The reveal of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is imminent, and maybe it’s just me, but there’s a rare feeling of optimism throughout the Call of Duty community. While the “COD cycle” – where fans jump from hating the present product to getting excited for the next one – exists, this feels different. Be it single-player-minded players who are looking to sink their teeth into the alt-history of the campaign, multiplayer fans who are looking for innovation following Modern Warfare III’s return to form, or Zombies players desperate for more traditional round-based maps – people are excited about Black Ops 6.
Part of that excitement may be thanks to the fantastic marketing campaign, and some of it is likely down to the announcement that Black Ops 6 will launch on Xbox Game Pass day and date. But for the majority, the excitement is down to one reason: Black Ops 6 has been in development for roughly four years. After development issues plagued its last few titles, Treyarch finally has had time to cook a well-prepared 4-course meal of Call of Duty (from the outside looking in, at least).
The Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 reveal trailer debuts as part of the Xbox Games Showcase on June 9th, followed by a Black Ops 6 Direct. The Direct should give us a better idea of the future of the Call of Duty franchise with a deep dive into Black Ops 6 alongside other potential surprises. Teasers and leaks have revealed a few things, but much remains unknown, so I wanted to take the chance to predict some of the things we’ll see. And before the curtain fully rises, I also wanted to share some general thoughts and hopes about Black Ops 6 one last time. The usual leak policy applies here.
What Will We See at the Direct?
Specific details regarding what will be shown off at the Direct have been kept to a premium, though Xbox has announced that the Black Ops 6 Direct is similar to last year’s Starfield Direct. That was a deep dive into the game, lasting roughly 45 minutes. I’d be surprised if the BO6 Direct is that long, but it would be more than welcome!
Traditionally, a Call of Duty reveal focuses purely on the campaign, though there have been exceptions to that rule. Due to the lack of a single-player campaign, Black Ops 4’s reveal was more of a scattershot approach and featured Multiplayer, Zombies and Blackout. Perhaps we’ll see a similar situation here where all pillars are covered? I expect the Campaign coverage to take up most of the presentation, regardless of what else appears.
I think we’re getting Zombies news at the very least, though, since the first glimpse of BO6 gameplay was Zombies footage and the Vault Edition allegedly includes Gobblegums. I’m unsure how in-depth it’ll be, but I predict a teaser trailer and confirmation of round-based maps returning if nothing else. Hopefully, there’s some clarification on whether the operator system is the only way to play or if we’ll have a crew again in some way, shape, or form.
I’m not expecting much Warzone information, though I could potentially see an announcement or tease about the return of Verdansk. It seems the perfect time for the fan-favourite map to make a comeback, with the fifth anniversary of Warzone in March 2025.
One final thing I expect at the Direct is the announcement of legacy Call of Duty titles coming to Xbox Game Pass. I hope they aren’t drip-fed, but it would probably be better business for Xbox if that were the case. If we don’t get them all at once, the Black Ops games should take priority to catch new players up to the series.
Black Ops 6: Final Predictions
Campaign
It’s a safe bet that the format of Black Ops 6 will be similar to Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War, with Raven leading the Campaign and Treyarch focussing most of its resources on Multiplayer and Zombies. Raven delivered an excellent campaign with Black Ops Cold War, and I’m glad it looks like we’re getting a sequel of sorts. The Cold War campaign fit perfectly between Black Ops 1 and 2 and deftly balanced the themes and characters of the old with fresh faces and gameplay ideas.
The late 1980s/1990s setting is an interesting timeframe to operate in as it infringes on Black Ops 2’s campaign. With Black Ops Cold War being a canon entry in the Black Ops series and co-existing in the Modern Warfare reboot universe, there’s been a lot of back-and-forth about how the campaign will approach Black Ops 2.
Not only that, but the nineties were a time of significant geopolitical conflict following the end of the Cold War. With the ongoing “The Truth Lies” marketing campaign and the live-action trailer showcasing figures such as Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Margaret Thatcher, and Saddam Hussein, Black Ops 6 is all in on blending fact with fiction—and that’s a good thing. There’s a lot of history to play with here.
Gameplay-wise, I hope Raven doubles down on the experimental missions from the Cold War campaign, like the ‘Desperate Measures’ mission, which took inspiration from the Hitman series. Playing as a mole in the Soviet Union, you were required to secure a Bunker Key to let Adler and Co sneak into the KGB Headquarters. To acquire the key, the player had multiple paths available to them, including poisoning or framing a general, letting a prisoner break free, or programming a new bunker key.
The rumours of the campaign having an open-world element could go either way. If it’s the same format as Modern Warfare III’s campaign, where some missions were on cut-up parts of the Warzone map, I’m not sure how interested players will be. If Black Ops 6 is going for open-world COD, it needs to be more than that.
