Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 is the first game in the series that won’t be giving PlayStation players exclusive entry into its early access beta. Instead, the Gulf War-era shooter will arrive simultaneously on all platforms, including Xbox and PC, starting in August.
Black Ops 6's beta weekends were officially announced on the Xbox website today (via CharlieIntel) and the Call of Duty podcast. The latest sequel’s big innovation for multiplayer is the ability to run and dive in every direction just like Max Payne. Game Pass subscribers will get access to the first weekend for free, while everyone else needs to pre-order the game to get entry. The second weekend, meanwhile, will be free and open to everyone.
Here are the dates:
- Early Access Beta runs August 30 thru September 4
- Open Beta runs September 6 thru September 9
That’s a decent amount of time before the full game comes out on October 25. Last year’s beta weekends for Modern Warfare 3 were all scrunched together just a few weeks before launch.
Unlike in previous years, Xbox and PC players won’t have to wait until the second weekend to try out the game’s online modes. “I want to give you the choice on how you play your games and who you play with and not try to do slimy platform things to force you to do what I want,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer told IGN in June. “You give the players choice and what they want to do and who they play with. We weren’t [buying Activision] so we could pull Call of Duty from PlayStation players. It was never in our plans.”
Black Ops 6 is also the first game in the series to arrive day-one on Game Pass following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard last year. However, the company is also overhauling the Netflix-like subscription service ahead of the game’s launch, and making day-one access exclusive to the Game Pass Ultimate tier on console that is now $20 a month (Game Pass for PC members will still get access).
This year’s Call of Duty is also still coming to PS4 and Xbox One. The perennial best-seller doesn’t seem ready to ditch the last-gen consoles just yet.