How to fix ‘failed to join because of different version’ error in Black Ops 6

Any time a new season drops in Call of Duty, there are bound to be a few hiccups as more players tune in for the update. In particular, you may have encountered the ‘failed to join because of different version’ error. Here are a few solutions to this problem.

BO6 ‘join failed because you are on a different version’ error solutions

The BO6 ‘different version’ error appears whenever you’re trying to join a party. Standard fixes like restarting your game or installing a new patch don’t seem to address it, but fortunately, players have discovered a few workarounds with these methods:

• Join a ‘Recent Players’ lobby and connect with your friend from the other player’s lobby
• Clear ‘Reserved Space’ data (Xbox users)
• Join a random party, exit out of it, and then join your friend’s party
• All parties must restart their game

Reddit user notoxicity discovered a fix that requires you to join a recent player’s lobby. You can find the ‘Recent Players’ hub in the Social tab and choose anyone active. Then, join your friend in this lobby to bypass the Black Ops 6 ‘different version’ error. You can also join a random person’s lobby and exit out of it immediately after if the first route doesn’t work.

Screenshot by Destructoid

Player RussselVVilson also found another solution that involves clearing your Xbox game data. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Go to ‘Manage Game & Add Ons’ on your game file
2. Select ‘Saved Data’
3. Select ‘Reserved Space’
4. Choose ‘Clear Reserved Space’

Clearing the Reserved Data on your console could help refresh it, allowing you to join lobbies shortly after. Alternatively, you and your friends can restart the game together. If you restart your game alone, it doesn’t seem to do much. But when everyone does it, things could go more in your favor.

Hopefully, one of the solutions above will help you fix the Black Ops 6 ‘failed to join because of a different version’ error. They’ll at least bypass it for now until the developers install a new patch. The Call of Duty Updates Twitter/X has indicated that a fix will arrive shortly. However, I have noticed that this bug tends to come up a lot during launches, so you can use these solutions if it ever happens again. You can also check out our fixes for the Dev Error 5820 and Packet Burst issues, which appear frequently for many CoD users.

Destructoid is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy