General pre-orders on Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 in the UK will not include access to the Nuketown multiplayer map, as was previously indicated. Instead, only those that have put money down at high-street retailer GAME will have access to it.
Thus far, Activision has not highlighted this exclusivity and, instead, indicated the content would be available for simply pre-ordering, regardless of where. The support page on the game's official website, for example, makes no mention of GAME-exclusivity in the UK. It simply states "all retail pre-order copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 will include an in-box code to download Nuketown."
Deals website UKVGDeals notes that, although retailer exclusivity is mentioned in a trailer for the map, it is in very small print at the end.
"GAME-exclusive for Nuketown content applies to physical or boxed copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Standard Edition on PS4, Xbox One, and PC only, while stocks last," the smallprint reads. It also notes that the exclusivity ends in "Spring 2016."
Generally, publishers announce retailer exclusivity deals more prominently in marketing material, and tend to detail it in press releases. The retailer exclusivity for Nuketown, however, has been more ambiguous.
For those who have already pre-ordered ahead of its release on November 6, there may still be enough time to cancel and pre-order again, but at the risk of not receiving the game on launch day.
GAME also has Black Ops 3 priced at £49.99, which is little higher than other online competitors such as Amazon (£42.00) and ShopTo (£37.86). In-store prices for new releases at GAME are usually around £54.99.
Nuketown was first seen in the original Black Ops from 2010 and then again in Black Ops 2, where it was known as Nuketown 2025. The map also appeared in Black Ops Declassified as Nukehouse.
Although the new Nuketown is available as an Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC as a preorder bonus, it's possible it will be released for everyone later as DLC.
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