The beta period for Call of Duty Black Ops 6 may have come out early.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, Twitter user BobNetworkUK shared print marketing materials from UK video game retailer GAME. GAME’s marketing materials clearly said that the pre-order beta will run from August 28 to September 3, 2024.
Of course, like many other online games, Call of Duty Black Ops 6 has their beta in phases, in the buildup to the game’s release. After the beta period reserved for players who pre-ordered the game, there will be a free beta period. And most of the time, that free beta comes immediately after the pre-order beta period. We already know that the game will release on October 25, 2024, so there really is a small window for the beta period to possibly be scheduled.
Video Games Chronicle also points out that Activision announced they would reveal Call of Duty Black Ops 6’s multiplayer on August 28, 2024. So everything lines up for this to possibly be real.
Microsoft Gaming seems to be going through some growing pains with keeping Call of Duty information confidential before release. But, perception isn’t reality, and it’s also possible that an independent Activision would have had trouble keeping all this information under wraps.
And that’s because this will is a major title for Activision and Microsoft Gaming. While Call of Duty Modern Warfare III was technically the first Call of Duty game Microsoft published, that game was cobbled together from Call of Duty Modern Warfare II DLC, and this game was held back for another year.
As Activision leadership correctly figured out, it made more sense to hold this game back as it would become a huge coming out party for Call of Duty under Microsoft. It’s certainly clear now that this meant that Activision took away the opportunity for Sony to get a big blowoff for the end of their marketing exclusivity deal, but that’s the way the business goes.
In any case, it’s clear that this information is getting out early, not out of some malicious intent from console fanboys, but because the loyal Call of Duty fans are eager to get this information. Even before the big presentation from the Xbox Games Showcase, we already knew that this was the first Call of Duty for some time that had been worked on for over four years.
That came with expectations as Treyarch and Raven Software must have had something ambitious in mind to go beyond the annualized churn. Now, everything is falling into place for gamers to see it for themselves.
