Black Ops 6 Steam Launch Has Significantly Outperformed Modern Warfare 3’s

Summary

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 received an 85 rating on Opencritic with all critics recommending it.
• Black Ops 6 surpassed Modern Warfare 3 in player count on Steam by over 60%.
• The game's success could potentially drive four million new Xbox Game Pass subscriptions.

It's been a mostly stellar start for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Despite launching to "Mixed" reviews on Steam, the game scored an 85 on Opencritic, with 100 percent of critics recommending it, and it reportedly broke internet traffic records with UK provider BT.

Dark Matter Camo In Black Ops 6 Has Already Been Unlocked

What the heck is sleep, anyway?

It appears that those internet usage records tumbling were not just due to the game's file size either, with Black Ops 6 recording significantly more players on Steam than its predecessor, Modern Warfare 3.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6's Steam Launch Significantly Stronger Than Modern Warfare 3

Using SteamDB as a reference point, it appears that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 had over 60 percent more players than Modern Warfare 3 when both games launched.

All of Call of Duty's Steam data is tracked through a single listing, rather than individual games like other game series, so there's a bit of extrapolating to be done. However, when Modern Warfare 3 launched, Call of Duty on Steam peaked at 190,273 players. When Black Ops 6 launched this weekend, the Call of Duty launcher had a maximum of 306,133 players online, a 61 percent increase.

The Call of Duty launcher was initially released on Steam in October 2022 with Call of Duty: Warzone. It was here that it hit its all-time peak of 488,897 players, leaving the latest title with a long way to go.

Despite not reaching the lofty heights of Warzone, Microsoft is likely to be very pleased with these numbers. The company was reportedly "banking on" the success of the title after a particularly tough year that has seen sweeping layoffs, despite its CEO getting a $30 million pay rise, and heavily criticized Xbox Game Pass changes. One analyst suggested that the game could drive as many as four million new Xbox Game Pass subscribers, and if this start is anything to go by, they might not be too far off.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

WHERE TO PLAY

Forced to go rogue. Hunted from within. This is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

Developed by Treyarch and Raven, Black Ops 6 is a spy action thriller set in the early 90s, a period of transition and upheaval in global politics, characterized by the end of the Cold War and the rise of the United States as a single superpower. With a mind-bending narrative, and unbound by the rules of engagement, this is signature Black Ops.

The Black Ops 6 Campaign provides dynamic moment-to-moment gameplay that includes a variety of play spaces with blockbuster set pieces and action-packed moments, high-stakes heists, and cloak-and-dagger spy activity.

In a best-in-class Multiplayer experience, players will test their skills across 16 new maps at launch, including 12 core 6v6 maps and 4 Strike maps that can be played 2v2 or 6v6.

Black Ops 6 also marks the epic return of Round-Based Zombies, the fan-favorite mode where players will take down hordes of the undead in two brand-new maps at launch. Post-launch, players can look forward to even more exciting maps and groundbreaking experiences dropping into both Multiplayer and Zombies.