Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War players on PlayStation will earn XP faster

If you're planning on picking up Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War on PC and squadding up with your PlayStation buds, be ready for the scales to tip in their favor. Sony announced today via the PlayStation Blog a slate of "advantages" that will be exclusive to PS4 and PS5 players.

The last six years of CoD games have had PlayStation integrations and exclusive modes (including Cold War's Zombie Onslaught), but Cold War's integrations will literally allow PlayStation players to level up faster than everyone else. Here's a full rundown of the multiplayer bonuses:

• Battle Pass Bundle Bonus: Unlock new gear and goodies even faster. PlayStation players that purchase the $20 Battle Pass Bundles will get an additional 5 tier skips. That’s a total of 25 tier skips!
• PlayStation Party Bonus: Teamwork makes the dream work. PlayStation players that play together in parties receive +25% bonus weapon XP. The bonus still counts when playing with cross-platform teammates.
• Double XP Bonus: PlayStation players can look forward to exclusive Monthly Double XP events (24 hour duration), so prepare to boost your rank.
• Extra Loadouts: Be prepared for any scenario. PlayStation players get an additional 2 loadout slots, ready for customization. Available when Create-A-Class unlocks upon reaching Level 4.

I'm surprised by just how comprehensive the exclusive offers are this time around. They touch on pretty much everything that CoD players care about in multiplayer: XP, loadouts, and battle passes. To many, the best part of a new CoD are the first few months racing to prestige. With a permanent weapon XP bonus in place and monthly double XP that Xbox/PC won't have, there's a good chance your highest ranked friends will be on a PlayStation.

Activision also announced yesterday that Cold War's progression would be shared across Warzone and Modern Warfare 2019. Since it's all the same rank and battle pass, that means Cold War players will get all of the same benefits headstarts in Warzone through November 2021. If you grind through the exclusive double XP and rank up five times in Cold War, the same progress is reflected in Warzone.

In any other series, I would expect one-sided progression like this to elicit major backlash (can you imagine if Fortnite Switch players got to skip more of the battle pass?), but I suspect the CoD community is accustomed to this sort of incongruity.

I suppose the advantages are supposed to make me want to play Cold War on a PS5, but I think I'll stick to the platform that lets me lower a few settings and crank it up to 144fps.