Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Beta Dates Announced, Open Beta Starts September 6

The Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 open beta will begin on September 6, following a brief early access period, Activision has announced. For the first time in the series, the beta dates apply to all platforms.

The dates were leaked online shortly before their official announcement on July 15, having been spotted on the Xbox website. Such premature listings are not unusual for the Call of Duty franchise; the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 beta start date was also leaked a few days early back in 2023.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Open Beta Starts in Late August 2024

Activision confirmed the leaked dates during the latest episode of its Call of Duty podcast, revealing that the Black Ops 6 open beta will run from September 6 to September 9. Players can also participate in an early access phase from August 30 to September 4, available to those who pre-order the game. Xbox Game Pass members will also have access to the early beta.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Open Beta Dates

• Early Access: August 30 to September 4
• Open Beta: September 6 to September 9

Unlike previous installments, which offered beta access fragmented by platform, Black Ops 6 will feature the first-ever truly cross-platform open beta in Call of Duty history. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer credited this change to Microsoft’s 2023 acquisition of ActivisionBlizzard, promising full content parity between different Call of Duty versions moving forward. He described having a unified open beta time frame for all platforms as a step towards this goal.

From a development perspective, organizing a single pre-release test is practical; like its predecessors, Black Ops 6 will offer cross-platform multiplayer, making a platform-agnostic open beta beneficial for testing this aspect of the game early.

Some fans have welcomed this change, calling the Black Ops 6 beta approach a significant win for Microsoft. The full release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is scheduled for October 25, and it will be the first Call of Duty game to launch on Xbox Game Pass on the same day. However, console users will need to subscribe to the Ultimate tier of the service to play it.