Call of Duty voice chat reaches its final form, gives enemy players a way to scream at you mere inches from your ear by using you as a meat shield

A player wearing a gasmask and holding a gun in the upcoming PS5 game, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
(Image credit: Activision)

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will inexplicably allow players to talk to enemy players that they've taken hostage as a "body shield" via voice chat, and I'm predicting levels of toxicity never seen before.

In amongst the slew of details stemming from yesterday's Call of Duty Next event , Activision relatively quietly let slip a new feature for the former. Body shields are returning, where players can pick up enemies and use them as shields, but this time, you'll be able to communicate directly with the player you've grabbed via the in-game voice chat.

"Be nice..." adds the announcement tweet from developer Treyarch just above, which is sort of like giving a Call of Duty player a nuclear weapon and asking them not to detonate it. There will inevitably be carnage, destruction, and chaos stemming from this feature, and you need but look at the responses on Twitter as evidence of that.

"Can't wait for the 12 year old kids to scream at me," one reaction to the announcement reads on Twitter, while another user conversely adds "That will be sick, think of how much trolling you can do!" There's also the image below, which I think pretty accurately sums up how things are going to go. Personally, I can't wait to have utter nonsense whispered in my ear multiple times a match.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 releases in just under two months from now on October 25. Activision also just revealed that Warzone's classic Verdansk map will be making a comeback next year in 2025, and while there's no sign of the beloved Nuketown map in Black Ops 6 right now, there is a completely new Resurgence map called Area 99 coming to Warzone soon

For the first time ever in Call of Duty, Black Ops 6's Zombies mode lets you save and quit, and there are some pretty weird reactions to that.

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.