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Black Ops 6 drives biggest ever UK gaming traffic on EE and BT Network

cormack12

Gold Member
Source: https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.p...r-uk-gaming-traffic-on-ee-and-bt-network.html

Consumer broadband ISP, phone, mobile and TV provider EE (BT) has today claimed that this week’s release of “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6” on PC and consoles has “driven the biggest ever amount of gaming traffic for a game launch” on their network, with the largest spike actually hitting on Monday (21st) due to the start of the preload period.

This was the first year that Call of Duty has been made available on Xbox Games Pass Ultimate, and as a result, EE / BT saw a 144% increase in Xbox Live traffic on its home broadband network vs the week before. But none of this should come as a surprise, given how big the download is.

The news comes just as EE launches a range of new Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 console bundles, featuring various in-game items and claiming savings of up to £550.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I’m gonna end up buying this junk because all my tekken bros jumped ship 😤
freaks-one-of-us.gif
 
I thought this was referring to the number of people playing the game online. Apparently, it's actually referring to the massive download size.

I wonder how much Activision has to pay for server/bandwidth costs to distribute this massive game. Has there ever been information about the distribution contracts for PSN/Steam/etc revealed anywhere? I remember there used to be hard caps on digital file sizes in previous generations.
 
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PSYGN

Member
First CoD game I bought and enjoyed since MW 2019. If you enjoyed CoD of yesteryear this feels like old CoD and modern CoD had a baby.
 

PSYGN

Member
I haven't even bought it but they made me download the MP if you have MW3 installed. They also made you download MW3 again, for the second time in a few months.
Yeah the whole launcher is a shit show. I think they should abandon the idea, it only made finding the game more confusing and getting bombarded with extra shit I don't need.
 

Three

Gold Member
I haven't even bought it but they made me download the MP if you have MW3 installed. They also made you download MW3 again, for the second time in a few months.
They made you download a 48GB content pack for BO6 even if you wanted to play Cold War.

The news comes just as EE launches a range of new Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 console bundles, featuring various in-game items and claiming savings of up to £550.
PlayStation 5 Slim Bundles

PlayStation®5 Slim and physical copy of Call of Duty®: Black Ops 6 (Cross-Gen Edition): £10 upfront, with a monthly cost of £48 per month for 11-months

Xbox Bundles

Xbox Series X and physical copy of Call of Duty®: Black Ops 6 (Cross-Gen Edition): £15 upfront, with a monthly cost of £48 per month for 11-months


This (EE) is Sarah bonds old work place. Why would you price the XSX more than the PS5? Is £5 worth the bad optics for xbox? It needs all the help it can get. Also £543 for an XSX CoD bundle is shit value. Where exactly are they attributing the £550 saving to?
 
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Three

Gold Member
Just remembered that they also forced On demand texture streaming too for campaign and MP?



People are downloading gigs of textures on demand every time they play so that Activision can claim to have cut game size for COD.
 
AMD recently demoed an ML technique that allows for heavily compressed textures installed on SSD to be decompressed on the fly with ML. Hopefully we will start seeing this implemented, at least next-gen.
 

j0hnnix

Member
Just remembered that they also forced On demand texture streaming too for campaign and MP?



People are downloading gigs of textures on demand every time they play so that Activision can claim to have cut game size for COD.

Oh damn.. someone not going to be happy when they pass their cap.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
PlayStation 5 Slim Bundles

PlayStation®5 Slim and physical copy of Call of Duty®: Black Ops 6 (Cross-Gen Edition): £10 upfront, with a monthly cost of £48 per month for 11-months

Xbox Bundles

Xbox Series X and physical copy of Call of Duty®: Black Ops 6 (Cross-Gen Edition): £15 upfront, with a monthly cost of £48 per month for 11-months


This (EE) is Sarah bonds old work place. Why would you price the XSX more than the PS5? Is £5 worth the bad optics for xbox? It needs all the help it can get. Also £543 for an XSX CoD bundle is shit value. Where exactly are they attributing the £550 saving to?

I don’t think there’s any ‘bad optics’ for a £5 difference.
I’m also not sure how one is ‘shit value’ for being £543 and the other is good value at £539.

The one with the £550 ‘saving’ attributed to it is a bundle with GamePass ultimate. Says it right there in the article.
 

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
The COD app is 11gigs. It’s only 300 if you’re downloading MW2, MW3, and BLOPS all at the same time.

Yea but there is no way to select what you download. You have to install everything then uninstall them individually from the CoD app, unless there is something I’m missing.
 

EverydayBeast

ChatGPT 0.1
Call of duty does a good job, shooters are so important to Xbox’s success, during 360 they cranked out so many like army of 2, Vegas, odst stood out, just quality shooters that definitely took a break the last two generations.

bill goldberg mic drop GIF by WWE
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
Yea but there is no way to select what you download. You have to install everything then uninstall them individually from the CoD app, unless there is something I’m missing.
Then that’s obviously a Steam problem. Had no issues just doing the small download on PS5, XSX and the PC game pass app.
 

Three

Gold Member
I don’t think there’s any ‘bad optics’ for a £5 difference.
I’m also not sure how one is ‘shit value’ for being £543 and the other is good value at £539.
£538 but neither of them are good value through EE who are somehow claiming there is a £559 saving (£550 OP post). The XSX is even worse so I picked the shitter one to show how bad it is so calm your console warring tits.
The one with the £550 ‘saving’ attributed to it is a bundle with GamePass ultimate. Says it right there in the article.
I'm not sure why you're stanning for EE but the bundle that doesn't include the game that includes gamepass instead is £706 in total cost. Hardly a £550 saving still. Digital edition XSX is £430 (bad value itself considering disc XSX was going for £350 a couple of days ago). 706-430 = £276. Gamepass for 2 years at full price is £480 🤮.
480 - 276 = £204 "saving" even if you paid the full extortionate prices for everything.
Let's say it comes with the Vault edition upgrade, £234 total saving. They're claiming a £559 saving. I'm asking, what from?
 
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BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
Then that’s obviously a Steam problem. Had no issues just doing the small download on PS5, XSX and the PC game pass app.

No, it’s a CoD problem, and a really fucking stupid one. This would be like Capcom making me install SF4, SF5, and MVC to download SF6. Except all those games would have to be 100 gig plus.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Shocking. Not really, given that EE have been literally throwing Series S's at people on cheap* contracts and also have GP Ultimate as a bundled freebie addon.

*If I recall cut-off was >10gb monthly data plans.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Shocking. Not really, given that EE have been literally throwing Series S's at people on cheap* contracts and also have GP Ultimate as a bundled freebie addon.

???

There's nothing about Series S in the OP.
 
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Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
???

There's nothing about Series S in the OP.

As I wrote EE/BT have been heavily upselling Xbox products as part of their service contracts for the past 4 years or so; so I don't find it surprising that people with free access and free consoles have been generating a lot of traffic on their network .

I barely use my free Xbox and I've downloaded it, because basically, why not?
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
As I wrote EE/BT have been heavily upselling Xbox products as part of their service contracts for the past 4 years or so; so I don't find it surprising that people with free access and free consoles have been generating a lot of traffic on their network .

I barely use my free Xbox and I've downloaded it, because basically, why not?

So basically, tons and tons of people don't use their free Xbox series s and they have just downloaded this game on it...because, why not? Lol
 

Ozriel

M$FT
They have a Series S contract in the OP too.

O Ozriel I see you bailed from the thread with an emoji and no explanation where £559 is coming from, as expected. "says it right there in the article", right?

I had to sleep sometime, ya know.

This was what you said:

Also £543 for an XSX CoD bundle is shit value. Where exactly are they attributing the £550 saving to?

