As fans await the game's official first look, the prospect of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's release looms large on the horizon.
Co-developed by Activision studios Treyarch and Raven Software, the upcoming sixth game in the beloved Black Ops sub-franchise of the Call of Duty series has been revealed to be this year's entry into the long-running first-person shooter series.
Beyond that, not much is known about the game, other than a full reveal will come following Xbox's Summer Showcase on June 9, and it will be the first Call of Duty released under the Xbox Games Studios banner (after Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard was approved in December 2023).
When Will Black Ops 6 Be Released?
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's full reveal is set to come after the Xbox Summer Games Showcase on June 9, and one can assume a release date will also be revealed at that event.
Typically Call of Duty games are released between October and mid-November to capitalize on the holiday rush of shopping that occurs toward the end of the year, and nothing has indicated that Black Ops 6 will buck that trend.
In the last decade of yearly Call of Duty releases, the earliest a game has hit store shelves has been October 12 (Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 in 2018) and the latest November 13 (Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War in 2020).
So within that four-week window, one can expect Black Ops 6 to debut.
The Black Ops franchise itself has trended later in that Call of Duty release period, with four of the five games released so far coming in the first two weeks of November as opposed to anywhere in October.
Of course, this is the first Call of Duty to come under the Xbox and Microsoft banner, so that could change things.
No longer is the megalithic multiplayer franchise working on its own. It will now have to fall within the packed release calendar of its parent company.
And as Xbox lines up a jam-packed fall with games like Obsidian Entertainment's Avowed and Machine Games' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, this could shuffle where Call of Duty falls into place.
According to a May 2024 leak report from The Verge, Xbox is targeting a late October launch for Black Ops 6 as opposed to the early November window fans have grown accustomed to.
This could be to line up with Microsoft/Xbox's other releases for the end of the year, with Indiana Jones potentially falling into that November slot and Avowed possibly sometime in late September or early October.
An official release date for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has yet to be publicly revealed.
Is Black Ops 6 Coming to Game Pass?
Another major wrench to throw into the Black Ops 6 release equation is the fact that this year's Call of Duty could come to Xbox Game Pass as well as its full-price digital and physical release.
Now the ink has dried on the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Call of Duty falls into the same bucket as other first-party Xbox titles like Halo, Gears of War, and The Elder Scrolls.
That means, like all of Xbox's other in-house lineup, it is assumed Black Ops 6 will come to Game Pass at launch.
It is unclear if Activision titles (like Call of Duty) will fall under the same day-one Game Pass edict, but Black Ops 6 will be the bellwether.
Despite not having been confirmed to come to Game Pass, reporting from The Wall Street Journal indicates Microsoft will bring the latest Call of Duty release to the subscription service.
Industry analyst Daniel Ahmed said, "This is the right move for Microsoft," allowing for the game to be sold at full price on other platforms (i.e. PlayStation 5) while also collecting profits from in-game purchases typical of a live-service title like Call of Duty made on Game Pass or not:
"This is the right move for Microsoft because it's a multi-platform title that is being sold for $70 outside of the subscription and because it's a live service title with in game purchases.
That model can also work for other Xbox first party games."
Especially with Call of Duty seemingly still coming to platforms outside the Xbox ecosystem, despite being Xbox-owned, a Game Pass release for Black Ops 6 makes sense, as this added value of Game Pass incentivizes non-Xbox gamers to possibly convert.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is expected to be released in late October on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4.
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