Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War officially released today and many players are trying the title out on their new PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S. As players load the game, some Xbox Series X owners are finding that Black Ops Cold War is causing their console to shut down.
Not every player is experiencing this crash, but it seems to be affecting only Xbox Series X owners. PlayStation 5 owners are already enjoying many console exclusives in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and it seems like a lack of crashes is also an exclusive. However, many players are pointing out that the problem may stem from the different versions of the title.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War released on Xbox One as well as Xbox Series X, but have different versions. The Xbox One version is listed at $60 and the "cross-gen" version is listed at $70. Because Activision does not use the Xbox Smart Delivery feature, many players are having the $60 version downloaded to their Xbox Series X. The $60 version is supposed to be backwards compatible on the Xbox Series X, but appears to be broken and causing crashes.
Right now, there seems to be no easy way to upgrade from the $60 version, but for players that know they own the $70 Xbox Series X version, the problem may stem from downloading the game to an external HDD. Players are reporting that the wrong version is sent to the external HDD, but can be amended by downloading Black Ops Cold War on the internal storage or the optional storage expansion cards from Seagate.
Players may be downloading Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War onto external HDD due to the massive file size of the title. Black Ops Cold War requires a whopping 135 GB of storage space, and the Xbox Series X has 802 GB of useable storage space, with the Xbox Series S having a mere 364 GB of storage.
Luckily, if players have the $70 version, the title can be uninstalled and re-installed in the internal storage and the crashes should stop. For players who only own the $60 Xbox One version, hopefully Activision fixes the game so it can be played with backwards compatibility, or players may want to consider upgrading to the Xbox Series X version.
The next-gen version of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War does have noticeable improvements including the use of the PS5 controller's haptic feedback triggers, and the ability to run with a higher frame rate and better resolution. With many gamers encountering issues with versions of the game on Xbox consoles, hopefully Activision will address the issues and perhaps join the Xbox Smart Delivery service.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: Windows Central