Black Ops 6 Must Do What Battlefield Couldn’t for Xbox Game Pass

After two years of Modern Warfare games, developer Treyarch Studios is now preparing for the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on October 25. While the last entry in the series took us to the Cold War, Black Ops 6 will place us right during the outbreak of the Gulf War in 1991.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen an entry in the Black Ops franchise, so it’s no surprise that gamers can’t wait to get their hands on this title. Its open-beta was a massive success and gave us a look at what the future holds for the Call of Duty franchise. Treyarch has developed a game that could save Microsoft’s Game Pass service from falling into the abyss, unlike Battlefield.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Can Save Xbox Game Pass From Imploding

Despite the recent changes to the Xbox Game Pass, including an unexpected price hike that attracted disapproval even from regulators, the service still stands as one of the best deals in gaming. For a relatively small price, players can experience a vast catalog of premium titles on a variety of platforms, including PCs, Xbox consoles, and mobile via Xbox Cloud Gaming.

This robust service doesn’t come without a significant investment from Microsoft. Last year, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer revealed that Xbox spends around a billion dollars every year on Game Pass to bring a plethora of titles and exclusivity for multiple IPs. Although this undertaking is financially daunting, it allows the company to offer a huge range of games with its Game Pass services and even more subscribers to Xbox.

Even though Xbox is committed to offering premium games, the majority of the community has felt that the service doesn’t justify its price in recent months. Microsoft invested quite a lot in games that ended up being a massive flop and struggled to push up the subscribers for the service.

What’s even worse is that even EA’s Battlefield failed to make a dent. The iconic franchise wasn’t enough to pull gamers to Microsoft’s service and didn’t be the hit Game Pass required to turn around and make a profit. It was supposed to be the savior for the service but ended up being forgotten.

Clearly, Game Pass needs a massive hit after all these blunders, and that could end up being Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. It’s one of the most anticipated titles of the year, and Microsoft has carefully locked the game for premium-tier subscribers of the service, a move to boost sign-ups for its service.

If the launch of Black Ops 6 ends up attacking more Game Pass subscriptions and maintaining them long enough, Microsoft wouldn’t think twice before further evolving its strategy around Activision Blizzard’s games on Game Pass and even ramping up the investment.

However, if the title ends up being a bust, investors may raise doubts about Game Pass’ role in Microsoft’s future plans.

Black Ops 6 Will Not Feature A Fan-Favorite Feature Yet Again

With such immense pressure on its shoulders, you’d think Treyarch would do anything to respect the themes and experiences of past Black Ops games and the “glory days” of the Call of Duty franchise. Unfortunately, the game won’t launch with a crucial feature that fans of the franchise have been looking forward to.

It’s confirmed that Black Ops 6 will have a failed approach to party modes around the time of its release, with developers confirming that Infected mode will not be present in the title at least a week after the release. While gamers do not have to wait long for Infected, there’s no update for other beloved party modes such as Sharpshooter, Gun Game, and Stick and Stones.

This has been a worrying pattern in all the latest Call of Duty entries, where classic party games end up being a post-launch afterthought, with players restricted to the basic modes for months before casual experiences are introduced.

With that said, are you excited for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6? Let us know in the comments below