Black Ops 6 is launching with the Game Pass plan in mind

It’s been eagerly awaited, but this year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has finally dropped for gamers to dive into.

The Call of Duty (CoD) series is one of the best-selling in history with over 425 million lifetime sales and has earned billions of dollars.

But this latest edition has a slight difference: it’s immediately available to subscribers of Microsoft’s Game Pass service – a first for a game of this size.

It means those with the existing Netflix-style subscription won’t have to pay anything extra to play.

Game Pass, like Sony’s rival PlayStation Plus service, allows Xbox and PC players to play hundreds of video games for a monthly fee.

Earlier this year, Microsoft made increased prices for all subscribers and added a tiered system.

Being the first mainstream CoD game to be released since Microsoft completed its acquisition of maker Activision Blizzard in the gaming industry’s largest ever deal, there is obviously a lot of attention to this approach.

Some experts feel it could bring more subscribers to the Game Pass service, but at the expense of actual game sales, the true impact of which will only be revealed in the coming months.

CoD content creator BennyCentral thinks Game Pass is “one of the biggest elements this year”.

“The fact that it’s going to give people so much access, whether they’re playing on Xbox or PC, they’re going to be able to play the full game as part of that subscription,” he says.

Benny, who has Game Pass, tells BBC Newsbeat that it will “expand the player base” of people who may not have played Black Ops in the past.

“They’re more likely to jump on it and try it for the first time.”

Fellow creator OllMS, which uses the Battlenet platform instead, agrees and thinks this approach from Microsoft could make the game “more accessible to a broader audience.”

“Especially younger people who might not be able to buy the game right away, who might wait until Christmas to get the game from their parents.”

CoD regularly tops the PlayStation charts for its best-selling game, and Microsoft signed a ten-year deal to keep the game on Sony and Nintendo’s gaming platforms.

But while there are some concerns about what it could mean for PlayStation users, who will still have to pay full price, OllMS thinks it’s also a boost from the perspective of content creators.

“It will be really exciting to be able to create content for even more people from launch.”

The CoD Black Ops spin-offs have generally been well-regarded by fans for their single-player campaigns and the developers are hoping this one will land well after the poor reception of last year’s Modern Warfare 3.

Benny and OllMS, who both had access to the beta, are excited about the game because of some of the newer features.

With Black Ops 6, Benny points to omnimovement as a feature he’s excited about, saying he thinks it could “revolutionize the way CoD is played.”

“Having that full 360-degree movement gives players a huge opportunity to shoulder opponents, trap people and create some incredible plays,” he says.

“We saw a few in the beta, with people doing incredible things with sniper rifles.”

OllMS is also a fan of some of the weapons, which he says were in previous versions and have been brought back, such as the AS VAL – a type of assault rifle.

“Which will be fun to use, in combination with the omni movement,” he says.

“There will be ways to create content and create plays that people have never seen before.”

The story mode is set in the 1990s and is part of the Gulf War, with the game reportedly banned in Kuwait as a result.

Bennie is a fan of going back decades, especially because he likes Black Ops games where things happen “behind the scenes,” and he wants to see how that will play in this setting.

“It will be fun to see what kind of elements they use because it’s not an era where we have smartphone technology.

“It’s the way the world is built and how they built the missions.

“Every mission should be a unique experience that takes you away and gives you a ‘wow’ feeling.”

But with regular annual releases, is there such a thing as too much Call of Duty, which can dampen the excitement?

Not for OllMS.

“I don’t think there are too many CoD games coming out because it’s something brand new,” he says.

“It’s something that a lot of young and older people can invest in, whether with friends or solo.”

And they both think the game will continue to generate excitement because of what it means to gamers.

Benny says he likes Black Ops “mainly because of the fast-paced nature of the game.”

“There are incredible scoring streaks and kill streaks.”

OllMS loves working with people online.

“And I think especially with Warzone, being part of a team of four and making memorable plays with your friends, which you absolutely love, is just one of the best things.

“And you can so easily create content from that, because you are doing something you enjoy,” he says.

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