I Went To Call of Duty Next And We Saw More Than Just Black Ops 6

Last month I traveled to Washington, DC for what can only be described as the most impressive and extravagant event built around a single game release I've ever seen. I've participated in many gaming preview style events that involved travel in my fifteen years covering the industry, even some built specifically around the franchise, but was something else.

The Washington, DC location of this event was a deliberate choice for promoting with the game's fictionalized story deeply rooted in the political intrigue of the '90s. Even Bill Clinton is in the game. In the timeline and canon, takes place after the '80s settings of and. It's impossible not to stare at the impressive monuments on the drive to and from the airport and hotel, and to and from the venue of the event, but more on that later.

The first Call of Duty Next event, not to be confused with the Call of Duty XP fan events of old, took place two years ago when publisher Activision gathered content creators together to be part of the reveal of,, and. Creators in attendance would play and livestream the game, while being a part of the official livestream where details and developer interviewers were shared with viewers. It's since become an annual event, the largest in the promo cycle of the annual series where is revealed. Last year's sophomore Call of Duty Next hosted the full reveal of alongside a new Warzone map.

For Call of Duty Next 2024, Activision moved the event location from Los Angeles to Washington and included media for the first time alongside the pool of content creators to participate and that's where I come in, joined by select global media from a few dozen publications. We all stayed at the same hotel, watched the same presentations, and had our own game stations at the venue where we could also play the new content, stream, and record.

It was Treyarch's turn to showcase multiplayer action ahead of the beta and Zombies gameplay on one of the mode's two launch maps. For me, even more