Call of Duty Black Ops 6: an image of an armed SWAT-person carrying a rifle.
Image via Activision/Steam.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 won’t have early access for the campaign

A decision was made.

The latter parts of the year are no doubt an exciting time if you’re hugely into the Call of Duty franchise. Or even if you just take a passing interest in it. Black Ops 6 is just weeks away from release, but there is a little bit of bad news for those who were hoping for some early access fun.

Recommended Videos

According to a statement sent to CharlieINTEL on X – an account that tracks all things related to CoD – Activision has decided to forgo early access for the campaign for this installment. The full statement reads thus:

The team is fully focused on October 25th. We are excited about all the game has to offer across Campaign, Multiplayer and Zombies. This year, we made the decision to ensure the community gets to dig in to any and all modes that they want at the same time, so we are back to one massive global launch moment October 25th. As such, there is no Early Access beat this year for Black Ops 6, just the countdown to launch.

Black Nope 6

As you can imagine, this isn’t going down too well with the Call of Duty fan base. A quick look at some of the responses to CharlieINTEL’s posts shows more than a few are not happy with the decision Activision has gone ahead with, just weeks before the game launches.

Black Ops 6 will represent the first in the franchise under the Microsoft umbrella. The tech giant bought Activision Blizzard – and therefore the CoD brand – back in 2022 for an eye-watering $69 billion, despite backlash from some regulatory bodies.

Many were initially concerned the acquisition would make the Call of Duty games Xbox exclusives, but Microsoft assured worried gamers this would not be the case. However, Black Ops 6 not having campaign early access is going to leave a sour taste in a lot of people’s collective mouths.


Destructoid is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy
Author
Image of Andrew Heaton
Andrew Heaton
Andrew has been a gamer since the 17th century Restoration period. He now writes for a number of online publications, contributing news and other articles. He does not own a powdered wig.