Black Ops 6's Game Pass release leaves Call of Duty fans more confused than ever

As many of you expected, Black Ops 6 is coming to Xbox Game Pass. It's a statement that I didn’t think would actually happen, but it is in black and white, and the new Call of Duty is coming free for Game Pass users.

Yippee! Right? Well, if you like headaches for free, too, then sure. Black Ops 6's arrival on Xbox Game Pass has caused some confusion. In fact, it might be the most confusing Game Pass title yet.

Call of Duty's Game Pass saga continues to be a head-scratcher

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Game Pass comes with several tiers, and despite notions that we'd get another one for AAA titles like Call of Duty, the system seems set in stone for now.

However, the different tiers for Black Ops 6 have blurred after it was found that the title will be online-only, even if you just want to play Campaign.

The lowest tier, Xbox Game Pass Core will not get Black Ops 6 as a free game, but if the user has bought the game, they can play the title with this subscription, just as always.

Making things more complicated, those who have an Xbox Game Pass Console will get the game for free; they just won't be able to play it at all, as this service comes without online play. 

Bonkers.

This means that you need to have Game Pass Ultimate to be able to enjoy the fruits of Black Ops 6, including single-player Zombies and Campaign. 

PC users don't get let off the hook easily, either. You can access Black Ops 6 with the standard PC pass, given online play is free, but you will only be able to use the Microsoft Store client rather than Battle.net or Steam if you want to get your free access.

This isn't a huge stress, but it can be quite annoying if you usually play Warzone on the alternate engines.

It still means that we're getting an essentially 'free' CoD for Xbox users, but the new online-only parameters have thrown a spanner in the works for anyone cruising on the lower tiers of Game Pass.