Black Ops 6 download size clocks in at over 300 GB—and gamers are flabbergasted

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is looking sick, and the FPS community is hyped about the game’s upcoming release this October. But it’s not all good news.

Not long after the BO6 reveal presentation ended yesterday following the Xbox Games Showcase, gamers were quick to notice some concerning information within the “additional info” section of the game’s Xbox store page.

Black Ops 6 size

According to the store listing, BO6’s approximate size is 309.85 GB, which is shockingly large for a game’s download size, even by 2024’s standards. And as you would imagine, gamers were not thrilled about it.

Players posted memes about their PS4s blowing up when installing 300 GB worth of content, compared its size to multiple installations of other popular games like Elden Ring, and called the 309 GB file size “legit criminal.”

In reality, though, the approximate size is just that: an approximation. This listing likely includes the full Call of Duty HQ download, along with BO6’s installations of multiplayer, campaign, Zombies, Warzone, and other packs needed to play the entire game.

As has happened over the past few years with CoD HQ as the hub of CoD titles, once a player is done playing the campaign, for example, it can be uninstalled. This will lessen the install size, as will optimization downloads. And once players are finished with MW3, that can also be uninstalled to make the size smaller.

BO6 may indeed come in at a shocking amount of GB once it’s downloaded, but the 309 GB approximation likely includes more than what players will end up using. So, the outrage is expected but probably overblown when it comes to the grand scheme of things.

This is not to excuse CoD at all. Currently on my PS5, with just MW3 multiplayer and Warzone installed, the game is 209.6 GB. It’s a lot, but as devs continue to push boundaries in visuals and sound fidelity, it’s to be expected.

It may be time for hardcore CoD players to think about investing in a bigger SSD for their console or PC.

Update on June 10 at 4:20pm CT: Activision has clarified the listing on store pages, saying that it “does not represent the download size or disk footprint for Black Ops 6.”