Xbox Will Reportedly Tone Down Its Game Pass Messaging For Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6

'play it day 1 with gamepass' is still rather misleading, as only 1 of the 3 gamepass tiers lets you play it day 1 (if at all)

I can see Game Pass crashing when this drops

@Dimey and no doubt the 1 of the 3 that gets it day 1 is actually getting it day 3 or 5 (due to paid early release).

It may affect the sales - no more '30m' annual sales - but I don't think it will be 'bad' for Call of Duty. The last game had 70% sales on Playstation and I doubt that CoD fanboys will abandon PS5 to 'rent' the game for a year on Xbox.

Xbox may actually get more people playing BO6 - and a few of those will still buy - its their favourite Franchise and will play it for 100's of hours. There will be Season Passes, Cosmetic Bundles, CoD Points and of course all of that is also linked to Warzone too - so may actually sell a LOT more of these which offset the 'sales' losses - even though people will still be paying for Game Pass and 4m of GPU costs more than buying the game and playing it all year.

Its not like they won't make money from selling the game too - its not as if all 30m will suddenly jump to Xbox, subscribe to GPU and never buy again, never buy Season Passes, Bundles etc. If all you play is CoD too, it may not make sense to Subscribe. The 'majority' who will now access through Game Pass and choose not to spend ANY money on 'extras' are those that likely wouldn't buy CoD until its years old, in a sale for the Single Player so wouldn't really affect the 'sales' of BO6 and maybe might be tempted in to buying more 'content'

This is stupid being prevented from marketing something they own but what can you do I'll be on it when it launches on gamepass id say it will do very well for the service.

What marketing push, in the UK Europe we are still trying to understand what GPU actually means.
Best laugh 😆 so far today 🤣

CODs home is PlayStation and it will never change over to Xbox, because Xbox doesn’t market outside the USA.

If they marketed which they won’t anyway.
With bundles and TV and billboard advertising etc they you never know it might bring a few over to Xbox.
The only thing that will help Xbox is that this year Sony won’t get to advertise like it’s only on their console and have the special console bundles boxes that look good, to catch the eye etc.

Actually I don’t know why I’m saying this.
This is new Xbox publisher game on all platforms.
They will advertise across to all platforms as that is where the biggest sales are and not on Xbox as a game purchase.

So it could be said that not marketing black ops 6 with game pass will make the uninformed buy it outright which is respectable when making money but even if you pay for it outright more money will be spent on it due to gamepass replacing gold to play online and if Call of duty is the only game some people play more money will be spent on it.

So paying for game pass ultimate (for example) for two years consecutivly at the price of £13 to play online including the game bought outright it would cost £382 and with a few season passes and the odd skin added on the average relatable player could be spending £500+.

It is harsh but business is business unfortunately so on that note I'll be buying it on steam 😂

Microsoft during CMA trial said that they can't put COD on Game Pass until 2025 implying that Sony have marketing deal.
But since they are putting Black Ops 6 in Game Pass in 2024, I guess that they altered the deal with Sony.

• Sony would allow Black Ops 6 hitting Game Pass in 2024
• Microsoft have to tone down Game Pass marketing for the game
• split of revenue is going back to 70:30 (Sony gave Activision special deal for 80:20 revenue split)

And that's not me saying that this is exactly what happened. I just think that this is huge probability of what happened.

This is sort of a side issue, but if you're having "Off the record" conversations with people then you shouldn't really talk about what was said (keeping the source anonymous or not).

I can see why Sony is moaning, because for x amount of years Sony has had marketing etc, but this time they haven't l

So they are probably panicked

"They cannot use that in their current marketing." Who said this? Lol. Microsoft owns COD. They can do anything they want. Good Lord, move on already. Microsoft is the boss, not Sony.

Seriously when can we stop giving attention to “reports and rumors” of attention seekers who call themselves “insiders”?

Have we learned nothing from the whole “Starfield, Halo and everything is imminently coming to PS5” fiasco back in January?

@IOI The scariest poser of your comment is realizing that the rumors were just in January… it feels like ages ago.

COD is numbers wise a special case and I do wonder what MS is able to do contract wise. They probably will not spill the milk on that. It was not before 2025 on GP and already there is a COD available. PS players only will only move if their friends move so I'm really intrigued what will happen!

I actually enjoy the current COD on GPU and hopefully the same with COD6 (even after 3 days).

Very odd the weakest gaming company out of the big 3 Xbox seems to be strapped in acquisitions and how the market ? Let alone the only American company idk why everyone is pro Japan with gaming letting them continue to dominate .

Does it matter if they say its on Game Pass or not?

If people choose to come to Xbox and subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate to play CoD, Microsoft is going to benefit from that - especially if those people buy Season Passes, Bundles, CoD points etc as MS will get 100% of the money as they are the Platform Holder, IP owner, retailer, Publisher etc.

