Why Is the 'Call of Duty: Black Ops 6' Split Screen Not Working? Here's How You Can Fix It

In Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the stakes are high and the death tolls are higher. As one of the newest in the family of Call of Duty games, this 1991-centered Operation Desert Storm game follows a pair of rogue CIA agents who gather a team to track down Pantheon. Pantheon is a paramilitary group that has nefarious ties to the CIA, and Troy Marshall and Frank Woods have made it their mission to untangle the web of lies.

In multiplayer mode, players can split screen to join their friends in maps and on missions as they expand their exploration of the CoD: Black Ops 6 world. At least, they could until the Season 2 update dropped in January 2025. Suddenly players found that they had trouble launching split screen, prompting husbands and wives, college roommates, and siblings all over the world to cry foul. So why is the Black Ops 6 split screen not working, and what can you do about it? Here's what we know.

On Jan. 28, 2025, the Season 2 update for Black Ops 6 hit gaming consoles, and PC if that's your thing — we don't judge, and players were excited for all the big changes to come, including exciting new maps and missions, and some seasonal features. Unfortunately, for all the players who tag-team with locals on the split-screen feature, the update didn't arrive quite as smoothly.

Players started noting that the split-screen wasn't working, and took to social media to ask what could be done about it. Luckily, a few people found some fairly straightforward fixes.

On Reddit, user Saphirblack_f21 wrote, "I’ve potentially just found a fix, once you’re into the game lobby back out until you’re at the first menu where you need to press (A) or whichever button to start."

They added, "Press whichever to start and once on the Call of Duty menu before entering lobby. Try to join the second player. It should now say split-screen 'player name' added. You’ll then be able to play zombies/multiplayer lobby that way!"

It's unclear why the system stopped working, but it seems to be tied to the Season 2 launch.

Unfortunately, the game developers seem to be slacking in their response to the glitch, and users are frustrated, to say the least. On social media, dozens of posts and videos show players asking how to fix the glitch and asking why it occurred in the first place. But all the responses and solutions are from other players, not from the developers. It's unclear why they've failed to address it.

Luckily for them, however, the community is on it.

On Reddit and TikTok, players were begging for solutions and other content creators were quick to supply them with how-to guides. Under one video offering solutions, a player wrote, "Thank you we appreciate you. You saved my marriage. Seriously!"

Another player mused, "Hopefully they patch this bug soon, it’s annoying." The content creator they were commenting under snarked back, "Yes most of the game is," with laughing emojis.

So while it's not ideal, it appears that the community has come through to provide solutions. Hopefully the Black Ops 6 developers will provide their own solution soon, since players shouldn't have to "bubble gum and band-aid" the game they're paying to play.