Black Ops 6 Has An Option To Pay For Better Audio

In the week of its release, it's been revealed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has an option to pay $20 for personalized spatial audio. The third-party audio tool is built into Black Ops 6's settings menu, and will also be coming to Warzone with Season 1.

A screenshot of the audio menu was shared by COD content-creator Omeqa on X (formerly Twitter), showing a pop-up offering a free trial for Embody's Immerse spatial audio. The service creates a personalized spatial audio profile based on players' head and ear shape, and costs $20 for five years.

The paid service is part of the Enhanced Headphone Mode setting, for which a follow-up screenshot is displayed prominently in the game's audio options. The setting uses a universal profile by default, with the option to pay for a personalized one.

Black Ops 6 isn't the only game to offer personalized spatial audio through Embody, but it's one of only a few to currently partner with the company. Final Fantasy XIV has offered personalized audio through Embody for a few years, while Cyberpunk 2077 added the option earlier this year.

While Embody isn't the only third-party company out there offering personalized spatial audio for games, it's rare to see the option built into the game's menus. Unlike other third-party services, Embody's spatial audio is developed in tandem with each game's developers--however this means you have to pay for a separate "Immerse Gamepack" for every game you want to use it with.

While Embody's Gamepacks aren't overly expensive for a five-year period, the jury is out on whether they're worth paying for at all. Many Final Fantasy XIV players aren't impressed with the audio offering, according to Reddit posts on the subject, and some have pointed out that what Embody provides is not too different from Dolby Atmos.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 arrives on October 25, with preloading available now. If you do want to check out Embody's personalized audio options, it's compatible with the PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 editions of the game.