Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Directed Mode Has Been Huge for Zombies

Activision has confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's Directed mode has nearly doubled the number of players completing the main Zombies quest. While many Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies players prioritize survival, Directed mode has significantly impacted engagement with the storyline.

Since the debut of Zombies in World at War, the mode has featured a rich, evolving narrative, significantly expanding across numerous installments, including Black Ops 6. Despite a decline in the overall Black Ops 6 player base since launch, the Zombies mode retains a dedicated community. The core gameplay loop, a wave-based system of escalating enemy difficulty for up to four players, often prioritizes weapon upgrades and defense over narrative progression. Introduced in Season 1, Black Ops 6's Directed mode has proven remarkably popular.

A recent Call of Duty blog post revealed that Directed mode boosted the Black Ops 6 Zombies main quest completion rate from 4% to 8.23%. This data, derived from 480 million hours of gameplay (a small portion post-Directed mode's November 14th release), demonstrates the mode's success in achieving Treyarch's goal of increasing main quest participation. While this represents a doubling of completions, Treyarch acknowledges that over 90% of players still don't complete the main quest and are actively exploring further improvements.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's Directed Mode: A Significant Improvement

Part of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's Season 1 update (including three new maps, two game modes, and more), Zombies' Directed mode provides structured guidance, facilitating community engagement with the latest Zombies storyline. This storyline, encompassing interdimensional portals, zero-point energy, time travel, and teleportation, can be challenging for newcomers to follow. Unlike previous installments, which largely left players to navigate the narrative independently, Directed mode actively assists players in experiencing the story.

Directed mode has demonstrably increased the number of Zombies players completing the main quest. As Treyarch continues to update Black Ops 6, further adjustments to Zombies and Directed mode may yield even greater improvements in main quest completion rates.