Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 to Skip Campaign Early Access

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will not offer campaign early access, Activision has confirmed.

In a statement given to CharlieIntel, Activision said the many Call of Duty developers working on the game are focused on its October 25, 2024 launch.

Activision has released campaign early access for those who pre-ordered recent Call of Duty games, including last year's poorly received Modern Warfare 3 campaign. The early access periods generally began a week before the full launch, offering fans the chance to play through the story so they can hit Multiplayer and Zombies right off the bat.

But for Black Ops 6, Activision has gone in a different direction. Here's the statement:

“The team is fully focused on October 25th. We are excited about all the game has to offer across Campaign, Multiplayer and Zombies. This year, we made the decision to ensure the community gets to dig in to any and all modes that they want at the same time, so we are back to one massive global launch moment October 25th. As such, there is no Early Access beat this year for Black Ops 6, just the countdown to launch.”

It’s worth noting that Black Ops 6 is the first mainline Call of Duty game to launch straight into Xbox subscription service Game Pass, which may have influenced Activision’s decision to target a singular global launch. Microsoft acquired Call of Duty as part of its $69 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard last year.

Black Ops 6 just finished Beta Weekend 2, and Activision is set to announce changes for the full launch soon. Black Ops 6 has a new Body Shield feature, a new Omnimovement feature, and various features returning from Treyarch's 2020 game, Black Ops Cold War. Check out IGN’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Multiplayer Review in Progress to find out what we thought of the beta.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.