The rumors are indeed true. Microsoft has confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the next game in Activision"s hit first-person shooter series, will be a Day One release for its Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
Microsoft"s official announcement was posted on its Xbox Wire site. However, notifications were sent out early to some Xbox users ahead of the official reveal.
The addition of Black Ops 6 as an Xbox Game Pass title, while not entirely surprising, will still be a huge shift for the franchise as a whole. It will almost certainly help to boost the subscription numbers for Microsoft"s service. The company previously stated earlier this year that it had 34 million subscribers.
There are unconfirmed rumors that Microsoft could launch a new and more expensive Xbox Game Pass plan specifically for Black Ops 6. Right now, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is priced at $16.99 a month, and offers access to hundreds of Xbox and PC games, along with its Xbox Cloud Gaming service.
While Microsoft officially acquired Activision Blizzard in October 2023, the company has so far been slow to add games from the publisher to Xbox Game Pass. Indeed, the only game from Activision Blizzard that"s currently available on the service is Blizzard"s Diablo IV, which was added in late March.
Along with the Xbox Game Pass announcement, Activision posted a live action teaser trailer for Black Ops 6 on YouTube. It uses actors to portray real life characters like former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and the late President of Iraq Saddam Hussein.
The teaser trailer, once again, seems to confirm earlier rumors that Black Ops 6, which is being primarily developed by Treyarch, will be set in part during the Gulf War of the early 1990s.
Microsoft will show off gameplay from Black Ops 6 on June 9 as part of its Xbox Games Showcase event, followed by the Black Ops 6 Direct event.