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In a nutshell: Many Call of Duty players dread downloading major updates for the series' latest entries because they often balloon to one or two dozen gigabytes. Furthermore, COD games have become notorious over the last few years for consuming hundreds of gigabytes of storage space. Hopefully, Activision's latest effort to slim them down is successful.
Call of Duty will soon receive updates to decrease its infamously large file size and introduce a new user interface. The multi-stage transition takes place between late August and the October launch of Black Ops 6.
The chart-topping first-person shooter can occupy nearly 200 GB depending on the content users download. Activision estimates that Black Ops 6 could increase the number to over 300 GB for those who install multiple titles simultaneously. Furthermore, patches often exceed 20 GB.
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Installing any of the last few COD games requires installing Warzone – one of the main culprits behind the massive footprint. Activision plans to remove this stipulation this fall, giving players more control over how much of the game they download.
Numerous weapons, gear, and other microtransaction items have also bloated COD over the years. Most players only see a small subset of these objects depending on what they purchase or see other players using. Instead of downloading all of them and wasting storage space, a new texture streaming system will temporarily download and cache items that aren't used often. Additionally, users can control the visual quality of streamed assets.
The initial tech update to reorganize the file structure arrives on August 21. The game will receive an update through a large download, but Activision promises this will be the last huge patch. Another update in mid-October will introduce the new UI, which aims to speed up the process of booting into each game or mode. The final piece comes with the release of Black Ops 6 on October 25.
Meanwhile, a two-tier beta begins on August 30. The initial phase is only available to customers who pre-order the game, but the open beta becomes available for everyone from September 6 to September 9.
Download sizes for the beta differ significantly depending on whether users installed Call of Duty Season 5 beforehand. Updating Season 5 with the beta requires only around 30 GB while downloading the beta from scratch consumes roughly 66 GB (74 GB for Battle.net users).