Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has officially launched around the world.
Even for this blockbuster annual video game franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is a notable release, in historical and industry terms. While last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is the first game published under Microsoft, this is Microsoft Gaming’s true debut as the parent company in charge of the franchise.
For one, this is because Microsoft managed to secure their Activision deal days before the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. So, at the time, they were able to tout its launch in their quarterly report, but they weren’t really able to prepare for it.
For Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Microsoft finally got the opportunity to market this game, after PlayStation secured the exclusive marketing rights for years. Of course, this game’s launch isn’t just about this year’s Q4 profits for Microsoft Gaming.
The pressure is on for Microsoft to start off their tenure as Call of Duty’s publisher on the right foot. In fact, given how much Microsoft paid to acquire Activision Blizzard, the expectations on this game’s profit have a very high ceiling. It definitely won’t be enough that it makes more money than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.
But it goes even deeper than that. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, as was long rumored, was essentially repurposed DLC for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. It’s clear now that Activision chose to make this change at the last minute, so that they could save Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 for Microsoft.
And that’s because Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be one of the biggest titles in the franchise history. At four years, this title has one of the longest development periods in the franchise. Treyarch and Raven Software was granted this time to initiate the return of the Black Ops side of the franchise in a big way.
And Treyarch and Raven chose to go back to courting controversy, setting this title during the Gulf War. But that’s par and course for the franchise, and with the return of classic features like Zombies Mode, as well as new features like the Omnimovement system, gamers have a lot to look forward to themselves.
If you were still waiting for the big video game event of 2024, after the disappointing release of Destiny 2: The Final Shape, and the historically significant failure of Concord, this is it. The future of Call of Duty, Activision, Xbox, Game Pass, Microsoft Gaming, and the entire industry itself, all hinges on this release.
