Year after year, it’s the same story for the franchise that has been released annually for two decades, and despite the franchise being in new hands, nothing has changed.

It’s usually the story of this summer’s announcement of this year’s Call of Duty. Then in late summer, possibly early fall, a beta is released, usually in phases (first to pre-orderers and earlier to PlayStation players due to the older Activision Blizzard-Sony deal). Once that’s done, Activision comes out a few days later and celebrates how well the beta went for that year’s Call of Duty. Well, that’s what happened this year, so the franchise hasn’t left the beaten path for the beaten path…

Activision has announced that the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 beta had the most players, the most hours played, the most matches, and the highest average play time per player ever, so this year’s episode was able to engage players more than ever before. The Early Access Beta ran from August 30 to September 4 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Pre-orders and especially Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers had access. The second weekend was open to everyone on the same five platforms and ran from September 6 to 9.

Activision Blizzard also announced a few days ago that there will be a change this year. Now that Microsoft has taken over the publisher as a result of the $68.7 billion deal, there will be no early access to the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 story mode, so you’ll have to wait until launch day (but we wouldn’t be surprised if it leaked anyway).

The sixth season of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone will launch on September 18, while Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will launch on October 25 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It will be available to Xbox Game Pass subscribers at launch.

Source: VGC