Activision's Costly Call of Duty Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Crossover Has Some Players Saying Black Ops 6 Should Just Go Free-to-Play at This Point

The latest crossover event in *Call of Duty: Black Ops 6* featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has stirred up quite the conversation within the gaming community, especially regarding its hefty price tag. Announced as part of Season 02 Reloaded, set to launch on February 20, this event introduces premium bundles for each of the four turtles: Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Priced at 2,400 COD Points, or $19.99 each, fans looking to collect all four turtles would need to shell out around $80.

But the costs don't end there. Echoing the approach taken with the Squid Game crossover, Activision has introduced a premium event pass for the Turtles event, costing 1,100 COD Points, or $10. This pass is the only way to acquire exclusive items such as the Splinter skin, while the free track offers less enticing rewards like Foot Clan soldier skins.

While these items are purely cosmetic and do not affect gameplay, the pricing has sparked a wave of criticism from the *Call of Duty* community. Players argue that the game's monetization model is increasingly resembling that of free-to-play titles like *Fortnite*, with some calling for *Black Ops 6* Multiplayer to adopt a free-to-play model itself.

Community members have taken to social platforms to voice their frustrations. "Activision casually glossing over the fact that they want you to pay $80+ if you want the 4 Turtles, plus another $10+ if you want the TMNT event pass rewards," said redditor II_JangoFett_II. "Call of Duty's Gross greed strikes again... DESPICABLE!"

Others echoed these sentiments, with Hipapitapotamus suggesting, "Guess we can expect an event pass sold every season now. Remember when events were good and got you cool universal camos for free." APensiveMonkey added a humorous critique, "The Turtles don’t use guns. Their fingers wouldn’t even... I hate this..."

Activision's monetization strategy for *Black Ops 6* extends beyond these crossovers. Each season features a battle pass costing 1,100 COD Points / $9.99, with a premium BlackCell version at $29.99. Additionally, the in-game store continuously offers a variety of cosmetics for purchase. PunisherR35 expressed frustration, stating, "So they expect the playerbase to buy the game itself, buy the battle pass/black cell and now this? Na that's too much. If this is gonna be the norm moving forward, CoD needs to move to a FTP model (campaign, MP)."

Despite the outcry, Activision's approach to monetization isn't new. However, the introduction of the premium event pass, first seen with the Squid Game crossover, has intensified the debate. The uniform monetization across the $70 *Black Ops 6* and the free-to-play *Warzone* has drawn particular ire, with many feeling what might be acceptable for a free-to-play game doesn't hold up for a paid title.

The push for *Black Ops 6* Multiplayer to become free-to-play stems from this growing sentiment that the game increasingly mirrors the monetization models of *Fortnite*, *Apex Legends*, *Marvel Rivals*, and *Warzone*. Yet, given *Black Ops 6*'s record-breaking launch and its significant contribution to Activision and Microsoft's financials, it's unlikely the companies will change their strategy anytime soon. *Black Ops 6* not only set a new single-day Game Pass subscription record but also saw sales on PlayStation and Steam jump by 60% compared to 2023's *Modern Warfare 3*. With such success, Activision and Microsoft seem poised to continue their current approach, much to the chagrin of some of their most vocal fans.