And I clarified for you that the savings they’re talking about isn’t for the CoD bundle, but for the Xbox + GamePass Ultimate bundle as captured in the article.

Shouldn’t have been that hard to comprehend.

As for the breakdown of the ‘savings’? You’ll probably have to ask them yourself.


I put that emoji because your post was all round silly. Paragraphs worth of dribble, because of an 5 pound difference 🤣. But apparently I’m stanning for EE now
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Shocking. Not really, given that EE have been literally throwing Series S's at people on cheap* contracts and also have GP Ultimate as a bundled freebie addon.

*If I recall cut-off was >10gb monthly data plans.

The key narrative in the OP is that popularity and interest in this year’s COD is driving a ton of traffic.

I’m not sure the relevance of your comment since this game certainly isn’t the first ever game on GP Ultimate. Ergo, the traffic is due to the game itself, not the service or deals from EE.
 

Nitty_Grimes

Made a crappy phPBB forum once ... once.
No, it’s a CoD problem, and a really fucking stupid one. This would be like Capcom making me install SF4, SF5, and MVC to download SF6. Except all those games would have to be 100 gig plus.
Go to Properties and 'DLC' and you can choose what to install.

abZmSIm.png
 
Played for an hour last night, multiplayer is the same as always but I'm having fun with it at least. Opted for PS5 and turned crossplay off.
 

Three

Gold Member
I had to sleep sometime, ya know.

This was what you said:



And I clarified for you that the savings they’re talking about isn’t for the CoD bundle, but for the Xbox + GamePass Ultimate bundle as captured in the article.

Shouldn’t have been that hard to comprehend.

As for the breakdown of the ‘savings’? You’ll probably have to ask them yourself.


I put that emoji because your post was all round silly. Paragraphs worth of dribble, because of an 5 pound difference 🤣. But apparently I’m stanning for EE now
The dribble is coming from you thinking anybody is hung up on the £5 difference except you and your tag sensibilities assuming anybody is saying the other is a good deal. The stanning is pretending that the falsely claimed saving is explained in the article when it isn't. Nobody was talking about a specific bundle either when that was mentioned other than the one it's pertaining to.
 
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Mr Moose

Member
Does this not get announced yearly at this rate? I’m getting Deja vu. Maybe it was MWII release actually
Yup. They pulled the same shit last year, making you download shit all over again and making you download something you didn't even buy. Then BT/EE report it as some type of win.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
So basically, tons and tons of people don't use their free Xbox series s and they have just downloaded this game on it...because, why not? Lol

Yeah, basically. Its a big release, certainly the biggest and most broadly appealing on GamePass for quite some time and also an extremely large download.

Like I've said twice now, if you have a greater than bottom tier contract with EE -the UK's biggest mobile provider, who are owned by BT the UK's biggest Telecoms supplier- and have joined or renewed over the past ~4 years chances are good that you've been offered a free console, and free GP Ultimate as a no-additional cost addon for your contract.

The point being that AS USUAL a CoD release is the biggest release of the year, and thanks to it being more heavily DIGITALLY DISTRIBUTED PERCENTAGE-WISE than physically, and there being a lot of people who can get the game FOR FREE DIGITALLY thanks to their PHONE/ISP provider offering FREE access for YEARS. It comes as no surprise to me that its generating huge amounts of traffic pre-release!

The "why not" part is that not only do I have an Xbox but I have a PS5 and a bunch of PC's. So, under normal circumstances Xbox would be my last choice to play it on, as basically the Series S is the least powerful option. A situation I expect is far from unique given PS5 has been consistently outselling Xbox in this country since day #1.

One more thing, just to put this into context: Gamepass Ultimate as a free addon on EE is in the same tier as subs to Apple Music, Netflix etc. You get to pick only one, but here's the thing. GP is free for the life of the contract (2 years min) whereas the others are free for 3 months only. Its a no-brainer, even if you already have your gaming needs covered by subs to PSN etc. Because it saves you far more.
 
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