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 narrative.
Since the debut of Zombies in World at War, the mode has featured a rich, evolving storyline that has expanded exponentially with each iteration. This remains true in Black Ops 6. Despite a decline in the overall Black Ops 6 player base since launch, the Zombies mode maintains a large and dedicated community. Zombies' wave-based gameplay, with escalating enemy difficulty, often prioritizes upgrading weapons and defenses over story completion. Introduced in Season 1, Black Ops 6's Directed mode has proven a resounding success.
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 is based on 480 million hours of gameplay, a small portion of which occurred after Directed mode's November 14th release. Treyarch designed Directed mode to increase main quest participation, and the doubling of completion rates is considered a significant achievement. However, with over 90% of players still not completing the main quest, Treyarch continues to explore ways to further improve these numbers.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's Directed Mode: A Major Improvement
Zombies' Directed mode, part of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's Season 1 update (which also included three new maps, two game modes, and more), provides a guided path through the latest Zombies storyline. This is particularly beneficial given the storyline's complex elements—interdimensional portals, zero-point energy, time travel, and teleportation—which can be challenging for newcomers to follow. While Directed mode offers structured progression, previous installments largely left players to decipher the narrative independently.
Directed mode's implementation has significantly increased the number of Zombies players completing the main quest. As Treyarch continues to update Black Ops 6, future adjustments to Zombies and Directed mode may further enhance main quest completion statistics.
