- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is coming to Game Pass on day one.
- While it will be available for everyone using the service, the base tier won’t offer the same experience as the Ultimate tier.
- The multiplayer and zombie modes are only playable for Game Pass PC and Ultimate users.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 gameplay and campaign were revealed at Xbox Games Showcase. The Call of Duty Direct seemed promising, and the announcement of a day one Game Pass launch gave fans even more reason to anticipate this entry.
Black Ops 6 seems more promising than last year’s Modern Warfare 3, but there’s a catch. Base tier Game Pass users will only receive the campaign.
Why it matters: This distinction makes Black Ops 6 quite different from most titles available on the service.
Over on the official Call of Duty blog, Activision has revealed how the upcoming game in the mainline series will work on the subscription service. Surprisingly, players with different tiers will get different experiences.
Those who just own Xbox Game Pass Core won’t be able to play the game, so that is out of the question. This is not surprising since this service is a subtitle for Xbox Live Gold, the subscription needed for online gameplay.
Those who have subscribed to the base tier will be able to play the game, but not how you might think. They will be limited to the campaign mode. Players would have to get Game Pass Ultimate for the multiplayer and zombie modes.
Alternatively, those who have both the first two tiers will be able to enjoy Black Ops 6 in its entirety without the Ultimate tier. However, at that point, it would be better to get the most expensive version of the subscription anyway.
Interestingly, PC Game Pass users will get the full experience from the beginning. This makes it the cheapest offer for Black Ops 6.
This limitation seems to stem from Activision’s locking both multiplayer and zombies behind the online subscription paywall. Since the base Game Pass tier does not grant access to online multiplayer, Black Ops 6 will only allow campaign gameplay for such users.
Game Pass Ultimate offers the benefits of both the catalog and access to online multiplayer for $17/month, so this option is needed here.
While this is certainly a bit of a letdown, most players might not mind since Call of Duty is very popular for its campaign. Xbox’s deal is still solid here, even if it becomes disappointing after this distinction.
Microsoft was rumored to introduce more tiers to its subscription service for Call of Duty. While this did not happen, it seems the gaming giant found another way to keep users divided.
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