An Xbox App notification has accidentally confirmed the Call of Duty Black Ops 6 release date will see it hit Xbox Game Pass the same day for the newest Call of Duty game.
It had previously been reported that Microsoft would look to take advantage of its drawn-out acquisition of Activision Blizzard by putting the newest Call of Duty game on Xbox Game Pass, and now that looks very likely.
Newest Call of Duty Black Ops game to release on Xbox Game Pass
A push notification from the official Xbox app appears to have been sent too early. It reads, ”Call of Duty Black Ops 6 is coming to Game Pass on day one later this year!” The notification sends you to an error screen.
The recently revealed Call of Duty Black Ops 6 doesn’t yet have a release date, and we won’t likely find out until next month’s Xbox Games Showcase. But with a live-action trailer lined up today, the Game Pass announcement could well be officially unveiled this week.
The idea of Call of Duty being on Game Pass was a significant reason the acquisition of Activision Blizzard was held up. PlayStation creators Sony, who had an exclusive content deal with call of duty before the takeover, were especially critical of it. Sony claimed Call of Duty on Game Pass would create an unfair advantage as PlayStation players would have to pay full price for the game.
The dispute was settled, with Microsoft promising the series would still be on PS5 for the foreseeable future. But this would be a big deal, given how staggeringly huge Call of Duty sales are each year. In the 17 years since Call of Duty 4 took the series to stratospheric new heights, the franchise has raked in an estimated $31 billion in revenue. That eclipses long-established names such as Hello Kitty, Batman, and Spider-Man. It’s just behind the likes of the MCU, Harry Potter, and Barbie.