What you need to know
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, developed by Treyarch Studios and published by Activision, is set for an October 25 release date.
- The game will be available on NVIDIA’s GeForce Now cloud streaming service for those who own it on Steam or Battle.net. The Microsoft Store version available to Xbox Game Pass subscribers is not included.
- Xbox’s merger with Activision was marred by regulators with concerns about a potential monopoly in the cloud gaming sector, which led to Xbox selling off the cloud gaming rights for Activision’s catalog to Ubisoft.
If you want to experience Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 bolstered by the power of an NVIDIA 4080 GPU, then get your GeForce Now account ready. In a blog post on NVIDIA’s website, the streaming service confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 would be one of 22 titles coming to the service in October. The Xbox Game Pass version available on the Microsoft Store is not listed as compatible with GeForce NOW.
NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW service is available in North America and Europe and offers cloud-based game streaming that draws on server farms packed with GeForce RTX 4080s. The service offers multiple tiers of access at various price points, the most expensive of which locks in the highest possible frame rates and even supports ray tracing. Those who want to take advantage of playing Black Ops 6 via GeForce NOW will need to have purchased the game on either Steam or Battle.net.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 availability for Xbox Cloud Gaming, previously known as xCloud, has not yet been confirmed. Microsoft was forced into concessions regarding cloud gaming during the litigation period of its record-breaking purchase of COD publisher, Activision. Regulatory bodies in the UK denied the Activision merger initially over concerns for what it called a “nascent cloud-gaming market”. The CMA stated it believed Microsoft was picking and choosing its competition by signing licensing agreements with cloud-gaming service providers like NVIDIA and Boosteroid.
Microsoft ultimately signed an agreement to sell Activision’s entire catalog of games, including Call of Duty, to Ubisoft for inclusion in its Ubisoft+ cloud gaming service in perpetuity. The agreement satisfied regulators and the merger was allowed to close. Ubisoft has yet to announce if Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will join its service on release.
In addition to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, NVIDIA announced an additional 21 titles coming to the cloud service for October, including the following:
- THRONE AND LIBERTY
- Sifu
- Bear and Breakfast
- Monster Jam Showdown
- TerraTech Worlds
- Europa
- Neva
- MechWarrior 5: Clans
- A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead
- Worshippers of Cthulhu
- No More Room in Hell 2
- Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven
- Life is Strange: Double Exposure
- Artisan TD
- ASKA
- DUCKSIDE
- Dwarven Realms
- Selaco
- Spirit City: Lofi Sessions
- Starcom: Unknown Space
- Star Trek Timelines
In addition to the new games, GeForce NOW has also announced new updates to its user account portal, which will allow players to see their playtime details and gameplay history.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, developed by Treyarch Studios and published by Activision, is the first COD title to launch day one on Xbox Game Pass, with former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick having been staunchly opposed to the practice. The game’s launcher has undergone significant changes recently, and in an interview during Call of Duty: Next Treyarch leadership shared that the game experience is on “a journey to get where want to be.”
