A lot of pressure is currently being placed on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, with the Season 4 Reloaded event launching on July 2. This mid-season event is set to bring a lot of changes to the game’s core multiplayer as well as Warzone. Away from this, fans of Zombies will have to wait until Season 5 to get their hands on the title’s final Zombies map. Some controversies have already cropped up from this period of change, however, speaking to a larger issue that CoD has faced for some time.
Some of the most divisive issues that have surrounded the likes of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 come from the franchise’s live service nature. The massive prevalence of microtransactions and immersion-breaking bundles has caused a kind of identity crisis for Call of Duty, with Activision often pushing these elements to the detriment of gameplay. Just after the dust had settled from similar previous controversies, fans are now reporting seeing microtransaction ads within the Winner’s Circle of Black Ops 6.
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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s Winner’s Circle Changes Make Microtransactions Even More Unavoidable
The Winner’s Circle of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has always been quite divisive, with past games like Black Ops 3 even drawing the same sentiment. While the Winner’s Circle is primarily present to showcase the three best players on a winning team, it is also a hot-spot for showcasing extravagant operator skins. This is a logical extension of Call of Duty‘s current live service approach, with the adoption of things like battle passes coming alongside paid-for weapon and operator skins that dominate discussion around the IP.
Many of these operator skins have represented things like real-world figures or cartoon characters, with the most recent bundle for Black Ops 6 bringing Beavis and Butt-Head to the game. It is clear to see why these are so divisive, with CoD fighting between competing with other live-service giants like Fortnite or maintaining its historically more grounded military aesthetic. Recently, players have been reporting seeing a “wishlist operator” option for paid-for characters within the Winner’s Circle.
More recent leaks suggest that a comprehensive American Dad crossover is also coming to Black Ops 6, reinforcing just how far the series has come from its earlier days.
This has understandably caused another wave of controversy surrounding Call of Duty, echoing the wider criticism of how aggressively Activision has been pushing the many in-game purchases that the series now offers. Similar controversies have risen in the past with Call of Duty offering a wishlist option for specific weapon bundles in killcams, with these features consistently appearing despite how divisive they have been in the past.
In-Game Ads Have Consistently Been a Source of Division For Call of Duty
More recently, Black Ops 6 faced criticism for bundle adverts that briefly appeared in the loadout screen, with Treyarch quickly reversing this change while stating that it was accidentally added to the game. Many fans believe that these changes are purposefully added to Call of Duty to gauge player response, with the Winner’s Circle wishlist operation having appeared sporadically as far back as 2023’s Modern Warfare 3.
While Call of Duty‘s live service approach is clearly quite lucrative for Activision, the practice seems to be becoming more and more abrasive in terms of how strongly players are pushed towards microtransactions. Despite how controversial in-game adverts outside the store page always prove to be, Activision seemingly cannot shake its experimentation with how aggressively these kinds of advertisements can appear. While the Winner’s Circle wishlist feature might not be here to stay, it has once again revived a longstanding feud between Call of Duty and its playerbase that is seemingly not going away anytime soon.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
9/10
- Released
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October 25, 2024
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Suggestive Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Engine
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IW 9.0