLies.com", which featured footage of Mount Rushmore being vandalized by a group of people,[50][45] and via the publishing of fictional news reports on several newspaper outlets, including USA Today and The New York Post.[45] Teasers also began to appear in Call of Duty: Warzone, including a cinematic featuring Black Ops character Frank Woods.[51]

On August 1, Treyarch revealed a new version of "TheTruthLies.com"—named "The Truth Dies"—which featured teasers for the Zombies mode.[52] On August 6, a cinematic trailer for the Zombies map "Terminus" was released, along with details on Black Ops 6's Zombies storyline and cast of characters;[53] a gameplay trailer was published on August 8, along with a blog post outlining the mode's core gameplay systems.[54][55] On August 20, Raven Software presented gameplay footage from the campaign at Gamescom 2024.[56]

Through the end of September, October and November, Activision released several live-action commercials featuring "The Replacer" (portrayed by Peter Stormare), a character who has been tasked with taking on the responsibilities of various individuals within their lives while they are spending their time playing Black Ops 6.[57][58][59] Stormare previously portrayed the role in the marketing campaigns for Black Ops II, Call of Duty: Black Ops III (2015), and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018), but was absent from Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's (2020) marketing;[58] due to fan comments regarding the Replacer's absence from Black Ops Cold War, Activision chief marketing officer Tyler Bahl and his team decided to more widely feature the character for Black Ops 6's marketing.[60] Throughout the commercials, the Replacer acts as a stand-in for a firefighter, a ride-share driver, the Pope,[57][58] Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray,[61] and a contestant on Jeopardy.[59] He is also featured as a playable character in Black Ops 6 and Warzone.[62]

Release

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Black Ops 6 was released on October 25, 2024, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.[63] The title was made available to subscribers of select Xbox Game Pass plans on release day, including Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass for Console.[64] It is also available on select cloud gaming platforms, including GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming.[65][66] The game requires a continuous internet connection to play all of its modes, including the single-player campaign; Activision has stated that the requirement is due to a texture streaming feature, which is used to ensure the best possible visual quality without significantly increasing the game's file size.[67] Black Ops 6 was blocked from sale in Kuwait prior to its release, with all preorders in the country being cancelled and refunded.[68] No reason was given by Kuwaiti officials for the ban;[69] publications speculated it was due to the game's Gulf War setting.[70]

Multiplayer beta

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Those who pre-ordered Black Ops 6 or had an active subscription to Xbox Game Pass received early access to an open beta test for the game's multiplayer component. The early access period took place from August 30 to September 4, while a second period, available to all players, began on September 6 and concluded on September 9.[71] Critic impressions of Black Ops 6's beta were mostly positive;[72][73][74][75][76] critics highlighted the omnidirectional movement system as a standout feature,[74][72][73] but had mixed responses towards the game's map design[73][76] and gunplay.[72][75]

Post-release updates

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Following the game's release, Treyarch supported Black Ops 6 with free seasonal updates, which added new content to the multiplayer and Zombies modes, including new maps, weapons, playable characters, and game modes.[77][78] Each "season" also features a premium battle pass and a series of cosmetic items, which can be purchased by players through an in-game store.[79] Six total seasons were released for the game; the first season was released on November 14, 2024,[77] the second on January 28, 2025,[78] the third on April 2,[80] the fourth on May 29,[81] the fifth on August 7,[82] and the sixth and final season on October 9.[83] Each seasonal update also includes crossover content with several media franchises and celebrities in the form of playable characters for the multiplayer and Zombies modes; notable tie-ins include characters from Netflix's Squid Game TV series, such as the Front Man, the Pink Guards, the VIPs, and Young-hee,[84] characters from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, such as Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Splinter,[85] actor Seth Rogen,[86] Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) from the John Wick spin-off film Ballerina (2025),[81] the titular characters from Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head TV series,[87] and several horror film characters, including the Predator from the titular franchise, Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise, and Chucky and Tiffany Valentine from the Child's Play franchise.[88]

Reception

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Black Ops 6 received "generally favorable reviews" from critics, according to the review aggregator website Metacritic.[89] OpenCritic determined that 92% of critics recommended the game.[90] Critics generally considered the title to be an improvement over its direct predecessor, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023);[92][91][94][95] some said it was a return to form for the series.[94][95]

