Row Over Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Player Who Used Zombies Exploits to Become First to Hit Prestige Master Level 1,000 and Reveal Rewards

A Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 player appears to have become the first in the world to hit Prestige Master level 1,000, revealing the previously unknown rewards for doing so in the process — but not everyone in the community is happy about it.

A screenshot of gameplay from a Call of Duty player called ‘Aldredd’ revealed the milestone had been achieved, shocking players. The grind for experience points (XP) and ‘prestige’ (resetting progress and leveling up all over again after hitting 55) is part of the Call of Duty experience, and for many is the driving motivation to play for months, sometimes years on end. But a player already hitting the maximum possible level, with Black Ops 6 little over a month old, was thought impossible.

That’s because of the astronomical amount of XP required to hit level 1,000 (approx 50 million XP). Once you Prestige 10 times you can graduate to become a Prestige Master, which unlocks an extra 1,000 levels to grind. Hitting level 1,000 Prestige Master is the end point of the entire Black Ops 6 grind, and brings with it a set of exclusive rewards that were unknown to the community, until now.

1000 Unlocked #cod #nukesquad #mogged #CallofDuty pic.twitter.com/JPIAXDbU3O

— Beamishh (@Beamishhhhhhh) December 1, 2024 The player in question created an X / Twitter account to discuss what they had achieved, and even published a video showing off the rewards. The X / Twitter user, called ‘Beamishh,’ subsequently admitted to using “Zombies glitches,” to hit level 1,000 already.

Ever since Black Ops 6’s release players have used the PvE Zombies mode to farm XP because it’s much quicker than playing Multiplayer or Warzone (XP progress is shared across all three experiences). And within Zombies mode, various away from keyboard (AFK) glitches and exploits have been discovered that let players leave their console or PC running as their character obtains XP from infinite waves of zombie enemies. And that’s exactly what Aldredd / Beamishh did.

Why is this a problem? Some Black Ops 6 players were racing to become the first to hit Prestige Master level 1,000 and thus reveal the rewards themselves. Indeed, entire groups of players were working together to reveal the rewards first through legitimate play. One such group, called Nuke Squad, is made up of Call of Duty streamers who are sharing their accounts in order to hit the coveted milestone, but are now complaining about Beamishh getting there first.

One member of Nuke Squad, called Santana, tweeted to say they were “robbed.” “So saddening to see zombie exploiters ruin the level 1,000 rewards,” they said. “Nuke Squad has streamed every single game since the game released and for it to be robbed and posted all over social media is so disheartening. It’s also sad that the company didn’t really do anything about these exploiters even though we all knew what was going on in the background. GGs.”

Santana’s tweet has itself fueled the row, with some in the community pointing out that while Beamishh used Zombies glitches to hit level 1,000, Nuke Squad were trying to hit the same milestone by account sharing, which violates Call of Duty’s terms of service.

Santana replied to this suggestion by claiming that Call of Duty publisher Activision had told Nuke Squad that its members were allowed to account share for the race, but were restricted to no more than six people, and no more than eight hours for each person playing. This itself has caused some to wonder why an exception was made for Call of Duty streamers and content creators, leaving regular players with a disadvantage or facing a potential ban for employing the same tactic.

The row shows no sign of stopping either, with both Beamishh and Santana continuing to have their say online. Beamishh denied cheating (“I’m just doing zombies glitches mate idk why you’re so tilted”) but admitted “there’s nothing impressive about my 1,000.” Santana has suggested Zombies AFK exploiters could get banned.

Warning! Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Prestige Master Level 1,000 spoilers follow:

As for the rewards, some are saying they tease the next Call of Duty game, which is reportedly a Black Ops 2 sequel set around 2030. They include a skin for Operator Eric Samuels, a Secret Service agent from Black Ops 2. The skin is called ‘New Orders’ and looks like it includes future tech. The weapon blueprint is called Enigma Tech, and includes the following description: “Get a glimpse of the day after tomorrow with the Enigma Tech Weapon Blueprint.”

— ModernWarzone (@ModernWarzone) December 1, 2024 The speculation now is that Activision and Black Ops developer Treyarch had hoped it would take at least half a year for players to hit Prestige Master Level 1,000, around about the time it planned to pull back the curtain on next year’s Call of Duty. Samuels, it seems, will play a role in that game. All this will make sense in time, but for Activision, perhaps, this particular breadcrumb was discovered sooner than expected.

Taking on Zombies mode? We’ve got Essential Zombies Tips and Tricks to help you get started, plus a guide on How to Exfil. Both Zombies maps are full of easter eggs and secrets; here’s everything we’ve found in both Terminus and Liberty Falls, including How to Pack-a-Punch in Liberty Falls and How to Get the Meteor Easter Egg in Terminus.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].