Microsoft seemingly confirms Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 as day one Game Pass release

Microsoft has seemingly (and apparently accidentally) let slip that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will release day one on Game Pass. This comes after much speculation regarding Microsoft’s plans to use the hyper-successful military FPS franchise to promote its Game Pass subscription platform after purchasing Activision Blizzard. This reveal seems to suggest that Microsoft will be making Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 available for Game Pass subscribers day one at no extra cost; whether that is the most profitable path to take after the recent culling of internal studios is a different question entirely.

The “announcement” came via a notification on the phones of people who have the Xbox Game Pass app installed on their iOS or Android device. As captured by Tom Warren on Twitter/X, the notification reads “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is coming to Game Pass on day one later this year!” Microsoft has yet to publicly comment on this, suggesting this is an announcement which is probably supposed to be actually confirmed on a later date.

Mind, just because it is apparently a Game Pass launch title does not mean that it will be Microsoft exclusive. This has been seen with Starfield and Redfall, which became Microsoft exclusives post-acquisition. Indeed, Phil Spencer signed a “binding agreement” back in 2023 to keep the Call of Duty franchise on PlayStation for several years to come, which means that at least Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be coming to PS5. How far into the future Microsoft will maintain Call of Duty as a multi-platform franchise, only time will tell.

In other Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 news, the game is apparently set to release on Xbox One and PS4 in addition to current-gen platforms, as per a report from Insider Gaming. Considering those consoles are each over a decade old at this point, most major new releases have tended to skip those platforms, or make DLC exclusive to only the current-gen versions of the game, as done by Horizon: Forbidden West and Cyberpunk 2077. It will be interesting to see if there will be any differences in the content of each version, or if the game as a whole will need to make compromises to fit on the last-gen systems.

At any rate, Microsoft has yet to officially confirm the platforms that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will launch on, or whether or not it will be a Game Pass release. There is an official Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Direct planned for Monday the 10th of June Australia time. As such, we likely won’t have to wait long for answers.