Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launches with eyes on Game Pass

It has been eagerly anticipated, but this year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has finally dropped for gamers to get stuck into.

The Call of Duty (CoD) series is one of the best-selling in history with more than 425 million lifetime sales and has made billions of dollars.

But this latest edition comes with a bit of a difference, with it being available straight away to subscribers of Microsoft’s Game Pass service – a first for a game of this size.

It means those with the existing Netflix-style subscription do not need to pay anything extra to play.

Game Pass, like Sony’s rival PlayStation Plus service, lets Xbox and PC players play hundreds of video games for a monthly fee.

Earlier this year, Microsoft raised prices for all subscribers and added a tiered system.

As it’s the first mainline CoD game to be released since Microsoft completed its takeover of maker Activision Blizzard in the gaming industry’s biggest ever deal, there’s naturally a lot of focus on this approach.

Some experts feel it could bring more subscribers to the Game Pass service, but at the expense of actual game sales, with its true impact only being revealed in the coming months.

CoD content creator BennyCentral feels Game Pass is “one of the biggest elements this year”.

“The fact that it’s going to give people so much access, whether they’re playing on Xbox or they’re playing on PC, they’re going to be able to play the full game as part of that subscription,” he says.

Benny, who has Game Pass, tells BBC Newsbeat it will “widen the player base” of people that may not have played Black Ops in the past.

“They might be more likely to kind of hop on and try it for the first time.”

Fellow creator OllMS, who uses the Battlenet platform instead, agrees and thinks this approach by Microsoft can make the game “more accessible to a wider range of audience”.

“Especially younger people who may not be able to buy the game straight away, who would maybe wait until Christmas to get the game given to them by their parents.”

CoD has regularly topped PlayStation charts for its top-selling game, and Microsoft signed a 10-year deal to keep the game on Sony and Nintendo gaming platforms.

But while there have been some concerns around what it could mean for PlayStation users, who still have to pay the full price, OllMS thinks it’s also a boost from the perspective of content creators.

“It’ll be really exciting to be able to make content for even more people right from the launch.”

The CoD Black Ops spin-offs are generally well-regarded by fans for their single-player campaigns and the developers will be hoping this one lands well after the poor reception of last year’s Modern Warfare 3.

Benny and OllMS, who both had access to the beta version, are excited for the game because of some of the newer features.

With Black Ops 6, Benny points to omnimovement as a feature he is excited for, saying he feels it could “revolutionise how CoD is played”.

“The fact that you’ve got that complete 360-degree movement, is going to give players a huge opportunity to shoulder opponents, kind of bait people in and create some incredible plays,” he says.

“We saw a few in the beta already, with people doing some incredible things with sniper rifles.”

OllMS is also a fan of some of the weapons, which he says were in earlier versions and have been brought back, such as the AS VAL – a type of assault rifle.

“Which is going to be fun to use, in combination with the omnimovement,” he says.

“There’s going to be ways of making content and making plays that people have never seen before.”

The story mode is set in the 1990s and part of the Gulf War, with the game reportedly being banned in Kuwait as a result.

Going back several decades for its setting is something Bennie is a fan of, particularly as he likes Black Ops games which contain things happening “behind the curtain”, and wants to see how that will play into this setting.

“It will be nice to see what kind of elements that they use, because it’s not an era where we’ve got smartphone technology.

“It’s the way that world is built up, and how they’ve built up the missions.

“Every single mission is supposed to be a unique experience that you’re going to take away and be like ‘wow’.”

But with regular yearly releases, is there such a thing as too much Call of Duty which could dull excitement?

Not for OllMS.

“I don’t think there can be too many CoD games that come out, because it’s something brand new,” he says.

“It’s something that a lot of young people and older people can get invested in, whether that’s playing with friends or playing solo.”

And they both think the game will continue to generate excitement because of what it means to gamers.

Benny says he loves Black Ops “especially because of the fast-paced nature of the game”.

“There’s incredible score streaks and kill streaks.”

OllMS meanwhile loves teaming up with people online.

“And I think especially with Warzone, being part of a squad of four and making memorable plays with your friends, that you absolutely love is just one of the best things.

“And you can make content out of that so easily, because you’re doing something you enjoy,” he says.

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