The recent success ofCall of Duty: Black Ops 6has only continued with the launch of Season One Reloaded on December 5, with fans receiving another batch of fresh content across Zombies and multiplayer. This includes the introduction of brand-new Zombies map Citadelle des Morts, while new maps, limited-time modes, and equipment have been brought to standard multiplayer.
While this outwardly seems like a time of celebration forCall of Duty: Black Ops 6, especially with the title recently experiencing the most successful month of player engagement for anyCoDtitle ever made, some other announcements from Treyarch have soured the mood, to say the least. A new framework of bonuses was recently announced for BlackCell battle pass purchases for all future in-game seasons ofBlack Ops 6, which would give eligible players a permanent XP multiplier that can be stacked with each BlackCell purchase. While this does not seem overly egregious at first glance, it further blurs the “pay-to-win” lines between standardCall of Dutygameplay and the growing catalog of in-game purchases that fans have available to them.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s BlackCell XP Boosts Have Caused Quite a Stir
Like many extremely popular multiplayer experiences, theCall of Dutyfranchise has been using a seasonal battle pass systemto flesh out a given title’s post-launch content for quite some time. Activision took this content delivery approach a step further in 2022, with a super-premium BlackCell battle pass being introduced to the franchise starting with season three ofModern Warfare 2. The BlackCell pass offers content above and beyond the premium battle pass, coming at a greater price, and has become a staple ofCall of Dutyin-game seasons ever since it was introduced.
TheBlackCell pass attempts to draw in players by offering eye-catching BlackCell skinsfor each season that cannot be unlocked anywhere else, alongside bombastic weapon blueprints and increasedCoDPoints, among other things. While the largely cosmetic benefits of BlackCell ownership have seen this super-premium in-game purchase fly fairly under the radar since it was first introduced, the value of BlackCell purchases going forward is about to be rewritten in quite a controversial way.
Starting from season two ofCall of Duty: Black Ops 6, all future seasonalBlackCell pass purchases will grant players a permanent 10% XP boost. This boost can be stacked for each BlackCell seasonal purchase, meaning players who consistently buy the BlackCell pass for each subsequent season can have a permanent 50% XP boost by the time season six ofBlack Ops 6rolls around.
This is not the only BlackCell-related controversyCall of Duty: Black Ops 6has experienced either, as the Replacer Bundle provided an extra skin for Blackcell battle pass owners - ensuring that players could miss out on parts of store bundles if they lack the more expensive version of aCall of Dutybattle pass.
The BlackCell Changes Are the Latest in a Long Line of XP-Related Controversies For Black Ops 6
This is a complete game changer forthe Prestige Master grind ofBlack Ops 6, giving BlackCell players an undeniable advantage over base-game fans that will only compound as more seasons are released. These upcoming BlackCell bonuses even apply boosts to Weapon XP, meaning BlackCell players will have an even larger advantage when it comes to leveling up newly-added weapons and unlocking their most powerful attachments before anyone else.
Black Ops 6has already experienced a lot of XP-related controversywith its temporary removal of legacy XP tokens and the botched XP multipliers of previous Double XP events, meaning the announcement of permanent XP boosts tied to in-game purchases has come at an awful time. While it is hard to definitely characterize these permanent XP boosts as pay-to-win or not, it does lay the seeds for BlackCell passes to offer more than cosmetic benefits down the line.
