Black Ops 6’s full download size could be less than 50% of MW3.
This year's much-anticipated Black Ops 6 is about to kick off its early access. Recent years saw back-to-back Modern Warfare releases grace the Call of Duty franchise. But this year is a return to the Black Ops universe. With ever-improving graphics fidelity and a plethora of interlinked content, download sizes are always a concern for gamers around launch. But this year, the developers are optimizing the Call of Duty experience. Here's what we know about the Black Ops 6 download size.
Call of Duty Black Ops 6 download size
The developers have provided an estimation for the download size for Black Ops 6 across platforms. The size varies from platform to platform and also depends on whether you currently have Call of Duty installed.
Platform | Update for players with CoD installed | Download size for players without CoD installed |
|---|---|---|
| PlayStation 5 | 34 | 80 |
| PlayStation 4 | 15 | 67 |
| Xbox Series X|S | 35 | 75 |
| Xbox One | 17 | 52 |
| Battle.Net | 32 | 74 |
| Steam | 32 | 66 |
| Microsoft Store | 29 | 68 |
But how exactly are they reducing the game size to as low as 52 GB when previous games have required up to 213 GB of storage?
"Smaller, more customized downloads" to reduce Black Ops 6 download size
On Aug. 15, Call of Duty released a detailed blog post titled "Optimizing the Call of Duty Experience: A Roadmap to Black Ops 6 Launch." The post outlines a number of techniques the developers are applying in a bid to reduce download sizes, and it all starts with the Season 5 Reloaded update.
Reorganizing content with Season 5 Reloaded
Season 5 Reloaded will be a larger update than usual content drops because it will completely reorganize the file structure for the game. After these large initial downloads, future updates will decrease in size and existing files will take up less space on your device. That is crucial in bringing Modern Warfare and Warzone in line with the planned Black Ops 6 download size. On the technical side, this update will also start the implementation of the enhanced texture streaming.
As a thanks for your patience, we're 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.
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What is texture streaming in Call of Duty?
As part of the effort to reduce file sizes, Call of Duty will be putting an increased focus on texture streaming going forward. But what is texture streaming? texture streaming is a technology that allows game assets like cosmetic items to be downloaded or upscaled from lower resolution files during live gameplay. This is done instead of requiring things to be stored on the computer's storage itself. It allows for reduced storage requirements at the cost of some additional data usage during gameplay.
With this change, you 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.
With the new updates, texture streaming's usage will be expanded. To capture this change and give players more control, the "On-Demand Texture Streaming" setting has been split into two options:
- Optimized [Default] - Content appears at a high-fidelity graphical quality, increased internet bandwidth usage
- Minimal – Content appears at reduced graphical quality, lower internet bandwidth usage
Black Ops 6 open beta: A seamless experience for CoD players
While new and returning players can download the Black Ops 6 open beta directly, active players will have a smoother experience with a much smaller download size thanks to the Season 5 Reloaded update. 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 user interface coming mid-October
As part of the final preparation for the Black Ops 6 launch, Treyarch will release an updated UI in mid-October. The new experience will introduce a landing zone that simplifies the player experience. The latest annual release and Call of Duty: Warzone will be available directly from the landing. Initially, the UI will allow cross-launch into MW3 and Warzone. But through later updates, both games will be available for instantaneous launches.
So, if you're excited about the Black Ops 6 open beta, make sure you download the Season 5.5 update and preload the game before Aug. 28. Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest Call of Duty news and updates.
