Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War beta confirmed for October

News
By published

The multiplayer beta will come to PC and Xbox after a PS4-exclusive weekend.

Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War
(Image credit: Activision)

Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War is coming in November, and in what is now a well-established tradition a beta test will take place about a month before it comes out. Activision announced the beta dates today, and in what is rapidly becoming another Call of Duty tradition, PlayStation 4 players will get to go first.

The PS4-exclusive period will begin on October 8 for anyone who's preordered the game, and then roll into a PS4 open beta from October 10-12. The next weekend, beginning on October 15, the beta will open up to players who have preordered on PC and Xbox, and of course PS4 players will continue to have access. From October 17-19, the beta will be thrown open to everyone.

The modes that will be playable during the beta tests weren't revealed, but a message of the day posted on Charlie Intel indicates that there will be more than what was available during the PS4 alpha test that ran over the past weekend. And if you happened to play in that session and found the sniper rifles to be a little out of hand, Treyarch designer Tony Flame said on Twitter that they were buffed specifically for the alpha test, and will be dialed back for the beta.

Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War is set to go into full release on November 13.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Latest in Call of Duty
A soldier looks out over the Verdansk map, as a single tear rolls down his cheek.
The original Verdansk map is returning to Call of Duty: Warzone, to celebrate which we get a soldier crying to Nat King Cole
black ops 6 season 1
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 3 has been delayed, as the devs say they're 'taking the time to deliver a great experience' for what will be a 'big moment' for Call of Duty
A zombie santa with six fingers leaps at the screen.
Call of Duty admits it's using generative AI to 'help develop some in-game assets', and suddenly all those poorly made calling cards make sense
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Black Ops 6.
Call of Duty's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover costs like $90 and even the die-hards are in shellshock: 'Cash cow-abunga!'
Ghost, from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022), looks bleakly at a fellow passenger in a transport.
For COD’s sake: One player’s 763-day legal quest to make Activision unban their account ends in total success: ‘Worth the effort’
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2 will let players battle on boats and bullet-trains, with the Terminator entering the fray 'shortly after launch'
Latest in News
Scorched person with their hands on their head
Ghoul players in Fallout 76 are starting to place their Camps in the most radioactive areas of the map, and regular humans aren't happy: 'I had to inject 30+ radaway into my veins'
The "mind blown" meme from Tim & Eric.
Friendship ended with human race: Boffins declare the 'meme Turing test' has been passed, and AI is now making funnier captions on average than you useless lumps
Gale, a wizard from Baldur's Gate 3, looks very bloodied and very sad at the player while a celestial midnight blooms behind his depressed mug.
Baldur's Gate 3's latest stress test update fixes heartbreaking bug that caused a total party-wipe on Ironman Mode at the game's final boss, forcing dejected testers to restart the entire game
Two adventurers face off against a pair of undead scallywags in Frosthaven
X-Com creator Julian Gollop unexpectedly takes over sequel to sprawling board game adaptation, and you can try out the closed beta next week
Naoe and Yasuke pose against the backdrop of a burning building.
After Ubi came crawlin' back to Steam, Assassin's Creed Shadows blasts past a million players in under 24 hours and has already smashed Valhalla's player record
Gabe Newell in a Valve promotional video, on a yacht.
Valve CMO threatened the company would walk away from games if it didn't own the rights to Half-Life—'It wasn't an idle threat—we weren't going to take on all of the risk to make other people rich'
More about call of duty
A soldier looks out over the Verdansk map, as a single tear rolls down his cheek.

The original Verdansk map is returning to Call of Duty: Warzone, to celebrate which we get a soldier crying to Nat King Cole
black ops 6 season 1

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 3 has been delayed, as the devs say they're 'taking the time to deliver a great experience' for what will be a 'big moment' for Call of Duty

The "mind blown" meme from Tim & Eric.

Friendship ended with human race: Boffins declare the 'meme Turing test' has been passed, and AI is now making funnier captions on average than you useless lumps
See more latest
Most Popular
The "mind blown" meme from Tim & Eric.
Friendship ended with human race: Boffins declare the 'meme Turing test' has been passed, and AI is now making funnier captions on average than you useless lumps
Gale, a wizard from Baldur's Gate 3, looks very bloodied and very sad at the player while a celestial midnight blooms behind his depressed mug.
Baldur's Gate 3's latest stress test update fixes heartbreaking bug that caused a total party-wipe on Ironman Mode at the game's final boss, forcing dejected testers to restart the entire game
Two adventurers face off against a pair of undead scallywags in Frosthaven
X-Com creator Julian Gollop unexpectedly takes over sequel to sprawling board game adaptation, and you can try out the closed beta next week
Nvidia Blackwell GPU with specs annotated.
CEO Jensen Huang reveals that Nvidia is now making chips in the USA but will that help with gaming GPU supplies?
Naoe and Yasuke pose against the backdrop of a burning building.
After Ubi came crawlin' back to Steam, Assassin's Creed Shadows blasts past a million players in under 24 hours and has already smashed Valhalla's player record
Gabe Newell in a Valve promotional video, on a yacht.
Valve CMO threatened the company would walk away from games if it didn't own the rights to Half-Life—'It wasn't an idle threat—we weren't going to take on all of the risk to make other people rich'
Uplifted chimp Penn and cyber-rat Trip in the key art for Animal Use Protocol
Animal Use Protocol's dysfunctional chimp-rat alliance drags the Stasis series into a horrible new first-person era
A woman with short hair stands next to a pot plant, provocatively
GOG's version of Silent Hill 4 has been updated with missing content from the original console game
Today's Wordle being played on a phone
Today's Wordle answer for Friday, March 21
A blue dragon rises into storm clouds
Wizards of the Coast throws a bone to players who miss vanilla Magic: The Gathering with a dragon-themed set called Tarkir: Dragonstorm