No, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 won't require 309.85 GB of storage space at launch

Cole Martin
·3-min read
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 reveal screenshots.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 reveal screenshots.

What you need to know

  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was revealed during the 2024 Xbox Showcase on June 9.

  • The Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 store page on Xbox listed the game's storage space requirement as more than 309 GB.

  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will bundle together with the existing Call of Duty HQ launcher, which includes Modern Warfare 2, Modern Warfare 3, and Warzone, in all available languages.

  • Most players uninstall additional content, campaigns, etc. for games that they are not actively playing, which would significantly lower the storage footprint of Call of Duty.

  • Activision has also verified that the actual install size for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be available closer to launch.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is officially in the wild after a full reveal during the 2024 Xbox Showcase. Fans who were looking to place their preorders for the game were caught by surprise to see Xbox list the storage requirement at 309.85 GB. Call of Duty has always been known as a storage hog, taking up around 150 GB of storage for each title, but pushing 310 GB seemed excessive. Activision has since confirmed that the listing is a mistake, and the proper installation size requirement will be available closer to launch.

Following the launch of Warzone 2.0 and Modern Warfare 2 in 2022, Activision and lead developers opted to move all future titles to one shared Call of Duty engine. Each year's title is released as part of a bundled Call of Duty HQ that keeps the games and DLC content all together. This decision has led to quite a bit of confusion among fans, however, when the premium release Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was disregarded as merely being DLC for its predecessor.

The same confusion has also led some to mistakenly label Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 DLC. The game remains a premium title, but it is bundled together in the launcher with the previous two titles. It's this bundling that helps the development teams keep the installation size for Call of Duty to a manageable number and leads to misunderstandings about the game's overall install size.

The 309.85 GB estimate listed on the Xbox store page is not representative of Black Ops 6's install size. Instead, it is a rough estimate of the full install size of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Modern Warfare 3, Warzone, Black Ops 6, and all available language packs for those games. An official, accurate estimate of the installation size of Black Ops 6 can be expected closer to launch.

In the meantime, the Call of Duty launcher gives users the ability to pick and choose which aspects of previous titles they would like to delete if they are not being used. If you've already finished the campaign, you can choose to uninstall just the campaign for Modern Warfare 2 or Modern Warfare 3, and free up some space while you wait for Black Ops 6.

Call of Duty Black Ops 6 keyart (square)
Call of Duty Black Ops 6 keyart (square)

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Preorder Black Ops 6 and get early access to the open beta in addition to locking in the biggest blockbuster action game of the year. Fan favorite characters in a fresh new campaign, 16 brand-new multiplayer maps, and the return of round-based zombies all await you on October 25.

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