If people choose to stay on Playstation, they get 70% of the sale of the game and any digital content - Sony, as Platform Holder and retailer get 30%.

If they 'don't' push the fact its on Game Pass, then maybe more people will buy it instead. Those that wouldn't pay $70 just for the campaign, maybe buy it in a sale or used, never buy any 'extras', aren't really part of the 'community' and not a 'lost' sale if they choose to play via Game Pass because they can.

Wherever you choose to play CoD - whether that's on Playstation where the game is only available to purchase or Xbox, even if you 'choose' to play via Game Pass, that's still making MS money. They'll get 'more' if you choose to play on 'Xbox' because its their own Platform and you'll need at least Game Pass Core too. If you choose to pay more for GPU, then that's still money going to MS despite not having to pay $70 for the base game - but then maybe will buy Season Passes etc which MS gets 100% of - instead of 70% they get from Sony...

Of the 4 platforms it's on, Playstation is the 3rd most popular for CoD, and it's an extremely distant 3rd. The idea that it's beating Xbox and therefore "the home of CoD" is comedy.

@Dimey it’s not misleading because it does allow you to play it. Having different tiers doesn’t change that and is on the consumer if they do not pay attention to the tiers.
Although I agree it needs to be better described but they can get away with it just like PlayStation does. Fine print is the worst

@OldGamer999 CoD has never just been on PS. It has always released for both consoles. It has exclusive packs on PS , PC and Xbox but never has it only been PlayStation. As for Microsoft trying to pull it away from them to get more people on Xbox is a pretty far fetched idea considering it isn’t even Microsoft’s goal. Microsoft wants sales of the games and cares less about console sells. Fact is between PC and PS CoD is played on PC way more. Microsoft has a hand in over 90% of gamers OS systems and no company except Nintendo makes money off their consoles.
Microsoft and Nintendo are smart enough to realize game consoles will soon be just like a PC which is where is PS doesn’t change they will lose.

@BAMozzy anyone that buys the game physical or digital on sale or not is in fact part of the community even if they never play the game. Saying they are not is like saying they bought something that they will never be able to participate in. They bought it and can choose when to participate.

@DdG1408 You are missing the point - the 'Community' is the 'Online' one that is participating in playing together in Community based seasonal events, modes etc. That is ONLY the 'current' game with the current Seasonal content as the 'old' games are no longer 'supported' - even if they remain 'playable'.

If you 'buy' MW2 today, that game is no longer 'supported' by its developers as they have moved on and its not supported by the new Season and Season Pass content. You are NOT able to participate in any Community 'events' or play with the 'Community' in 'new' content, get the 'exclusive' rewards that will not be available again.

MW3 however is the Current game and maybe why it came to Game Pass at the start of the current Season. Its the game where the 'Community' are playing - between this and the Current 'Warzone', you are part of the Community participating in Community events.

So yes, you can't 'participate' in Community based seasonal content, won't be able to get or play some Content too because its no longer available - Specific Maps, modes etc if you don't play the latest CoD game. Doesn't mean you can't 'play' old games or choose to play, but you aren't 'participating' with the Community who are actively playing the latest. If you buy MW2, that is not going to let you participate in any of the Community based events - not even the ones they had in MW2 because those 'events' were timed. You can't get the season pass content, the camo's, the 'rewards' etc and you can't 'participate' with the Community on current Events unless you also buy MW3 - MW2 is not the 'same' now the Community and Support have moved on.

Of course, you don't have to be part of that Online Community - you can still be a Fan of the Single Players (which isn't a 'community' based mode) or still play 'old' versions of their 'online' games - BO3 still has the best Zombies mode imo.

Every year a 'new' CoD releases with a new Dev team leading that - this year it was Sledgehammer with MW3 and next its Treyarch with BO6. When BO6 starts, MW3 support will 'cease' - even though it still remains 'playable'. There is no more 'community' events, community seasons or anyway to unlock certain characters, camos or gear in MW2 anymore. You maybe able to 'play' the basic MP, but you aren't 'participating' in the Community Events and won't unlock any Season Pass rewards.

Being able to play 'old' games doesn't mean you are 'Participating' or even part of the 'Community' when you are not playing the 'Active' game. The Devs too have moved on from that game, the Community have moved on from that game and all the Community based events/content has moved on - its no longer 'supported' by the devs or getting Community based updates/events/modes etc. You'll never be able to unlock 'Community' rewards for 'Participating' in Seasonal Community events etc and you won't be buying Season Passes to Participate in Community events because those 'old' games are no longer 'active' or 'supported'.And by 'active', I don't mean not playable, just that its not the game where all the 'Community' based Events etc are happening so you 'cannot' participate.