Black Ops 7 preload update wiped Black Ops 6 for some players, forcing full re-downloads

Update 14/11/25 – 06:15 pm (IST): Reports on r/CODZombies describe BO7’s preload acting as a hard gate on BO6 access, with players saying the client refuses to launch BO6 until they accept a 160–170 GB preload, and deleting BO7 files later just forces another reinstall.

Original article published on November 11, 2025, follows:

Many gamers booted up their consoles and PCs in the past few hours, expecting a routine Call of Duty update, only to discover their entire Black Ops 6 installation had vanished. Instead of a quick patch, they faced a massive re-download that wiped out evening gaming plans and tested the limits of their patience.

The culprit is update 1.085, a mandatory preload for Black Ops 7 that reorganizes the Call of Duty HQ app to accommodate the upcoming title launching on November 14. While Activision intended this as preparation for the new game, the execution left many players scrambling to reinstall content they already had.

Reddit user StandardKnowledge701 captured the frustration perfectly in a popular thread that resonated with hundreds of affected players. “This is the second time since the bo7 announcement my game has had to ‘update’ but really I have to redownload the entire game,” they wrote. “Is call of duty trying to be Apple and slow down the old generations hoping we move to the next?”

The scope of this problem varies wildly between players. Some PlayStation 5 users reported losing their entire Black Ops 6 installation, while PC players on Battle.net faced download sizes exceeding 240GB. One commenter in that same thread explained that the update moves and repacks all files as preparation for Black Ops 7, with download sizes scaling based on what’s already installed.

On PS5 specifically, the update requires around 100GB to install, and afterwards players must manually reinstall both Black Ops 6 and Warzone packs to continue playing those games.

But it’s not just PlayStation and PC players stuck with massive downloads. Even some Xbox users are reporting that they had to redownload close to 200GB after the update.

There’s no workaround either since the update is mandatory across all platforms.

This isn’t Call of Duty’s first rodeo with problematic updates either. Players pointed out similar issues occurred roughly four months ago, and the constant cycle of massive downloads has become a running joke within the community. “I spend more time updating, downloading, installing, loading, restarting, uninstalling, shaders caching, and pop up clicking than I do playing the actual game,” one commenter vented.

The storage requirements have pushed some players over the edge entirely. Several users reported deleting Black Ops 6 permanently to reclaim 150-300GB of space, with some mentioning they can’t even fit the update despite already removing campaign and Warzone content. “I just deleted BO6 this past weekend. First time getting rid of COD since 2019,” one player shared. “Opened so much space on my drive.”

You can find additional reports of the issue here, here, here, and here.

Some players who didn’t even preorder Black Ops 7 found the game’s files mysteriously installed anyway. “I didn’t even preorder bo7 and the update deleted warzone and bo6 and then installed bo7 mp and zombies,” one user posted on X. “This is how they fake their bo7 player numbers.”

PC players faced additional headaches beyond the massive downloads. Multiple reports surfaced about NVIDIA filters disappearing after the update, with users unable to access GeForce Experience features they’d been using. Others reported crashes and errors specific to AMD graphics cards, making the situation even messier for those who managed to complete the download. You can check those reports here, here, here, and here.

The controversial Call of Duty HQ launcher continues to draw criticism as the root cause of these integration headaches. When a new title launches, the entire app requires restructuring since it merges all Call of Duty games into one executable. And that’s just one of the many other problems with HQ.

For players just wanting to hop into a few matches, this update served as another reminder that modern Call of Duty requires dedication beyond just playing the actual game.