Black Ops 6 copies are starting to appear, confirm massive disk space requirement

Joey Carr

Joey Carr

The first physical discs of Black Ops 6 are making their way into the wild, and the game case reveals plenty of information.

We're officially two weeks away from the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. While a majority of players have to wait for their digital copy of the game to unlock, there are still some players who buy the physical disk for Call of Duty every year. Most of these consumers will pick up their physical copies on the day of release, but some lucky individuals already have their disks in hand.

As is tradition, images of early copies of Black Ops 6 have begun to appear. Most of the time, these early copies come from retail employees who received shipments of the game to store until launch day when they become available for purchase. While players with an early copy can't play Black Ops 6, we can glean some information from the game case itself.

Black Ops 6 game case reveals GB requirements

It's unclear where images of early game cases come from, but it's easy to tell when one is legitimate. The particular image you see below is likely from a retail store and an employee presumably snapped some quick pictures to show the Internet.

As we can see from the game case, this is an Xbox copy of Black Ops 6. The case says the game is "optimized for Xbox Series X" and contains all of the normal features you'd expect from a Call of Duty title.

However, if we look at the large paragraph in the center of the case, we see a small blurb that confirms the minimum amount of disk space you need to download Black Ops 6: "Minimum 137 GB required." This amount of storage needed has become normal for Call of Duty and other AAA titles.

What the case doesn't say, though, is how much storage is needed for COD HQ and its other download packs. If we include updates to COD HQ, the file for Warzone, and other downloads, such as high-texture packs, the minimum storage required for the entire game could exceed 200 GB.

This number will vary from player to player and system to system, but it's safe to say you might need to delete some games to fit Black Ops 6.

Can early copies of Black Ops 6 play before launch?

Black Ops 6 officially launches on Oct. 25. Image via Activision
Black Ops 6 officially launches on Oct. 25. Image via Activision

If you're wondering about potentially scoring an early copy of Black Ops 6 to play before anyone else, you might want to reconsider. Unlike the old days of Call of Duty, a copy of the game doesn't mean you can access the servers right when they go up. Since all games run through COD HQ nowadays, the application needs to update before anyone can start playing Black Ops 6.

This update likely won't arrive until Oct. 24, which is when the game will begin to roll out, starting in New Zealand. We previously did a guide on whether the classic New Zealand trick will work this year if you were curious about that.

Finally, if you notice on the front of the game case, it says "Internet required." This means an active Internet connection is required to play all parts of the game, including the Campaign. So even though some players might have an early copy of the game, they won't be able to access any part since they need access to the new servers, which won't be active until Oct. 24.

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