In an excellent move for the Call of Duty community, Activision has just done a great favor. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Free Trial is currently available to everyone across all gaming platforms and will continue till October 16, 10 am PT. This will allow you to play the whole story of Black Ops 6, all the multiplayer modes, and the Zombies experience without any charge, no strings attached. This is already a very impactful move, given that the game has been released for some time now and the new Call of Duty might be announced any moment.
So, why such a huge free access all of a sudden? The timing is… interesting, to say the least. Some gamers among the replies are making strong speculations. One user, GreatStoryCorey, suggested, ‘They gotta try and build hype for Black Ops 7 by any means necessary.’ It does look like a tactic to get people re-engaged with the existing title before the next one is announced. And there’s another major theory going around. Another comment from ILoveArcade speculated that it’s ‘Most likely done to mess with BF’s launch numbers/concurrent players,’ which is an interesting idea, implying that Activision is playing a tit-for-tat game with its competitors, in this case, Battlefield 6, by deliberately going all out on the launch day of a rival comebacker.
However, not everybody is having a good time with it. The online reaction is very mixed and the overwhelming majority of it is focused on one big issue, which is the complain about SBMM. That’s Skill-Based Matchmaking for those of you who are not familiar with the term. And wow, do we have drama! A huge number of replies just bluntly say they won’t play the game because of SBMM. User Realonezzs did not mince his words: ‘Im not playing it. I got a taste of no sbmm im not going back to sbmm.’ This feeling was reiterated time and again with comments such as ‘If they remove the SBMM I’ll take a look’ from bs_blackscout and ‘Remove SBMM from this game too honestly’ from PichuOnX. It seems like the matchmaking system is the public enemy number one for a big part of the player base, as it was last year and will probably be again next year.
Then there are the technical problems. It has become a sort of tradition that modern launches or events are accompanied by some crashes, right? Several players were simply not able to run the game. EvilPancake6 wrote, ‘Cant even load into it , keeps crashing since updat3 went out ? Hmmm great beta back to bullshit im bo6.’ Another user, DayTrader_NY, said, ‘My game keeps crashing on PC cant even play with the BattlePass I purchased.’ Ouch, that’s a tough situation when you are trying to attract players with a free trial. FlexKavana05 mentioned, ‘I’ve had 6 dev errors and haven’t even gotten into a game.’ So for some, the free trial is pretty much just a ‘free crash simulator’ right now.
In the midst of the chaos, there were a few people actually trying to download and play. You had ChikinBing telling his friend ShadowMeowscIes, ‘Im downloading it right now homie,’ with the friend replying, ‘Nice, we should play zombies later.’ So it’s not all bad. But even that was a source of confusion, with IGhostdominus asking, ‘Somebody knows how to download just zombis in ps5? I press on bo6 and is asking to install multiplayer or campaign, but I dont see a zombis option.’ The installation process seems to be causing players who want only one specific mode a lot of trouble.
And then, of course, there are the haters. Comments like ‘trash ass game battlefield better’ from mf_lastking and ‘Nb wanna play that trash ass shit man’ from Ablah0 are just a part of it. One user, FenneK_Off, wrote in French which translates to ‘THIS GAME IS EXPLODED AGAINST THE BASEMENT OF ACTIVISION,’ which is quite a wild and vivid way to say the game is bad. Then there’s the simple yet powerful rejection from Pinkston1964: ‘No thank you.’ Sometimes, less is more.
Wait, what was I saying? Oh right, the free trial. It’s a great chance for those who haven’t bought Black Ops 6 yet to know the reason for the fuss or even to the old suburb. You get the whole package: campaign, MP, Zombies. $0 for that much content. But the community’s response shows that a free price tag does not necessarily get rid of the deeper issues like SBMM and stability problems. For every person who is happy to go into Zombies with their friend, there is another one who feels betrayed by the core game loop. It’s a typical case of ‘you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink,’ especially if the horse thinks the water has SBMM in it.
So if you are curious, the door is open until October 16. Just maybe brace for a crash or two, and be prepared for some possibly sweaty matches if you manage to get in. PlayStation and Xbox players can all participate in this free trial event.
