
Right, at this point we've spoken at length about Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one, but that's still more than four months away at this stage. However, the upcoming CoD game will have an open beta — as has become the norm in recent years — and Game Pass users will be able to get early access to this at no extra cost.
One of the big Black Ops 6 pre-order bonuses is early access to the game's open beta, which is expected to go ahead around late August to coincide with the game's big multiplayer reveal event. This year though, if you happen to be a Game Pass subscriber at the time of the beta, you can jump into the early access period at the same time as pre-order players. Lovely stuff!
"Game Pass Subscribers: Black Ops 6 will be available at launch for subscribers to select Game Pass plans (Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass PC, Game Pass Console). Subscribers have access to the Digital Cross-Gen Bundle (Xbox) or PC Standard Edition (Microsoft Store) of Black Ops 6 – including the Woods Operator Pack and Open Beta Early Access preorder benefits – with the full game available at launch on October 25! Continue to read this blog for the full details."

Of course, the naming of this beta suggests that eventually it'll be open to all players - even those without a subscription plan. Still, it's pretty nice to get early access to the beta without having to spend a penny on top of Xbox Game Pass - which can be said for the game's full launch as well, on October 25th.
Excited to jump into the beta, Black Ops fans? Tell us your thoughts on this down below.
[source callofduty.com]
Comments 8
Gaming equality is alive again!
😉
I'll probably give it a go so.
Brilliant idea, really.
I'm actually surprised they allowed Early Access. Noice!
That’s pretty dope. So in reality I can just add in the vault edition after I download the game with game pass and I save money if you think about it. Maybe? Haha. I remember they let you pay for vault edition after them game released for MW 2019.
I stopped played Call of Duty many years ago when they started doing all their PS Exclusive crap. I'm looking forward to getting back in and giving COD another try! I'm especially excited that they're going back in time since one of my favorites was World at War!
@PeterPanana Funnily enough, I stopped playing CoD too - partly because of the unfair advantages on PS and partly due to Burnout and the monetisation of CoD - Season Passes and Loot boxes.
From CoD4 all through the 360 days, EVERYONE got the base game with the SAME XP and SAME modes regardless of Platform. Xbox owners had the option to 'buy' extra Maps as DLC a 'month' sooner. Of course by the 3rd or 4th DLC, it became more difficult for match making and you'd barely see the DLC maps in rotation as not everyone bought them.
By Infinite Warfare though, loot boxes with 'RNG' were in the game and more like a F2P game with all the monetisation on top. Black Ops 2 would sell a Camo bundle for 'pocket money' - even animated camos with custom reticles were cheap - now they are more expensive than some games are...
I enjoy the Campaigns (usually) but MP is too sweaty for me now, I love round based Zombies and as I don't have to pay £70 for the 'base' game, I'm certainly going to Play this - may even pre-order the Vault edition for the 'first' season but probably won't buy more.
Since MS acquired ABK, I did buy MW2 and MW3 vault edition on Xbox and really enjoy DMZ - but MW3 overall is not worth the money imo. No doubt they'll make a LOT of money on Xbox despite 'losing' sales as they'll get 100% of the money from sales of Game, Season Passes, Cosmetic Bundles and CoD points. They only get 70% from Sony as Sony take 30% so over a lifetime of a Game, I expect they'll make 'more' as more Play on Xbox so sell more Season Passes that all go to MS now.
They may have struggled to get 5m to buy the game on Xbox because of Sony and deals, so could only sell up to 5m Season passes every season, but get 30m in because of Game Pass, that's a LOT more potential sales of the extras.
For Game Pass owners, £30 to get the Vault Edition upgrade seems a 'bargain' compared to the £100 for non GP subscribers too so may encourage 'more' to buy the Vault edition than normally would on Xbox too - especially knowing that they won't get 'screwed' because of their choice of Hardware...
I still haven't bought Hogwarts because of Sony making some Content exclusive (until recently). I do have a PS5 but if I bought it on PS5, it would feel like I'm supporting that 'deal' rather than having the freedom to 'choose' where I'd prefer to play.
I'd rather have the choice to play on PC, Xbox or PS5 based on where I'd prefer to play rather than be forced to play somewhere or feel like I'm missing something I should have. Maybe the DS5 controller implementation is enough to play on PS5 over Xbox for example. I didn't buy Deathloop or Ghostwire as I knew these would come to Game Pass in a year so I will wait for Content Parity,
I prefer to play CoD on my Elite Controller so PC/Xbox is my preferred Platform. With Sony having 'bonuses', that did put me off a bit - but I can also say the extreme monetisation and F2P type Online model burnt me too...
Looking at the 'extras' that you get with the Vault edition I struggle to understand why anyone would think the upgrade is worth £30 but each to their own I guess. Some people clearly think it would be £30 well spent.
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