Reviewers had a generally positive response towards Black Ops 6's campaign.[3][9][94] IGN's Simon Cardy gave it a 9/10 rating, writing that it was a "hugely welcome reinvigoration" of the series.[3] GameSpot's Phil Hornshaw praised the campaign's mission design and its cast of characters, but felt "lost" during some parts of its narrative.[9] Conversely, PC Gamer's Nova Smith considered the campaign to be "thoroughly mediocre" and "tedious".[98] Some critics highlighted one campaign mission, "Emergence", as a standout for its inclusion of horror elements and aspects of Call of Duty's Zombies mode.[100][101] PCGamesN's Lauren Bergin wrote that the inclusion of zombies was a "perfect throughline that connects somewhat disparate modes" and that it was "outright cool to experience."[100] GamesRadar+'s Andrew Brown described "Emergence" as Black Ops 6's most "subversive" level and felt its horror elements provided "moments of quiet unease" that he did not expect from a Call of Duty level.[101]

The multiplayer component received praise from critics.[4][93][99] VG247's Fran Ruiz wrote that Black Ops 6's multiplayer was "an absolute blast to play", and that it was the "most tight and polished the series has felt in more than a decade."[99] IGN's Seth G. Macy praised the game's selection of maps, its gunplay, and the omnidirectional movement system, but felt the latter did not "necessarily help [him] competitively except in very specific situations."[4] GameSpot's Hornshaw also praised the omnidirectional movement, stating that it creates "a really high degree of fluidity", but offered criticism towards the multiplayer's respawn system, which he felt was negatively affected by the "cramped" design of the game's maps.[93] Both GamesRadar+'s Luke Kemp and Digital Trends's Billy Givens liked the game's perk system, with the latter writing that he appreciated the need to "consider the risk and rewards of choosing or abandoning perks [he'd] typically rolled with in previous games."[91][94]

The Zombies mode was also met with positive reviews; critics liked the mode's return to its round-based gameplay format, as opposed to the mode's open world design in Modern Warfare III.[97][99][102][96] IGN's Will Borger gave Zombies an 8/10 rating, stating that the mode is "absurd and campy and amazing and goofy in all the right ways"; he praised the mode's launch maps, "Terminus" and "Liberty Falls", and its hidden quests and easter eggs, but disliked the "deeply annoying" dialogue for its characters.[96] GamesRadar+'s Brown also praised the launch maps, and stated that Black Ops 6's version of Zombies revitalized his love for the mode as a whole.[102] The Guardian's Keith Stuart wrote that Zombies was "fraught and incredibly stressful" but said that it was "a real blast" with friends.[97] VG247's Ruiz felt Zombies "greatly benefited" from the omnidirectional movement system.[99]

Following the release of the "Season 1 Reloaded" game update in December 2024, some players began accusing Activision and the developers of using generative artificial intelligence for several in-game items, including custom loading screens, calling cards, and emblems, and for artwork related to events in the Zombies mode;[103][104] in particular, players highlighted a loading screen that depicted a zombified Santa Claus, which featured six fingers on one of his hands and other irregularities.[103] Due to a requirement from Valve, Activision updated Call of Duty HQ's Steam page in January 2025 to disclose that generative AI tools are used to "help develop some in-game assets".[105] The Gamer's Andrew King and Inverse's Trone Dowd condemned Activision for its usage of generative AI in Black Ops 6;[106][107] the latter felt it was "doubly upsetting" due to the firings of many 2D artists during Microsoft's layoffs at Xbox and Activision Blizzard in 2024.[107]

Sales

[edit]

Black Ops 6 achieved the largest launch weekend in the franchise's history,[108] and was the best-selling video game in the United States in 2024.[109] Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella noted high player engagement on release day and an increase in new Game Pass subscriptions within a single day. Sales on PlayStation and Steam increased by 60% compared to Modern Warfare III.[108] By July 2025, Black Ops 6 reached 50 million players.[110] According to Circana, Black Ops 6 is the fifth highest-grossing PlayStation game of all time and the eleventh best-selling overall in the United States.[111]

Accolades

[edit]
Date Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
December 12, 2024 The Game Awards Best Audio Design Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Nominated [112]
Innovation in Accessibility Nominated
Best Action Game Nominated
Best Multiplayer Game Nominated
February 13, 2025 D.I.C.E. Awards Action Game of the Year Nominated [113]
Online Game of the Year Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Animation Nominated
March 19, 2025 Game Developers Choice Awards Best Technology Honorable mention [114]
April 8, 2025 British Academy Games Awards Animation Nominated [115]
Multiplayer Nominated
Performer in a Leading Role Y'lan Noel as Troy Marshall Nominated
Technical Achievement Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Nominated

Sequel

[edit]
Main article: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7

A sequel to Black Ops 6, titled Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, is scheduled for release on November 14, 2025.[116]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Windows version developed by Beenox.[1] Additional development work by Activision Central Design, Activision Central Technology, Activision Shanghai, Demonware, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, and Sledgehammer Games.[2]
  2. ^ As depicted in Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012)
  3. ^ a b c As depicted in Black Ops Cold War (2020)
  4. ^ As depicted in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 (2025)

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