Activision revealed today that is optimizing the Call of Duty user interface to create a better experience for players accessing their games.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 debuts on October 25, and it will come with a UI that includes streamlined menus, smaller downloads, greater control over what you download, and a focus on games. So the team is optimizing the way players interact with and access their Call of Duty library.
Activision is forewarning players about this because, evidently, it will be tedious to do the initial downloads to get ready for a better experience. There is some pain with this, but the company is offering rewards as well, including ultimately smaller downloads.
The menu navigation and offering smaller and more customized downloads, plus other benefits for your Call of Duty library. This begins by revamping the experience formerly known as Call of Duty HQ.
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Moving forward, as a result of upcoming changes, players will have a new streamlined interface, direct access to games, more control over your downloads, including Call of Duty: Warzone content. It will have expanded streaming technology to reduce file sizes.
These changes will be rolled out in phases as a series of downloads. After these larger initial updates, future Call of Duty downloads will decrease in size and existing files will take up less space on your device.
As a thanks for your patience, Activision is gifting all players with in-game consumables, which will be delivered when you first log into Call of Duty after the Season 5 Reloaded update.
The road to a smoother Call of Duty experience
Implementing these changes will require a series of updates to reorganize game files and deploy a redesigned UI.
Following these updates and optimizations, future Call of Duty download sizes will decrease. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be a smaller download than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III at launch.
In addition to regular season releases, the calendar of updates are as follows:
- Reorganizing game content, part of the Season 5 Reloaded update (August 21)
- Black Ops 6 open beta (August 30)
- New user interface (mid-October)
- Black Ops 6 launch (October 25)
- Season 1 (redacted)
Setting the stage: The first big update (August 21)
Paving the way for these benefits requires a large initial update set to release alongside the launch of Season 5 Reloaded on August 21, introducing game file reorganization, separating Call of Duty: Warzone from the default download for annual titles, implementing new texture streaming tech and separating Call of Duty: Warzone from the default download for annual titles.
To give players more control over what they’re downloading, the company is decoupling the download of Call of Duty: Warzone from other titles. When you purchase an annual title, you will only download the files for that game by default.
On the free-to-play side, players can “opt-in” to get Call of Duty: Warzone when they’re downloading a new annual title or simply download it separately at any point in time. Players get to choose.
Expanded texture streaming technologies
In part of an ongoing effort to reduce file and download sizes, the team is expanding the usage of texture streaming, starting with the Season 5 Reloaded update.
With these capabilities, Activision can cycle content that is less frequently used by players to a streaming cache, avoiding the need to download it directly to your device’s storage. Going forward, more content will be included in this cache.
With this change, players may see older content that briefly appears at a lower quality until the streaming cache has fully loaded. The resolution of content streamed from the cache will depend on what setting you select for this feature.
To capture this change and give players more control over their content streaming experience, Activision is updating the current “On-Demand Texture Streaming” setting to “On-Demand High Quality Streaming” and offering two options. The optimized default setting will mean content appears at a high-fidelity graphical quality at increased internet bandwidth usage. The minimal content setting appears at reduced graphical quality with lower internet bandwidth usage.
Downloads
The process begins with a big download. This will pave the way over the next several weeks and ultimately lead to a better experience when Black Ops 6 arrives.
This initial download will not permanently add the stated file size to the storage space that Call of Duty takes up on your device. The update is reorganizing game files and adding new tech to prep the way for the full player interface arriving in October. Once complete, Call of Duty’s footprint will decrease due to these file optimizations.
PlayStation 5 players will acquire this update via four separate downloads. The initial download will be similar to other updates that are needed before booting up Call of Duty. The next update will be triggered within the Call of Duty experience – a download when first accessing Modern Warfare III or Call of Duty: Warzone. After the second update is completed, there will be another download when accessing Modern Warfare III and a final download when accessing Call of Duty: Warzone.
The PS5 requires split downloads due to differences in file organization. The initial download may be larger in size for players who also have Modern Warfare II content installed.
Players on other platforms will acquire the entire update via a single download, similar to other updates that are needed before booting up Call of Duty.
Rewards
As a thank you to the community for completing this download, Activision is gifting players a pack of Battle Token Tier Skips and 2XP Tokens. From the start of Season 5 Reloaded (August 21) until the end of Season 5, players who complete the download and log in will receive 10 One-Hour Double Player XP Tokens (10 Hours Total), 10 One-Hour Double Weapon XP Tokens (10 Hours Total) and 10 Battle Pass Token Tier Skips.
These tier skips and tokens will be delivered when you first log into Call of Duty after the Season 5 Reloaded update.
Black Ops 6 beta (August 30)
Players will experience the new Omnimovement system in a variety of maps and game modes during the upcoming Black Ops 6 open beta. The first update as part of Season 5 Reloaded paves the way for a seamless entry into the action.
Players with Call of Duty and the Season 5.5 update installed will automatically receive the beta as an update to their existing install. New or returning players without Call of Duty installed can jump into the Black Ops 6 open beta by downloading it from their platform storefront.
Players will be able to preload Black Ops 6 beta content starting on August 28. The fastest way to jump into the beta immediately is to download the Season 5 Reloaded update and preload the beta content before August 30.
After the beta is over, beta content will be automatically removed during the Season 6 update. The team is in the process of finalizing the beta release so there may be some changes in projected download sizes before the beta begins.
New user interface (mid-October)
Players will see the improved menu and navigation experience when the new user interface arrives in mid-October.
The team is still putting the finishing touches on the new interface and will follow up with the exact date of the transition in the weeks ahead.
The new user interface will introduce a Call of Duty landing zone where top content will be visible on one clean page without needing to scroll. The landing page’s main focus is on games, and gives players the ability to directly access those games.
The new landing page will feature the most recent annual title and Call of Duty: Warzone for ease of access. Other Call of Duty titles can be accessed via your games library or the “Last Played” tile if that is the game you played last.
The user interface and landing page will evolve over several initial stages.
Before the launch of Black Ops 6 (Mid-October)
Initially, there will be a transition period when the new landing page goes live before Black Ops 6 launches. During this time, Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone will be the featured titles and players will need to cross-launch into each of those games. This paves the way for Black Ops 6 to smoothly enter as a featured title on October 25.
Black Ops 6 launch (October 25)
When Black Ops 6 launches, it will replace Modern Warfare III, making Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Warzone the featured titles. Players will be able to instantly launch Black Ops 6 and cross-launch into Call of Duty: Warzone.
At Season 1, Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Warzone will remain the featured titles, but players will be able to instantly launch into both Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Warzone.
The team will follow up with the associated download sizes for this update and more details around the new user interface before it goes live in October.
Black Ops 6 download sizes
As a result of these updates, Black Ops 6 will be a smaller download at launch than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. Since the team is still in game development, and in the process of final optimizations, it’s too soon to share final download sizes yet. Activision will have final specs for Black Ops 6 in October. The team will share the file size details as soon as it has them.
Players with the previous updates installed who purchase Black Ops 6 will automatically download the title as an update to their existing install. New or returning players without Call of Duty installed can download Black Ops 6 from their platform storefront.
Starting with Black Ops 6, games will have their own individual user interfaces designed to easily get players into the modes and content they want to play.
Players will get a partial preview of the Black Ops 6 user interface during the Black Ops 6 multiplayer beta and at the Call of Duty: Next showcase event.
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