Multiplayer
We’ve not heard much about multiplayer, but hopes are high after Modern Warfare III reverted many nonsensical changes to the Call of Duty formula, courtesy of Infinity Ward. I hope Treyarch takes the ball and runs with it by further improving the movement, reinforcing the “guns always up” ethos, and removing tactical sprint as a mandatory feature.
The multiplayer in MWIII took players on a nostalgia-filled ride with all the Modern Warfare 2 (2009) maps playable at launch. With Black Ops 6, I hope we get some original maps at launch. It’s excellent to replay the old classics, but having new maps that tie in with the campaign is something I loved in older CODs and hope returns.
One of the few successes of moving to COD HQ thus far is that the Ranked Play mode has been in place since Call of Duty: Vanguard and has evolved for several years. Black Ops 6 will mark the first Treyarch game where the mode is featured, which is cause for celebration as Treyarch is the leading developer in charge of the Ranked Play system, having traditionally been the developer most interested in competitive play since the introduction of League Play in Black Ops 2.
Zombies
There’s a lot on the line for Zombies. While Modern Warfare Zombies launched to a fantastic reception, many dropped off the mode quickly after a lack of post-launch support. I’ve already written about what I’d like to see in this year’s instalment, but I can get more specific now that we have more information.
Traditional round-based Zombies will return. I’d bet the house, the wife, and the kids on it. The launch map is likely set on Terminus Island, tying MWZ with Dr Peck’s whereabouts in the Forsaken post-credits scene at the end of Cold War. Jack Fletcher, the founder of the mercenary group Terminus Outcomes, worked security at Terminus Island in the early 1990s. Convenient.
We’re also likely to see a map set in West Virginia, which has been a theory since the end of Cold War, following a piece of Intel addressed to The Director regarding a test site and construction of “The Wall” and was further teased in MWZ when Ravenov and Miller discussed an event in the town of Liberty (Miller is cut off before giving us the full name). MrRoflWaffles went down the rabbit hole on a recent stream and discovered some exciting coincidences that suggest we may be looking at a re-imagination of Tranzit. Regardless of whether that theory bears fruit, I expect West Virginia to pop up in BO6 sooner rather than later. I hope we get both the Terminus Island and West Virginia maps at launch, but to avoid disappointment, I’m expecting one experience, and anything else is a delightful bonus.
We now know that Gobblegum will likely be back in some form. The majorly contested consumable system was a hot topic throughout Black Ops 3’s lifecycle, but I’m not entirely shocked that it’s returning, and honestly, I’m pretty excited about it!
Gobblegums offered a lot of replayability. The grind to unlock more encouraged players to keep playing Zombies, even in quieter periods of BO3’s cycle, and the large variety of gum meant you could come up with all sorts of loadout builds to use in-game. The way the gums were implemented in-game via a mystery box adjacent system was also engaging. Do you risk spending all your points early to try and roll a Shopping Free, or do you purchase a weapon instead? These decisions add depth to Zombies and ensure no match truly feels the same.
Of course, the elephant in the room is whether or not players can use COD points to unlock Gobblegum, as this was the biggest argument against the system in Black Ops 3. While I’d prefer Zombies to be free of microtransactions, the reality is that without a Season Pass, Zombies has to find a different way to generate income to be worthy of support in publisher Activision’s eyes. I’m okay with it as long as the rate of earning Gobblegum through gameplay is fast enough to make spending money a luxury rather than a necessity. If that’s the price to pay for what it takes for a well-supported mode post-launch, so be it.
The split-second tease of Zombies gameplay via the TheTruthLies marketing campaign sent speculation about playable characters into overdrive. Some saw it as proof of Scarlett Rhodes returning, while others saw it as explicit confirmation that operators were returning and there would be no “crew.”
While I don’t think we can confirm anything from the teaser, the main character’s outfit looks more like a bespoke Zombies character and less like a day-one multiplayer operator. I assume that operators will return to keep my expectations in check, but I’m hopeful that some will have more zombie-specific voice lines. I’d love to see four unique Zombies characters added to the operator pool rather than four multiplayer operators squashed into Zombies. Still, it’s likely a decision the narrative team don’t have much control over.
With such an emphasis on round-based Zombies, it will be interesting to see if an open-world Zombies mode returns, as despite vocal criticism for that style of Zombies, there’s a place for it. If Treyarch has the time and resources to set up a large mode, it can simultaneously support round-based and open-world Zombies in a cadence that makes Zombies fans feel like they are drowning in content. Maybe it wasn’t worth the gamble this time, or perhaps a new open-world Zombies mode is waiting in the wings. I can see one appearing at some point in BO6, but I’m unsure if it’ll be present at launch.