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Rock Paper Shotgun has a fuzzy conception of “news”, in that we regard the “new” element of news as sorely overrated, more of a guideline than an obligation. The trick to selling this mindset gracefully is to overclock your obnoxious narcissism until it levels up into stylish solipsism. “It’s news to me,” I sternly insist, while announcing a game you might pedantically observe was actually announced in 2019. “I can obtain no reliable empirical evidence that this existed prior to my noticing it,” I declare, writing about my discovery that Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 requires a permanent internet connection, even when you’re playing the campaign.
The hair-splitters amongst you might object that this has been known since June this year, but that’s no problem, because I have no reliable empirical evidence that you exist either. The only sources I’m prepared to trust are certain people on Reddit, who have also just learned about the always-online requirement after experiencing disconnects in single player, and are getting violently pissed off.
The implications of Call Of Duty single player going always-online are as you’d expect. Firstly, there’s the risk of being booted out of your campaign playthrough if you experience a disconnection, and secondly, the story mode will only be playable while Activision keeps the servers online. I’m not expecting them to pull support anytime soon – this is Call Of Duty, the annual shootman extravaganza which new owner Microsoft is prepared to sacrifice hundreds of developer livelihoods for, though not their CEO’s annual compensation. Still, there will come a point when they wind down the servers, and we can only hope they’ve added an offline mode by then.
While digital rights management could be a factor, Black Ops 6 seems to require an internet connection because it makes heavy use of texture-streaming, in a bid to cut down install sizes. As remembered by Videogamer, the ability to stream textures to your hard drive was added in November 2020, following the release of Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. It was optional then. It’s mandatory now, though there’s a “Minimal” option for people with less bandwidth.
Our Black Ops 6 review is in progress. I’ve just obtained a code, and might give the campaign a try myself over the weekend. I’ll let you know how the always-online stuff pans out, either in a Maw post or in a separate article. It’ll still be news by then, for all of reality is but the fleeting reflection of my mind’s eye. If you’re more interested in the multiplayer, Jeremy has conjured up some guides for the best Black Ops 6 loadouts and the best Black Ops 6 guns.