How To Get Into The Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 Beta And When It Starts

Like many past Call of Duty games, this year's Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will have an open beta. Many of the details remain unknown for now, but Activision has begun to share details on this year's beta, including the all-important question of how to get in and when it starts. There will be both an early access beta only available to some, as well as an open beta that all players can try.

How to get into the Black Ops 6 beta

The Black Ops 6 beta is open to everyone across Xbox, PlayStation, and PC, but people who have certain Game Pass tiers (more details below) or preorder Black Ops 6 will be able to get in first. This will be the "early access" period.

People who preorder the game digitally won't have to obtain an actual code, as they will simply be granted access when it begins. For those who buy Black Ops 6 on a physical disc, they should receive an actual beta code from the retailer in question.

Game Pass access to Black Ops 6 beta

Black Ops 6 will be available on certain tiers Game Pass for Xbox and PC, and Game Pass subscribers with an active subscription will be able to play the Black Ops 6 beta starting during its early access window. This applies to all tiers of Game Pass except for Game Pass Core.

Black Ops 6 beta start dates

The Xbox product page for Black Ops 6 reveals that early access to the beta begins August 30, with the open beta going living on September 6 for everyone. Activision has said it plans to announce more details on multiplayer specifically during the Call of Duty Next event on August 28.

August 30 early access beta start time

The first beta weekend begins Friday, August 30 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET and ends on Wednesday, September 4 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. The beta goes live on all platforms at the same time. The PlayStation exclusivity of early rounds of the beta will no longer be a thing, now that Microsoft owns Activision Blizzard.

• 10 AM PT
• 1 PM ET
• 6 PM BST
• 3 AM AET (August 31)

Open beta start time

For the open beta, this begins Friday September 6 at 10 AM PT and runs through Monday, September 9 at 10 AM PT. Again, this will be available on all platforms, with no earlier access for those on PlayStation.

No more PlayStation exclusivity

In previous years, Activision gave PlayStation users first access to Call of Duty betas because Sony paid Activision for this. However, now that Microsoft owns Call of Duty, everyone across Xbox and PlayStation will get in at the same time. Xbox's Phil Spencer promised "parity" for the Call of Duty series between Xbox and PlayStation, and this seems to be part of that. The executive also recently discussed how Microsoft wants to avoid "slimy" platform policies surrounding exclusive content for Call of Duty.

Xbox fans do have a bit of a special perk, though. The fact that Microsoft is offering early access to the open beta--along with the full game at launch--via Game Pass may encourage some people to play on Xbox instead of PlayStation. PlayStation remains the console leader, though, and analysts do not expect things to change now that Microsoft owns Call of Duty and is putting the game on Game Pass.

While Sony most recently paid Activision for exclusive Call of Duty content prior to Microsoft's acquisition of the series, the Xbox company previously had a longstanding deal with Activision to keep Call of Duty content off PlayStation.

Black Ops 6 launches on October 25 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.