Fans Are Not Thrilled About The New Black Ops 6 Squid Game Event Due To The Premium Reward Track Price Tag

Adding to a list of controversies that have plagued Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 since the game's launch, the Premium Track of a new, limited-time Squid Game event has sparked backlash from players. The latest in the Call of Duty series, Black Ops 6 enjoyed a generally positive critical reception when it released in October 2024, garnering praise for its single-player campaign, online multiplayer, and its Zombies mode. Long-term players, however, have several serious complaints regarding the game's monetization and cheating issues.

As reported by PCGamesN, the source of Black Ops 6's newest controversy is the pricing of the Squid Game Event Pass's Premium Track, which costs 1,100 Call of Duty Points (priced at $9.99 USD). This price, as pointed out in the article, is the same as the game's seasonal premium battle pass, but offers considerably less in terms of rewards. Since the Squid Game event is only available from January 2 to January 24, players will also have a relatively short window to complete it.

Squid Game Is Coming To Black Ops 6, But At What Cost?

The Squid Game Premium Track Is The Latest In A Long Line Of BO6 Microtransactions

Activision

As the article points out, the cost of the Squid Game Premium Track compared to the seasonal battle pass is even worse than it might seem at first. Not only does the Squid Game pass offer fewer rewards, but, unlike the seasonal pass, it also doesn't allow players to recoup their Call of Duty Points. Fan response, at least online, has been highly critical of the Squid Game pass, with players protesting the ever-growing number of microtransactions that Black Ops 6 is trying to sell on top of the game's premium $69.99 price tag.

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Notably, Black Ops 6's Squid Game event is the first seasonal event of its type to include a Premium Track —for previous events, all rewards were available for free. With the introduction of extra monetization for events, however, players have grown increasingly critical of Black Ops 6's approach to monetization, as can be seen in this Reddit thread from user Against-The-Current. In the case of Squid Game specifically, players have also pointed out the hypocrisy of monetizing an event based on a show that criticizes capitalism.

Black Ops 6 Players Have Quite A Bit To Say About Issues Such As This

Black Ops 6 Has Been Drawing Criticism From Players Since It Launched

Activision

Of course, the Squid Game event isn't the first thing in the newest Call of Duty to spark backlash from players, as the game's excessive microtransactions, intrusive cosmetics, and decisions like the removal of legacy double XP tokens from BO6 have all drawn heavy criticism from players. As pointed out in the PCGamesN article, particularly prevalent complaints from the community center around the game's lackluster anticheat, and while an update to introduce stronger anticheat has been promised, increasing monetization has created the impression that BO6 prioritizes making money over a better gameplay experience.

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Black Ops 6 has been controversial for other reasons as well, drawing even more criticism for requiring an online connection at all times, even for single-player content, and for the instability of the game's online play experience. Unfortunately, as long as the game's approach to monetization continues to turn a profit, it's unlikely to get any better, and online complaints have usually proven to be a vocal minority when it comes to protesting the microtransactions of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

Source: PCGamesN, Against-The-Current/Reddit