Skip to main content

‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’ adds Black Market system to dress up your soldier

Official Call of Duty®: Black Ops 4 – Launch Gameplay Trailer

In case you haven’t heard yet, we really enjoy Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and if you’re anything like us, you’ve been playing a ton of competitive multiplayer and Blackout battle royale so far. If you’re looking to make your character stand out from the crowd a little more, the Black Market system is just what you need.

Recommended Videos

Available now on PlayStation 4 and coming to Xbox One and PC next week, the Black Market offers a few different ways to earn new Blackout characters, signature weapons, outfits for specialists, and new tags and gestures. Each “Operation” for the Black Market will swap out the rewards, with the inaugural one appropriately called “First Strike.”

The first way to earn these goodies is the “Contraband stream” system, which gives you rewards just by playing Black Ops 4. You’ll want to continuously play the game to earn rewards, as they will change every few months.

Limited-time events also offer unique gear, with a Halloween-themed event kicking off on PS4 October 20. Once these items are gone, they’re gone for good, so you’ll want to complete the Contraband stream before it concludes.

Official Call of Duty®: Black Ops 4 – Blackout Battle Royale Trailer

As with the previous Call of Duty games, there is also a microtransaction option, but it is not live yet. Starting in November, you will be able to directly purchase the gear you want, with the shop changing out items once a week. It doesn’t sound like there will be any loot boxes or guessing games, so you shouldn’t have to use it too frequently, if at all.

If you’re more interested in Zombies mode, you will not need to worry about the Black Market, as it is meant for competitive multiplayer and Blackout. Still, it’s great to see Treyarch supporting Blackout with additional options for skins already and the studio will have to keep the updates coming if it wants the game to compete with Fortnite over the long haul.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. If you want some tips for picking your Blackout weapons or surviving in the Zombies mode, we have you covered.

Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Xbox Game Pass is getting tons of new games following Black Ops 6 success
A cockpit view in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.

We know a lot of you are playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Xbox right now, but the company just announced some games coming to Xbox Game Pass -- specifically the Game Pass Standard tier -- in the first half of November.

The biggest game coming to the service (and we mean that literally) is Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. Xbox and developers Asobo Studio previously reported that it will have a smaller install size than its predecessor -- 127GB versus 157GB -- but it'll also require 64GB of RAM. All of this is to help stream immense detail to the player as they fly around the world. Asobo says helped it to increase "the detail of its virtual environment by a factor of 4,000." Alongside the hyperrealistic graphics is a new career mode where you go through training and missions to become a pilot and a challenge mode where you compete against other pilots. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is coming to Game Pass at launch on November 19.

Read more
The best PC settings for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Call of Duty Black Ops 6.

Call of Duty Black Ops 6 is the latest in a long line of high-paced shooters, and like its predecessors, it brings with it not only a new campaign and multiplayer features but enhanced graphics too. Although upgrading your graphics card or processor is always a great way to boost performance in new and demanding games, you can also have a big impact by adjusting its settings to the best ones for you and your PC.

However, even if you’re the most competitive player, you won’t want to just turn all the settings off to maximize your frame rate. You still need clarity to make out your opponents at distance, and what’s the point of playing the latest Call of Duty, if you can’t enjoy some of its new visual flair?

Read more
Black Ops 6 just can’t compete with these 2 RPGs on Steam
Lucanis in Dragon Age: The Veilguard in center frame.

Despite Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on its way to being one of the biggest Call of Duty launches of all time, two role-playing games are giving it a run for its money.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the latest RPG from BioWare and the first Dragon Age game in over a decade, is currently selling better on Steam than Black Ops 6 just a day after release. According to the Steam top sellers list, The Veilguard is just barely outranking Black Ops 6's single-player campaign as the top seller on the platform, followed by MMO Throne and Liberty and Monster Hunter Wilds, an open beta for which launched on Friday.

Read more