Comcast says Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 pushed internet traffic to record highs - shame about those data caps

In brief: Call of Duty titles have long had an apparent obligation to gobble up as much of your storage space as possible. The latest entry, Black Ops 6, is no exception. The game's size and popularity contributed to what was Comcast's "biggest week in internet history," which makes its 1.2TB data cap seem even more archaic.

Comcast writes that it recorded its biggest week in internet history with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's pre-launch. It accounted for 19% of total network traffic last week, the fifth highest internet traffic event in Comcast network history. Availability of the download and the Thursday Night Football streams accounted for 26 percent of total network traffic.

Black Ops follows in the tradition of other Call of Duty titles in requiring a hefty chunk of your storage space. PlayStation owners need 84.40 GB free to install it, while the game takes up 85.6 GB on Xbox. On PC, you need at least 102 GB free on your SSD to install Black Ops 6 – a number that can inflate to almost 300 GB if you choose to also download Modern Warfare II and III and all the content and language packs.

It is somewhat ironic that Comcast announced its record high internet traffic when most of its US customers have to deal with its 1.2TB data cap. The telecoms giant typically charges for exceeding this cap at a rate of $10 per 50GB, up to a maximum of $100 per billing period. There is an unlimited data plan that costs an additional monthly fee of $25 to $40.

In 2022, the US proposed a bill called the Uncap America Act, which looks to ban data caps from broadband providers that appear predatory. The bill is still under review.

The FCC last year said it would start investigating why data caps are needed.

It's not just in the US where the latest Call of Duty is helping break internet traffic records. On October 21 – the day the game became available for preload – the UK's largest ISPs, EE/BT, saw a surge that broke its previous record for gaming traffic. Like most of the EU and South Korea, the vast majority of the UK ISPs don't have data caps for their home internet plans.

Much of Black Ops 6's popularity is due to its appearance on the Xbox/PC Game Pass service. It's also received a lot of positive reviews, with many critics calling it the best entry in years.