Call of Duty pros have high hopes for Black Ops 6 despite one key flaw
ActivisionDexerto reached out to a number of professional Call of Duty players after the launch of Black Ops 6 to find out their initial thoughts on the game and how it will play as a competitive title. While many of the are enjoying BO6, particularly the gunplay and omnimovement, there was one key problem that almost every pro pointed out is holding the game back.
Each year, a new COD game comes out, and the competitive scene follows by switching over to the new title, regardless of how much they enjoyed or disliked the previous iteration.
It has often been seen as a system that could hold Call of Duty esports back – especially when games like Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 3 were so beloved – although in opposing years it has been seen as a big perk to be able to switch every 12 months or so.
While Modern Warfare 3 brought back classic maps and weapons that players knew and loved, Black Ops 6 has had to find new ways to bring players in to find enjoyment.
ActivisionThankfully, most pro players say that the game feels brilliant. “Gameplay and gunplay are pretty good,” explained Charlie ‘Hicksy’ Hicks, while Dan ‘Ghosty’ Rothe echoed that sentiment by adding that the “movement, gunplay, and the overall flow” of the game is great.
However, one resounding issue in every single response was the maps. “Outside of the maps, everything feels great” Ghosty explained, saying that he “genuinely can’t tell which maps are ready” for competitive gameplay.
One player, who opted to remain anonymous, simply said “this is the worst map pool we’ve ever had at launch.”
Another suggested that remastered maps from past COD titles may be the solution: “It’s all going to come down to map pool … I feel like they should bring in some remastered maps soon, that will save us.”
Remastered maps have become a norm in recent Call of Duty games, and there are certainly fantastic Black Ops series maps that could and should be remastered for BO6.
In every response, maps were identified as a serious problem that they couldn’t look past, and some players have been very honest about their fears over the potential Call of Duty League map pool for this season.
OpTic’s 2024 world championship duo Brandon ‘Dashy’ Otell and Anthony ‘Shotzzy’ Cuevas-Castro already hit out at the “dogs**t” BO6 maps and also said that the game needs remastered maps to come in and make things better, especially from Black Ops 3 and 4.
The problem, though, is we don’t know when or if any remastered maps are coming. Season 1 starts on November 14, but there has been no indication yet that a classic map will be returning in that update, or in any following.
In fact, we have seen three of the maps coming in Season 1 – albeit with a suggestion that there could be more to come – and none of them are remasters.
At the time of writing, there have been no official announcements regarding the CDL 2025 season launch date, though multiple sources have placed it as starting in early December, with an announcement coming on November 12.
Players are all openly very excited about the game itself, and multiple told us just how much they were enjoying the general gameplay despite the poor map options – but it will be interesting to see which maps make the cut come decision time.