Just a few days after Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's launch, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Treyarch's latest entry in the franchise broke multiple franchise records, which includes day-one players, total hours played and in total matches played. This is mindboggling given how big the Call of Duty franchise has been for over a decade. Part of the reason for Black Ops 6's massive initial turnout can be attributed to the game being part of Xbox's Game Pass subscription service.

Black Ops 6 is the first game in the Call of Duty franchise to be part of Game Pass after Microsoft's acquisition of Activision-Blizzard for the staggering amount of $69 billion. The franchise's effect was felt immediately, as Nadella shared that Black Ops 6's launch established a new Game Pass subscriber adds on a game's launch day. While that's good news for Microsoft, it seems the addition of the game to the subscription service also benefited those who were thinking of dipping their toes back in the Call of Duty pool.

In an interview with BBC, Black Ops 6 director Mike Leslie states how he thinks the inclusion of the shooter in Game Pass played a huge part in boosting its player numbers. "What we've seen is it's allowed people that might have been on the fence, might have had some of that friction, might have been like, 'I haven't played in a while' to actually come back and try the game."

However, their job isn't done yet, as Leslie notes, the challenge now is keeping players engaged for both Call of Duty newcomers and veterans alike, stating, "The key is, are they having fun? Where are the friction points? And that's what we're analysing. Obviously there's things that we can improve and we've got our finger on the pulse of the community so that we can hear those things and analyse them and really attack and fix them in the right ways."

Treyarch's first stab at making sure players are engaged starts next week when Black Ops 6's first season kicks off, which promises new maps, weapons and modes all for free. It will also mark the debut integration of Black Ops 6 with free-to-play battle royale game, Call of Duty: Warzone.

While Call of Duty is mostly known -- and played -- for its multiplayer, this year's campaign offering is not to be overlooked, as our review of it claims, "Treyarch has a long way to go if a sequel is to be called great, but for the first time in a decade, Call of Duty may have a future again."

Posted: 18 hours, 59 minutes ago
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Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/black-ops-6-director-game-pass-brought-players-back/