While the reveal of Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is garnering much praise from the internet with its new story trailer, it's next-gen price gouge may rain on Call of Duty fans' parades. While many new games are offering a free next-gen upgrade through services such as smart delivery, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is making players pay more if they want their copy to carry over to next-gen consoles.
A bump in price for next-gen titles has been known to be a possibility ever since NBA 2K21 announced it would cost $70 to own on Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5. Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, has been asked on numerous occasions whether Xbox's next-gen games will see a similar price increase, to which he has yet to comment on directly. Some developers have stated they will not increase the price of their games, while others, such as Capcom, are unsure if they will or not.
However, according to pre-orders for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War on both the Microsoft Store and PlayStation Network, players will have to pay $10 extra if they are wanting their copy of the game to carry over to next-gen consoles. Both Sony and Microsoft are offering players three different editions of the game at three different price points. The standard edition will cost $60 and will only be playable on current-gen consoles. The cross-gen edition will cost $70 but will allow purchasers to play on both current and next-gen consoles. And the Ultimate Edition, $90, adds a plethora of additional content as well as cross-gen compatibility.
Luckily, people who buy the standard edition of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will still be able to play on next-gen consoles via backward compatibility, but the price hike for next-gen versions make it appear as if there will be additional or upgraded features for next-gen players. For those playing on PC, there are only two editions (Standard and Ultimate) that can be pre-ordered. The standard edition for PC will cost $60, so it's hard to say that the next-gen console editions will offer players any more for an extra $10.
Regardless of whether players do see a difference between current and next-gen versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Treyarch has made the decisions to up the price of its next-gen titles. The developers of NBA 2K21 gave their reasoning for why the next-gen basketball simulator would receive a price hike, and it will be interesting to see if Treyarch explains its decision to do the same. As of right now, it seems nonsensical to spend an extra $10 for a next-gen upgrade, but maybe Treyarch will remedy this by explaining what next-gen consoles will bring to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
Sources: Microsoft, PlayStation