First Black Ops 6 Prestige reward is a World at War throwback

The first Prestige reward in Black Ops 6 has been revealed months ahead of launch as Treyarch pays homage to its iconic World at War era in the CoD franchise.

After years of experimenting with revamped versions of the Prestige system, CoD is finally returning to its roots. With Black Ops 6, we know for certain the game is rolling back to the classic layout.

Rather than new levels arriving with each seasonal update, meaning Prestiges are time-gated, Treyarch’s upcoming release is reverting to the original formula. Black Ops 6 launches with 10 tiers to work your way through, with each Prestige resetting your experience back to level 1.

This is exactly how it used to work before CoD adopted a seasonal model. Going back to basics, this means with each go around players are set to unlock some unique rewards.

Where in previous games, each Prestige unlocked a snazzy icon to display your grind for everyone in the lobby – who could forget the iconic Modern Warfare 2 10th Prestige emblem? – Black Ops 6 does more than just that.

For starters, each Prestige gives a new Prestige Token, a one-time use Token that can be used to permanently keep any piece of equipment, rather than having to level up and unlock it again.

But the cherry on top, each Prestige also looks set to hand out a unique Operator skin. The first up, according to our sister site CharlieIntel, is a cosmetic inspired by 2008’s World at War.

By Prestiging for the first time in Black Ops 6, players can nab this unique Zombies-themed cosmetic. However, it is worth noting, the only image we have to go off so far appears to be that of a level icon, not the Operator skin itself.

We’ll have to wait and see how the classic Zombies look translates over to a modern-day character, but given the reception, it’s clearly something the community wants.

As devs previously confirmed, we know each of the 10 Prestige levels are set to be themed around earlier Treyarch titles. This means all the way from 2005’s Call of Duty 2 through to Black Ops Cold War, we could be in store for plenty of throwback looks.