Black Ops 6 players appalled by "money hungry" Double XP paywall

Black Ops 6 has launched a new loyalty bonus for BlackCell Battle Pass owners, but the community has not taken kindly to the controversial ways it shakes up XP gain.

Talking about XP gain in Black Ops 6 is already quite a mammoth task. In addition to two faulty Double XP weekends, Treyarch has also made some controversial changes to how scorestreaks build up score.

Call of Duty players are understandably feeling frustrated with how many nerfs against leveling up have been added to the game, which has led to the latest controversial change in the latest update.

Check out the Black Ops 6 multiplayer trailer.

As part of the Season 1 Reloaded update, players noticed a new loyalty bonus for those who repeatedly buy the BlackCell Battle Pass.

For those unaware, the BlackCell pass is a more expensive version of the regular Battle Pass. While the regular Battle Pass costs around 1,100 CoD points (equivalent to just under £9), the BlackCell pass comes to around £25.99 / $29.99.

As spotted by Charlie Intel, players who buy the BlackCell Battle Pass are rewarded with a 10% XP boost per pass. If you buy the pass each season, you’ll have a 50% XP boost by the time Season 6 rolls around.

A player who spends £180 for all six BlackCell passes will have a significantly higher rate of XP gain compared to one who doesn’t. Naturally, this hasn’t gone over well in the CoD community.

so....Activision is now incentivizing people to buy each Season of Black Ops 6 BlackCell by giving you extra XP boosts for every season you buy the BlackCell.

If you buy every single BlackCell, you'll be at a +50% XP Bonus for Season 06. pic.twitter.com/YnBUkAIPLV

— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) December 3, 2024

“Remember when CoD used to not be money hungry,” wrote one X (formerly Twitter) user. “Game was so much better during that time.”

“Getting more pay to win everyday,” wrote another user.

Considering the type of player likely to buy the BlackCell pass is someone who probably already plays Call of Duty every day, the XP bonus seems like a rather odd choice. By the time Season 6 releases, most of these players will already be at the max level or prestige.

One X user offered a decent compromise, writing: “This is a great idea, but should not be behind a paywall. It should be a boost for those who let’s say complete the battle pass each season.”

Since the regular battle pass can be completed by everyone, with only the rewards of each tier locked behind a paywall, users agreed that this seems to be a much fairer compromise.