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 narrative.

Since the debut of Zombies in World at War, the mode has featured a rich, evolving storyline, significantly expanding with each iteration. Despite a decline in the overall Black Ops 6 player base, the Zombies mode retains a large and dedicated community. The wave-based gameplay, focusing on increasingly difficult enemies, often leads players to prioritize upgrading weapons and defenses over completing the story. 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, based on 480 million hours of gameplay (with 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 haven't finished 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 (which also included three new maps and two game modes), Zombies' Directed mode provides a guided path through the storyline. This is particularly beneficial given the complexity of the Zombies narrative, which spans interdimensional portals, zero-point energy, time travel, and teleportation—elements that can be challenging for newcomers to follow. Unlike previous installments, which largely left players to navigate the story independently, Directed mode offers a more accessible experience.

Thanks to Directed mode, more Zombies fans than ever are now 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.