With any new hardware, there are bound to be some hiccups within the first few weeks after launch. The release of the Xbox Series X has been no different, and while the new Xbox console isn't actually producing smoke, players are having issues with the console randomly shutting down while playing Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War released today, and as millions of players are jumping into the new game from Activision, some players on the Xbox Series X are reporting that their console is shutting down while running the game. Serval commenters on Reddit have mentioned that their Xbox Series X shuts down shortly after loading up Black Ops Cold War and that the console gets unreasonably hot. Fortunately, there's an easy, albeit time-consuming (depending on download speeds), fix for this known issue.
The problem stems from players accidentally downloading the Xbox One version of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War on their Xbox Series X. To fix the issue, players will need to uninstall the Xbox One version of the game from their console and make sure they're downloading the correct version of Black Ops Cold War to their console. The Xbox Series X version of the game is 130GB and features an X|S label on the game's icon to help players select the right version.
While it seems obvious to download the Xbox Series X version of the game to that console, this accidental download has been quite common because of how Activision delivered Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The Cross-Gen bundle for Black Ops Cold War included both an Xbox One version and Xbox Series X|S version of the game, and eager fans have been erroneously selecting the wrong file to download.
Another reason this issue could be happening so frequently is that Activision doesn't participate in Xbox's Smart Delivery feature for its games, which opens the door for this kind of error. Fans who wanted Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War on both consoles had to shell out an extra $10 to get the upgraded version of the game. Although, anyone who purchased the $60 version of Black Ops Cold War (the last-gen copy) and an Xbox Series X will need to find a way to upgrade their game to the next-gen version to avoid the console shutting down while playing.
It's unfortunate, but not uncommon for new consoles to have launch window issues, and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War isn't the only game giving players some headaches. Players on the PlayStation 5 have been reporting that putting the console in rest mode after playing Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered is crashing PlayStation 5s and giving players error messages regarding their external hard drives.