Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is an upcoming first-person shooter game co-developed by Treyarch and Raven Software and published by Activision. It will be the twenty-first installment of the Call of Duty series and the seventh entry in the Black Ops sub-series, following Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020). The game is scheduled for release on October 25, 2024, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, and is set to be available to Xbox Game Pass subscribers on release day.

Set during the early 1990s, Black Ops 6 single-player campaign—described as a "dynamic and intense spy thriller"—will act as a continuation of Black Ops Cold War story. Its multiplayer component will contain sixteen new maps at launch and include omnidirectional movement mechanics, which will allow players to sprint, dive, and slide in any direction. Additionally, the game will feature a new iteration of the cooperative round-based Zombies mode, with two brand-new maps being planned for inclusion at launch.

Black Ops 6 boasts the longest development cycle in Call of Duty history, spanning four years; some Treyarch employees stated that they have been play-testing the title since 2022. Marketing for the game began in May 2024, through the publishing of fictional advertisements on the front pages of multiple newspaper outlets and the release of several live-action teaser trailers; a full reveal debuted following the airing of the 2024 Xbox Games Showcase event on June 9.

Gameplay
Like previous entries in the Call of Duty series, Black Ops 6 will be a first-person shooter. The game's single-player campaign will feature multiple ways to approach its missions and include dialogue trees for its cast of non-player characters (NPCs). In-between missions, players will be able to access a safe house, where they will be able to plan out missions via an evidence board, apply player upgrades, and interact with NPCs.

Black Ops 6 multiplayer component is set to include sixteen brand-new maps at launch; twelve of these maps are designed for the game's core six-versus-six (6v6) game modes, and are supplemented by four "Strike" maps, which can be played in either two-versus-two (2v2) modes or in the core 6v6 modes. New gameplay mechanics featured in the multiplayer component include omnidirectional movement (i.e. "omnimovement"), which allows players to sprint, dive, and slide in any direction. Additional features include the return of the traditional "Prestige" leveling system, which allows players who have reached the maximum player level to reset it up to ten times, and the return of the "Theater" mode, enabling players to rewatch multiplayer matches from the perspective of any player.

In addition, a new iteration of the cooperative round-based Zombies mode is also set to be featured in Black Ops 6, with two all-new maps—"Terminus" and "Liberty Falls"—being planned for inclusion at launch. Zombies will feature cross-progression for weapon unlocks between it and the multiplayer component and will include a dedicated cast of characters that act as a core part of the mode's storyline; players will also be able to play as the "Operators" from the multiplayer mode.

Campaign
Black Ops 6 campaign is set to take place during the early 1990s, following the events of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020) and the flashbacks to the 1980s in Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012). Its story is described as a "dynamic and intense spy thriller", in which players are "never sure who to trust, and what is real". The campaign will also explore the aftermath of the Cold War and feature a depiction of the Gulf War. During this time, the CIA has been infiltrated by a new mysterious force, and many operatives have been forced to go rogue after being branded traitors, including Russell Adler (Bruce Thomas) and Frank Woods (Damon Victor Allen). While Adler's true allegiance and motivation remain unknown, Woods assembles a team of rogue agents, consisting of: field operative Troy Marshall (Y'lan Noel), CIA handler Jane Harrow (Dawn Olivieri), technical genius Felix Neumann (Seamus Dever), and assassin Sevati Dumas (Karen David), to assist him in discovering the truth.

Zombies
The Zombies story for Black Ops 6 will act as a continuation of the "Dark Aether" Zombies story arc, picking up five years after the events of Black Ops Cold War Zombies mode. According to Kevin Drew, Treyarch's associate design director for the mode, Black Ops 6 Zombies narrative will cover within its first two maps "a simultaneous situation" that is unfolding at two locations at the same time. The first map, "Liberty Falls", will explore a Dark Aether incursion in a small town nestled in the Appalachian Mountains, while the second map, "Terminus", will be centered on a "nighttime assault on a remote prison island in the Pacific Ocean". Central characters in Black Ops 6 Zombies story will be the former handlers for the classified CIA task force Requiem: Doctor Elizabeth Grey (Amy Pemberton), Special Commander Grigori Weaver (Gene Farber), and Major Mackenzie Carver (Keston John). They are joined by a new character, Maya Aguinaldo.

Development
Black Ops 6 is being co-developed by Treyarch and Raven Software, with Raven leading production on the game's single-player campaign and Treyarch developing the multiplayer and Zombies modes. The game boasts the longest development cycle in Call of Duty history, spanning four years. Some Treyarch employees stated that they have been play-testing the game since 2022. Details surrounding Black Ops 6 began to surface in November 2023, when Windows Central reported that the game would be set during the Gulf War and feature a story focused on the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard and its studios in 2023 marked the end of an exclusivity deal between Sony and Activision, which saw Call of Duty titles receive exclusive content and offers on PlayStation platforms. Though Microsoft had a similar deal with Activision for the Xbox consoles prior to 2015, Microsoft Gaming's CEO Phil Spencer has stated that moving forward, the franchise will have no exclusivity deals, with content parity across all supported platforms.

Marketing


On May 22, 2024, a website titled "The Truth Lies" went live and was posted on Call of Duty's social media channels. The website featured several real-life video clips of global monuments, such as Mount Rushmore and Brandenburg Gate, being vandalized by a group of people, as well as fictional news reports on the vandalism. The clips featured a three-headed dog logo, which was first seen in Microsoft announcement for the 2024 Xbox Games Showcase event, which stated that the event would be immediately followed by a "[REDACTED] Direct" presentation that would act as "a special deep dive into the next installment of a beloved franchise".

On May 23, 2024, several newspaper outlets, such as USA Today and The New York Post, featured "The Truth Lies" advertisements on their front pages. On the same day, Activision officially announced Black Ops 6 and confirmed that the [REDACTED] Direct would be centered on the game. The airing of the Black Ops 6 Direct presentation on June 9 featured a 25-minute long deep dive into the title, offering insight into the game's single-player campaign, its multiplayer component, and its Zombies mode.

Ahead of the Black Ops 6 Direct, Activision released two live-action teaser trailers for the game. The first teaser, titled "Open Your Eyes", was published on Call of Duty YouTube channel on May 27, 2024. It largely consists of footage from news shows and television adverts from the early 1990s, narrated by a distorted male voice, who directly speaks to the viewer, telling them to "stop being sheep and become wolves"; the teaser was also noted to include brief glimpses at gameplay footage from the title. The second teaser trailer, which featured several real-world political leaders, including former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush, former U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell, ex-UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher, and former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, was published the following day. The YouTube thumbnail for the trailer was noted to contain the coordinates to Hussein's former palace in Baghdad. Additionally, teasers for Black Ops 6 began to appear in Call of Duty: Warzone, including a cinematic featuring Black Ops character Frank Woods.

Release
Black Ops 6 is scheduled for release on October 25, 2024, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. It will also be available to Xbox Game Pass subscribers on release day. The game will require a continuous internet connection to play all of its modes, including the single-player campaign; Activision has stated that the requirement is to ensure the best possible visual quality via a texture streaming feature. Those who pre-order Black Ops 6 or have an active subscription to Xbox Game Pass will receive early access to the open beta test for the game's multiplayer component.