Like clockwork, the latest Call of Duty entry is fast approaching, with Black Ops 6 just around the corner.
One of the most popular game franchises on the planet, it’s even been cited as a major reason behind Australia’s peak internet usage alongside Fortnite. This year’s release is a big one, beyond the obvious reasons, due to the massive push from Microsoft after acquiring Activision Blizzard last year.
There’s a lot we already know about Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, including its release date and likely install size (prep those storage drives), so let’s dive into the details.
Table of contents
- Release date
- Price and pre-order details
- When is the beta?
- Gameplay
- Who is developing the game?
- Size and system requirements
When is the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 release date?
As announced at the Xbox Showcase in June, the release date for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is Friday, 25 October 2024. It’s coming to Xbox Series X and S consoles, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC via the Microsoft Store, Battle.Net, and Steam.
It is coming to Game Pass?
Yes, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be fully playable on Xbox and PC with a Game Pass subscription. So, if you want to dip your toe in without committing to a full game purchase, you can sign up for Xbox’s subscription service and play with everyone else.
Keep in mind that the base Game Pass Console only lets you play the campaign mode. You’ll need to combine it with either the online access of Game Pass Core or the all-encompassing Game Pass Ultimate to play the multiplayer and Zombies modes.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 price and pre-order details
In Australia, the base edition of Black Ops 6 costs $109.95 across all platforms. You can find it cheaper by shopping around; JB Hi-Fi currently has a pre-order listing for $89.
Every Black Ops 6 pre-order includes early access to the game’s open beta. It also grants you the Woods Operator Pack for immediate use in Modern Warfare III and Warzone, in addition to Black Ops 6 when it launches.
If you pre-order the Vault Edition of Black Ops 6 for $149.95, you also get the following bonuses:
- Hunters vs. Hunted Operator Pack
- Mastercraft Weapon Collection
- GobbleGum Pack
- Black Ops 6 Season 1 Black Cell
Most of these digital goodies are cosmetic by nature, while the Black Cell goes towards seasonal unlocks. It gives you access to the full Battle Pass, 1,100 COD Points, 20 Battle Pass Tier Skips, and additional exclusive content. In other words, a bit of a head start to the opening season of multiplayer content.
When is the Black Ops 6 beta?
For us in Australia, the early access period of the Black Ops 6 beta starts on Saturday, 31 August, and runs until Thursday, 5 September. Remember, that’s only for those who have pre-ordered the game.
For everyone else, the Black Ops 6 open beta starts in Australia on Saturday, 7 September, and ends on Tuesday, 10 September. This second beta is for everyone to jump in, no pre-order required.
A chance to try out the online multiplayer before the game goes live, the beta will also include several cosmetic rewards that carry over into the full release. More details on the beta are coming very soon in a Call of Duty: NEXT presentation.
Gameplay
It wouldn’t be a Call of Duty game without fast-paced first-person shooter action. Building on the foundations of previous games, Black Ops 6 introduces a style of gameplay referred to as “Omnimovement”.
Omnimovement refers to the way your in-game character manoeuvres locations. According to a development blog, you’re no longer limited to moving on a limited number of axes – now you can sprint in 360-degree directionality. It’s designed to be faster and more responsive to your inputs, conjuring the feeling of an action hero.
With that in mind, here are the gameplay modes in Black Ops 6 you’ll be using the new movement system.
Campaign
Set in the early 1990s, Black Ops 6 takes place after Black Ops Cold War, and is billed as an “intense spy thriller”. The campaign sees a range of new and returning characters join the action, including Frank Woods, who are forced to go rogue after a mission gone wrong.
Missions will include various theatres of war, both large and tight in scale. One mission sees you undertake a casino heist, while another places you into a full assault in a wide-open desert.
Replayability is touted as one of Black Ops 6’s main drawcards, with missions giving you multiple methods to use however you see fit. Stealth or firing on all cylinders, bargain and manipulate – it’s possible to encounter tangibly different outcomes based on your actions.
In between each mission, you return to your clandestine base of operations, a secluded manor, to debrief. Here you can explore, have some target practice, and piece together the plot on the evidence board.
Multiplayer
Arguably the biggest attraction of any Call of Duty game, multiplayer stands as a central part of Black Ops 6. This year’s entry features holistic changes to the whole experience, spanning movement, combat, and the progression system.
At launch, Black Ops 6 will have 16 new multiplayer maps. 12 of these are for 6v6 lobbies, consisting of more space to work in. The remaining four are more compact “Strike Maps” designed for 2v2 and Face Off 6v6 matches. Interestingly, each map is presented as taking place after the campaign, depicting story elements to uncover.
In a nod to Call of Duty’s past, Black Ops 6 will see a classic Prestige progression system return. Once you hit the level cap, you can then start from scratch again, accruing a Prestige level in the process. Reach Prestige 10 times and you’ll hit “Prestige Master”, providing a further 1,000 levels to work through, with a reward at the end.
The multiplayer heads-up display (HUD) is also more customisable, letting you tweak the UI to suit your preferences. This also includes streamers, who can activate a HUD setting suited for going live.
Zombies
Not into the campaign? Don’t really care about competitive multiplayer? Zombies mode might be just the thing for you.
Another mainstay of the franchise, Zombies is the cooperative mode where you defend against waves of the undead, acquiring power-ups along the way. Black Ops 6 has a huge Zombies mode with an entire developer blog dedicated to detailing everything in store.
You and up to three other players will be able to take on the Terminus and Liberty Falls maps at launch. There’s a big focus on story and uncovering Easter eggs en route to completing each map’s questlines.
It’s worth reading the developer blog in its entirety – there’s a lot of stuff coming to Zombies in Black Ops 6. For those who like to keep their sleep schedules intact, you can also save and quit mid-run, which is pretty neat.
Who is developing the game?
Treyarch and Raven Software are co-developing Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. They previously led development on 2020’s Black Ops Cold War, the previous entry in the sub-series.
Last year’s Modern Warfare III had an Australian connection, with Sledgehammer Games behind the game’s development. Sledgehammer has a sizable Melbourne office to support its overseas contingent.
Black Ops 6 size and system requirements
For years now, Call of Duty games have taken up enormous amounts of storage space. Early reports suggested a whopping download of over 300GB, which is fortunately not the case.
A clarification from the official Call of Duty blog explained that this figure included an all-in-one installation of Modern Warfare II, Modern Warfare III, and Warzone. The blog post then states that an official Black Ops 6 install size will be revealed in October, closer to launch.
To give you an indication, Modern Warfare III, the previous series entry requires an SSD with 149GB of space when installed from Steam. Black Ops 6 will reportedly be “a smaller download at launch” than Modern Warfare III.
Activision has also revealed the PC system requirements to play the beta, and it’s reasonable to assume the specs will be fairly similar for the full game in October.
Here are the minimum PC specs for the beta:
- OS: Windows 10 64 Bit (latest update)
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1400 or Intel Core i5-6600
- RAM: 12 GB
- Video Card: AMD Radeon RX 470 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or Intel Arc A750
- Video Memory: 3 GB
- Storage Space: SSD Required
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
And the recommended specs to hit 60fps with graphics settings on high are as follows:
- OS: Windows 10 64 Bit (latest update) or Windows 11 64 Bit (latest update)
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600X or Intel Core i7-6700K
- RAM: 16 GB
- Video Card: AMD Radeon RX 6600XT or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
- Video Memory: 8 GB
- Storage Space: SSD Required
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
Stay tuned for more details as we learn more closer to the game’s launch.
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