Prior to the Black Ops 6 beta, I was quietly optimistic that it would turn out to be one of the best new Call of Duty titles in years. Now that the beta has wrapped, I’m more confident than ever that BO6 is going to be a CoD to remember. It seems I’m not the only one, as Treyarch has just revealed that the Black Ops 6 beta was the biggest in the FPS franchise’s history, which is certainly a good omen for its full launch in a few weeks’ time.
While the first weekend of the Black Ops 6 beta was restricted to just those who pre-ordered the FPS game or were subscribed to Game Pass, its second weekend was totally free for anyone to try. It looks like the premise of a new movement system, more compact maps, and the carrot of beta-exclusive rewards did the trick and attracted players in their droves, because the beta for Black Ops 6 has broken several series records.
According to a post on X by the official Call of Duty account, the Black Ops 6 beta was “the biggest Call of Duty beta ever” by four key metrics: total player count, hours played, playtime per player, and total matches played. While some actual numbers for those would have gone a long way, to know that BO6 smashed the targets set by previous CoD games is a glowing endorsement.
It also shows that not only was the marketing and pre-beta hype bringing in record numbers of individual players, but that the beta’s gameplay was enjoyable enough to keep people around. Especially during its second, open weekend, the beta was also very content-rich, with plenty of different game modes, eight of its 16 launch maps, and 30 levels to progress through. I’ve seen shooters fully launch with less content, so this definitely helped retain players.
The biggest thing for me though, as a CoD fan that keeps coming back year after year, was that it just felt different. Not completely, of course – there is still a very defined formula that Call of Duty sticks to these days. But with it breaking back-to-back years of games in the Modern Warfare subseries, and introducing Omnimovement as a new skill to master, there was definitely a freshness to it.
Of course, the beta only touched on multiplayer – when the Black Ops 6 release date rolls around, there will be a no-doubt ludicrous campaign to play through and what’s looking like the best Zombies offering in many, many years.
To learn more about it in the build up to launch, check out our primers on Black Ops 6 camos and the reworked Black Ops 6 Prestige system.
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