Reminder: Black Ops 6 launching day one on GeForce Now cloud streaming too

For the first time ever, a mainline Call of Duty game is launching natively within the cloud.

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Tomorrow marks an important day for Xbox. The release of Black Ops 6 will be an interesting watershed moment for Microsoft's games division as the numbers will go lengths in proving whether or not Xbox Game Pass is a viable substitute for millions of game sales.

For months now we've known that Call of Duty Black Ops 6 will release day one on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. It's also been confirmed that Black Ops 6 can be streamed via both Xbox's game streaming service, Microsoft Cloud gaming, and NVIDIA's GeForce Now. The latter requires a full game purchase, though, whereas users don't have to buy the game in order to play it on Game Pass Ultimate.

"Attention, recruits! It's time to test combat skills and strategic prowess. Drop into the heart of the action this GFN Thursday with the launch of the highly anticipated first-person blockbuster Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, streaming in the cloud Oct. 24, 9pm PT."

But what about PlayStation? The FTC v Microsoft trial, alongside multiple 10-year deals signed with competitors, show that Black Ops 6 will not be, and cannot be, made exclusive to Xbox platforms or services. Remember that Ubisoft holds the rights to Activision game streaming, not Microsoft, and Ubisoft can't make any exclusive deals with Microsoft.

The new Call of Duty could indeed show up on PlayStation Plus Extra or Premium, and can also be streamed via PS Plus, but only if Sony pays for the rights.

And that probably won't happen if Sony determines it'll lose many millions of dollars through cannibalization/replacive effects--e.g. people buying a subscription instead of actually buying the game.

Another key thing to note about Call of Duty showing up on NVIDIA's GeForce Now platform: During the FTC v Microsoft trial, it was known that Microsoft and NVIDIA have signed a cloud agreement that significantly reduces the Windows OS fees that Microsoft charges NVIDIA in order to run services like GeForce Now.

Through this deal, and others that saw a slew of first-party Xbox games showing up on GeForce Now, Microsoft has essentially conscripted NVIDIA to do a lot of the heavy lifting in the cloud with their superior game streaming servers, which are capable of outputting 4K gaming experiences through significantly more powerful cloud servers.