The launch ofCall of Duty: Black Ops 6is now just around the corner, with fans gearing up to finally access the full breadth of what the game has to offer. Alongside a lot of revealed information regarding its campaign and Zombies, players got a hands-on experience of the upcoming title’s multiplayer through its Beta weekends, although these events only offered a fraction of what the full game will feature on October 25.
Treyarch has placed a lot of pre-release attention on the wide range of new features thatCall of Duty: Black Ops 6is set to introduce across its three main modes, but it is also clear that a lot of attention has been given to respecting the themes and core experiences of pastBlack Opstitles and the “glory days” of the widerCoDfranchise. While this range of new content is exciting and will giveBlack Ops 6its own unique identity, the iconic party mode Infected will not be available at launch, continuing a sad trend that movesCall of Dutyfurther away from the more casual experiences that it has historically been home to.
Black Ops 6’s Lack of Infected at Launch Strays Away From the Sub-Franchise’s Party-Game Past
Black Ops 6is looking to create its own firm identity within the largerCall of Dutyfranchise by introducing ambitious new core mechanics, withits high-octane omnimovement systembeing just one example of how it’s aiming to achieve this. The upcoming game is also set to launch with 16 all-new multiplayer maps, split between standard 6v6 experiences and smaller-scale Strike Maps, with the brand-new game mode Kill Order also being present from day one.
As things stand,only a handful of multiplayer game modes have been confirmed forBlack Ops 6’s launch, namely Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, Face Off, Gunfight, and Kill Order. Even iconic franchise modes like Search and Destroy have not been officially confirmed as launch experiences forBlack Ops 6, though it is largely assumed that such a popular mode will be available from day-one.
It has been confirmed, however, thatBlack Ops 6will have a disappointing approach to party modes around the time of its release, with Treyarch confirming that Infected will not be present in the game until at least a week after launch. While fans do not have long to wait for Infected, there has been no updates regarding the future of other belovedCoDparty modes like Gun Game, Sticks and Stones, Sharpshooter, and One in the Chamber.
Party Modes Should Have Been at the Heart of Black Ops 6’s Multiplayer
This follows a clear trend from recentCall of Dutyreleases where classic party games are becoming more of a post-launch afterthought, with fans only having access to the standard modes of the franchise for months at times before more casual multiplayer experiences are added. This trend is disheartening enough for anyCall of Dutytitle, but theBlack Opssub-franchise in particular has a direct history with party gamesthat should be celebrated, not ignored.
2010’sBlack Opsintroduced the ambitious and well-received concept of Wager Matches to the franchise, where players could bet in-game currency on a range of party games that opened up a completely new dimension ofwhat officialCall of Dutymultiplayer could be. While some of these original party games have been maintained in subsequent releases,Black Ops 6was presented with the perfect chance to honor the title that launched the sub-franchise by bringing back Wager Matches in a way that rivaled the original game. While it will not be long for Infected to be added toBlack Ops 6,its absence at launch alongside the lack of news regarding other popular party modes only continues a sad trend that the future ofCall of Dutyshould try and rectify.
