My friends had a lot of fun with Black Ops 6 through Game Pass, but Call of Duty still didn’t win them over as long-term players.
Black Ops 6 is the first Call of Duty to be playable via Game Pass. This led to record numbers when the shooter was released: never before had a Call of Duty had more players on launch day.
Although we can only speculate about the exact goals of Microsoft and Activision, one thing seems pretty certain: Game Pass should ensure that old players return to CoD and new ones find their way to the game for the first time – and stay.
Judging by the successful release, it seems as if this plan has worked. But is that also the case? In my circle of friends it seems different – we spent a few hours together in Black Ops 6.
I prefer to play shooters with 2 friends. To protect your privacy, I’ll call them Max and Moritz here. The three of us actually play every shooter together, but it all started with Ubisoft’s cash cow Rainbow Six: Siege. Max and Moritz played Black Ops 6 via a 14-day free trial of Game Pass. This has now expired.
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I also played Black Ops 6 with Max and Moritz. However, both found it difficult to enjoy the shooter. They had a lot of fun in the zombie mode and Moritz also found the campaign quite successful, but neither of them really liked the multiplayer.
Moritz even got really angry. One evening he cursed constantly and left a match in frustration twice within an hour. He said: “I’d rather play against cheaters in Rainbow Six for 10 hours straight.” After that, he never touched the multiplayer again.
In general, Max and Moritz spent most of their time in zombie mode. They really liked it too and we at least completed the Easter Egg of Liberty Falls within the 14-day trial version – but I guess I’ll have to play Terminus alone.
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14 days were enough to realize that €80 was too expensive
After the 14-day trial, both Max and Moritz decided not to extend the Game Pass for a fee nor to buy Black Ops 6 for €80. That’s just expensive for them, for a game in which they actually only really enjoy one mode.
And here’s the problem with Black Ops 6 on Game Pass: 2 weeks are enough to play through the campaign, complete the Easter eggs in zombie mode and lose the fun of multiplayer. For other players, this process may take 2 months, but let’s be honest: Do you see yourself playing Black Ops 6 next April or May?
The player numbers on Steam show that a new Call of Duty loses thousands of players by January or February after release (via Steamcharts). So you have to ask yourself whether Microsoft’s plan with Game Pass is actually successful if many players use it to get a cheap look at the latest CoD and then turn their back on the game after a few weeks or months.
The best CoD in years, but just a CoD
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is a Call of Duty – obviously. Neither more nor less. I’ll even go one step further and say: Black Ops 6 is the best Call of Duty in years.
But because Black Ops 6 is “just” a Call of Duty and not a completely new brand, it comes with the well-known problems that many players criticize and also prevent my circle of friends from having long-term fun in multiplayer: SBMM, lousy spawns on small maps and Packet burst again and again.
Each of you has known multiplayer and its gameplay for years. My friends Max and Moritz also played this for several hours in the various CoDs. Black Ops 6 has brought an exciting innovation with omnimovement, but the multiplayer itself does not reinvent the wheel.
So Activision is charging €80 for a game that has the same problems that have existed for years and relies on the same modes that we’ve been playing for ages.
So my friends were faced with a choice, with three options:
The third option even leaves open the possibility of buying the game on offer at some point. And that’s exactly what Max and Moritz decided to do. You don’t buy the game for €80 or have a subscription running for months, but get it at a discount – if at all.
Maybe I just have to give away a few Game Pass terms if I want to play Black Ops 6’s zombie mode with Max and Moritz again. But first, I’ll take another look at our overview of which subscription models actually include the shooter: CoD Black Ops 6 in Game Pass: Which version can you play “for free” upon release?