How to Play the Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Multiplayer and Blackout Beta

Calum Patterson

The Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 private beta is now only a day away, and to ensure you don’t miss out, here’s everything you need to know to get involved.

The multiplayer beta begins for PS4 players first on August 3 at 10am PT, and will run until Monday August 6 at these same times.

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The following weekend, August 10-13, the beta will be available for PS4, Xbox One and PC – but only if you have pre-ordered the game. On Saturday August 11, all PC players will be able to play the beta without a pre-order.

The only guaranteed way for console players to get into the beta is by pre-ordering the game. You can do this at a retailer, or digitally on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Store or Battle.net for PC.

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If you pre-order at a retailer, you will be given a token to redeem on the Call of Duty website. this will then give you the code for your platform of choice, console/PC.

If you pre-ordered digitally via the PlayStation or Xbox One store, you don’t need a code. You will be able to download the beta through the store as soon as it becomes available.

You will be able to pre-load the beta onto your console so you can jump right in straight away. Pre-loading should become available at 10am PT (1pm ET, 6pm BST) on Thursday August 2. You will also likely need around 20 GB of free space on your console to download the beta.

*UPDATE: Pre-loading is now available for digital pre-orders on PS4 – simply go the PlayStation store and search for Black Ops 4.

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In previous Call of Duty beta’s you did not need a PlayStation Plus membership to play. However, you did need Xbox Live Gold.

Also, while your progress from the multiplayer beta will not carry over into the full game, you will receive some neat rewards for playing. 

If you reach max level in the beta, you will earn a permanent unlock token when the full game launches. Just for playing the beta, you will receive a calling card in the full game.

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Blackout

Blackout, the new battle royale mode coming to Black Ops 4, will not be available in the mulitplayer beta.

For that you will need to wait until September, but no set dates have been announced yet by Activision/Treyarch.

You will not need a separate code or token for the Blackout beta however, so if you have access to the muliplayer one, you will also automatically be able to play the Blackout beta too.

About The Author

Calum is Dexerto's Managing Editor, based in Scotland. Joining Dexerto in 2017, Calum has years of experience covering esports, gaming and online entertainment, and now leads the team to deliver the best coverage in these areas. An expert on all things Twitch and gaming influencers, he's also an expert in popular shooters like Apex Legends, CS2 and Call of Duty. You can contact Calum at calum.patterson@dexerto.com.