We still don’t have a release date for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, but we do know when the public beta will begin: on October 2 for anyone who either preorders the game or subscribes to “select Game Pass plans,” and October 5 for everyone else.
The beta date comes by way of an early Xbox Store listing, noticed by the sharp eyes of Wario64 on Bluesky, which also notes that preordering will get you a handful of skins for Black Ops 6 and Warzone.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 open beta – early access begins Oct 2. To all players on Oct 5 www.xbox.com/en-us/games/…
— @wario64.bsky.social (@wario64.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-08-19T17:22:08.292Z
We’ve also got a little bit more on what players can expect from Black Ops 7 multiplayer: “Multiplayer explodes out of the gate with 16 electrifying 6v6 maps and two 20v20 maps at launch. From futuristic Tokyo vistas to the frozen, unforgiving wilds of Alaska, every environment is brimming with danger and opportunity. Master a cutting-edge arsenal and outmaneuver your enemies with an evolved Omnimovement system.”
Call of Duty public beta weekends are a reliable tradition at this point, but this year’s will be more interesting than most for one big reason: There’s a big new Battlefield on the scene, and it made a very solid impression during its own recently-concluded beta tests. As PC Gamer’s Morgan Park wrote earlier this month, “Battlefield 6 is making an excellent case to skip Call of Duty this year,” and while I certainly wouldn’t position Black Ops 7 as the underdog in this fight—Battlefield has a long way to go before it catches up to the CoD behemoth—the simple fact is that it’s under more pressure than its recent predecessors to put on a good pre-release show.
(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)
(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)
(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)
(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)
And while, as mentioned, a release date has not yet been announced, the early October beta makes me think (as we’ve already speculated) that it’s going to drop sometime in late October. We’ll likely find out later today in Gamescom’s Opening Night Live showcase—host Geoff Keighley has already confirmed that Black Ops 7 will be there.
