The days of Call of Duty games launching as dedicated applications on PS5 and Xbox consoles is long gone, sadly, and Black Ops 6 isn’t going to bring them back. If you already find the shooter’s menu design to be nothing more than a mess of Netflix-style tiles, then that trend is going to continue later this year. Yes, Call of Duty HQ is here to stay.
Up until the release of Call of Duty games like Modern Warfare 2, we could navigate each game with ease. Each of the FPS game’s menus were graced with slick menu designs, incorporating the shooter’s aesthetic with various tonal choices made by Infinity Ward, Treyarch or Sledgehammer Games. However, like last year’s Modern Warfare 3, Black Ops 6 will be classed as nothing more than “DLC”, as spotted by ‘CharlieINTEL’ on social media.
According to the game’s listing on other platforms like Steam, Black Ops 6’s “parent app” is classed as Call of Duty, and is filed under the DLC section. That fate is all-but-confirmed for the PS5 and Xbox versions of the shooter, and you can expect to gain access to the rumored Black Ops 6 beta build through the Call of Duty HQ app. The decision to bring all the multiplayer game experiences together is well-intentioned, I’ll give it that, but it doesn’t excuse the truly abysmal UI that has plagued the franchise of late.
With Black Ops 6 rumored to resurrect TranZit and adding a wealth of exciting Zombies content, it’s a shame that we potentially won’t get to experience it all in a way similar to the first Black Ops entry. Remember those haunting TV screens while Kevin Sherwood’s Damned played? That’s how you sell an atmosphere, a vibe, a feeling. Even Black Ops Cold War understood that to a degree.
The addition of Black Ops 6 as DLC only stands to add more confusion to the game’s bizarre ecosystem, as managing content like campaign or multiplayer packs is already a minefield of SSD space waiting to be consumed. Regardless of how the game is packaged, at least you’ll be able to play it on Xbox Game Pass immediately on the day it launches. I just hope its campaign can live up to the immense highs of its predecessor.
In other gaming news, upcoming PvP shooter Concord leaves a disappointing impression after its State of Play preview, and The Finals Season 3 could see the game ravaged by an AI threat as a new teaser emerges.
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