How to preload Black Ops Cold War on PS4, Xbox One, PC: dates & sizes

Albert Petrosyan

The release of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is fast approaching, and we’ve got all the information available so far about pre-downloading the game on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and next-gen consoles.

The Call of Duty community is gearing up for the annual tradition that is the release of a new title, as players from around the world are revving up their consoles and PCs to try out the stories series’ 2020 installment.

Those who have played Modern Warfare will already be familiar with how inflated the file sizes of CoD games and updates have become, and Black Ops Cold War is no exception. Thus, Activision will be allowing users who pre-ordered digital copies of the game to download it early, so to have it ready to go when the November 13 launch day rolls around.

Below, we’ve got everything there is to know so far about this process and the preloading schedule. We will continue to update this page as more details become available.

Preload Black Ops Cold War on PS4 & PS5

PS4 PS5 Black Ops Cold War
PS4 players can start pre-loading Black Ops Cold War on November 5.

Treyarch have announced that pre-loading on the PS4 will be available starting on Thursday, November 5 at 9:00 PM PT, which puts the rest of the times during November 6.

  • Thursday, November 5
    • 9:00 PM PT
    • 11:00 PM CT
  • Friday, November 6
    • 12:00 AM ET
    • 5:00 AM GMT (UK)
    • 6:00 AM CET (Europe)
    • 4:00 PM AEDT (Australia)

It’s also been confirmed that the entire game will take 95GB of space on the PS4 (not counting post-launch DLC content) but as with Modern Warfare, console players will have a way to delete game modes in order to save space, like the campaign and Zombies.

As for the PS5, since it’s releasing on November 12, players can start downloading BOCW as soon as their console is ready to go. The full game will take up 133GB of space on the next-gen PlayStation.

Preload BOCW on Xbox One, Xbox Series X & S

Black Ops Cold War Xbox
Xbox One players should be able to start preloading Black Ops Cold War on November 5.

Likewise, the pre-downloading period on the Xbox One will begin on November 5 at 9 PM PT:

  • Thursday, November 5
    • 9:00 PM PT
    • 11:00 PM CT
  • Friday, November 6
    • 12:00 AM ET
    • 5:00 AM GMT (UK)
    • 6:00 AM CET (Europe)
    • 4:00 PM AEDT (Australia)

The file will take up slightly less space than on the PS4, confirmed to be 93GB, but again, those who are not interested in playing the campaign and/or Zombies will be able to delete one or both from their console.

The next-gen Xbox, Series X and S, launch on November 10, so players will be able to start preloading BOCW immediately. However, the file size on both is considerably higher than the Xbox One, currently set to 136GB.

Preload Black Ops Cold War on PC – Battle.net

Black Ops Cold War PC
    Black Ops Cold War on PC will be exclusively available through the Battle.net launcher.

Black Ops Cold War pre-loading on the PC starts on November 10, so a few days later than on console:

  • 10:00 AM PT
  • 12:00 PM CT
  • 1:00 PM ET
  • 6:00 PM GMT (UK)
  • 7:00 PM CET (Europe)
  • 5:00 AM AEDT (November 11 in Australia)

Unlike console, however, PC players will have the option of only installing the specific game modes they want, rather than having to download the full file then deleting the unwanted packs afterwards.

Thus, here’s the file-size breakdown on PC, including how much space it would take when running on the best graphics:

  • Multiplayer: 35GB
  • Full Game: 82GB
  • Full game on Ultra Graphics: 125GB

As a result of this information, Activision have also updated the full list of minimum, recommended, competitive, and ultra RTX PC specifications:

PC specs Black Ops Cold War
Activision released an updated graphic for all the PC specifications to run Black Ops Cold War.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will be releasing on Friday, November 13 on PC and all current-gen and next-gen consoles.

As always, make sure to follow us on Twitter, @DexertoINTEL, for all the latest CoD news, updates, leaks, guides, and more.

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About The Author

Albert is a former esports and gaming writer, focused particularly on Call of Duty and content creators. Spending over three years at Dexerto, Albert eventually now works with streamer NICKMERCS and the MFAM group. You can find Albert @AlbertoRavioli on Twitter.